It's a Brand New Day

This is the day the Lord has gave me; let me rejoice and be glad! 

After I showered and got dressed for my day, I walked down the spiral staircase to see Nelly smiling up at me. Nelly made me eggs with carrot salad and bread.  She gave me some extra carrot salad, which was against the rules lol  

I really do not talk enough about food, but i am used to just eating local food all the time. I eat at local shops, grocery stores, and inside homes if I have the opportunity.  I love local food, but I am definitely not a Foodie or very good at food description, but I do take great photos of local food, which I will share!

I decided to start my bus adventure not realizing what I was up for.... Armenian buses are not like Georgia- they are way more challenging.

No signs with the numbers coming, no time tables, no stops, no clue at all and Google maps is not helpful at all….So why take the bus again? For the adventure. It is called “The Armenian blind bus riding trip.” 

Have to get creative-so I decided to count the bus stops from my accommodation. Armenia does have great coffee stands for ice coffees, lattes, frappes, and different signature coffee drinks with Nutella, Biscoff, kit kats, and all kinds of sweets inside. The local coffee I had was not even on those menus. 

I did pretty well with the directions I had and made it to a point near the museum where I could see it on the hill way in the distance. I asked two teenage kids where the museum was, which took them time to gather their English words. I am always patient when they are trying to remember their words in English-always...I was an English teacher for years. 

They said through the park, go up the hill, go down the hill, through the park and down the path. I kindly said thank you and I walked away. They figured that was not a good enough description so they came back a few minutes later with a girl who spoke perfect English and described the route again, but in the greatest amount of detail. Heart Full

I made it all the way through the park and of course I got lost and I met Manosh- a Indian girl in Yerevan for medical school who walked me to the genocide museum. She said it is a good opportunity to practice her English- i love to hear people taking the opportunity to learn and the time to help. We parted ways and I arrived at the saddest destination of Armenia…..

The Armenian Genocide memorial and museum, which was the killing of Christians- the schindlers list of Armenia- brutally sad and tragic and inhumane on a million levels.

The Armenian genocide was the systematic killing and deportation of Armenians by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. In 1915, during World War I leaders of the Turkish government set in motion a plan to expel and massacre Armenians. By the early 1920s, when the genocide finally ended, between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were dead, with many more forcibly removed from the country. 

The museum was so incredibly well done and just touching on so many levels, it kind of reminded me of Anne Frank’s house. The interactive ways you could experience this tragedy through testimonials, art work, documentaries, newspaper clippings, propaganda, and photos.  The faces of the children and the starving bodies left a permanent mark on my heart.
When I went outside to listen to the memorial and the calm, somber music-you could feel this ultimate wave of sadness. It was tragic, but it was very educational and I enjoyed taking time (about 1 hour or longer to really learn about and feel the experience).

I took a slight jog down the hill admiring more fall colors. And saw a mall across the street where I always enjoy the food court with the local food where I can visually see it and try it I have an obsession with seeing food before I order it and I can do that in open cafes and food areas like malls. I had a nice traditional lunch with the most amazing yogurt salad. Yogurt, bread, salad, kebabs- armenia lol

Beauutiful Breeze and view of the museum with fresh grapefruit juice. Hopped on the bus- met two indian medical students, saw the Caskade stairs and the Silvan arts center- quite impressive with beautiful views of Yerevan. Found Pushkin street- the SOHO of Yerevan and that was my scene….oh it was definitely a SoHo.  Right up my league with the best hotels, restaurants and cafes- such class and sophistication. Everyone dressed with the best fashion coming out of their Mercedes.  A million deserts I wish I could eat, sushi,  authentic Italian restaurant that looked like Raos with waiters dressed like they are in Venice- so cute!

I found myself looking for one street to stop by a local spot and I ended up not finding it and found Seasons plaza, which has the best deserts and icecreams. I can look at gelato and tell if its good or not and this place was amazing- pistachio and almond yum! I really had to go home, which was difficult with so many great spots, but you can only do so much in one day.

No jazz club time to go home like an old lady and sleep. I came back to chat with my latvian friend who is traveling alone as well. She is a bit more orderly and organized and heavy on the tours. She always has this very serious voice when she talks about traveling and she is like 22. We are talking about how we were suppose to get a free breakfast because our genius status but we think we got charged for breakfast- its a very important conversation lol. We like to talk about places we like to travel and where she is headed next. She planned tours both Friday and Saturday. I was trying to figure out ways to do one tour and adventure the rest out, but that is difficult with monasteries in all kinds of different places, but my Ukranian friend Anna said she went to Lake Sevan by bus…and that was going to be my adventure for the next day. No tour where I stop there for 30 minute and have to run back to the bus….I will take my sweet time.