Breakfast specials today included sausage, cauliflower and cheese, chicken sticks and mashed potatoes. They were out of marmalade today and the least offensive of the automatic coffee machines wasn’t working….we just can’t win at breakfast, but at least we have fresh fruit.  

Today all 800 athletes had the day off so they could collectively visit some significant sites in Yerevan. Every athlete wore a blue Homenetmen t-shirt and there was a parade of buses and sprinter vans parked in front of the Marriott, the common meeting place for the morning departure.

In parallel, one of the Eastern USA coaches organized a bus for thirty of us from the US to roughly follow the same itinerary as the athletes.

The day began at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex where our tour guide gave us flowers to lay at the eternal flame. The athletes arrived about a half hour after we did, paraded in with flags and were given flowers to lay as well. It was both a powerful and beautiful moment. After, our tour went through the museum at the complex while the athletes continued to the next destination. 

At the Yerablur Military Memorial Cemetery we saw the graves of soldiers who fought for the Ngoro-Karabagh / Artsakh region. Military service is required for all 18 year old boys in Armenia, so the majority of graves were for boys D’s age. Majority of the graves have photos of the fallen soldiers, smiling, staring straight ahead, holding a cigarette, holding a gun, etc.  At one point we saw parents sitting on a bench next to their son’s grave, in the blazing 100 degree sun, in silence, just staring at his picture. Totally heartbreaking.

While the athletes went to the Megerian Carpet Factory in Yerevan for lunch, we drove to the Etchmiadzin complex where lunch had been arranged for us at Agape Refectory. We had mixed greens, fatoush salad, various cheeses, tabouleh, dolma with yogurt, and a wheat noodle dish that no one knew what it was, and a piece of dry gata (cake) for dessert. It was such a pretty space, inside and out, but the food and service was not great.

Our tour guide talked a lot and I got very impatient, so we split from the tour when she said we had 30 minutes to explore the entire Etchmiadzin complex before heading to the next destination. Visiting Etchmiadzin for Armenians is akin to Catholics visiting Vatican City, and 30 minutes was not going to be enough. I wanted to track down where I had stayed 30 years ago, spend time in the church, go to the museum, etc. We had heard from our friend Raz that the Armenian Catholicos (head of the church) was going to bless the athletes at 4:30 PM, so my friend Michelle and her kids, Paul and I left our tour and struck out on our own. We took some time to light a few candles and hung out in the cathedral with the crowds of athletes as it was much cooler than waiting outside. Before the Catholicos arrived, more than dozen priests took their place at the front of the church, candles were lit, the nine-person, all male choir did a warm up tune, and things were ready to go. The Catholicos arrived flanked by another half dozen priests, did a brief mass, spoke with the athletes in Armenian, and then blessed each of the athletes and others as he left the church. Paul and I also were blessed and able touch the Soorp Khatch, or Holy Cross, he was holding in his hand. It was quite the scene and pictures were not allowed.

D was exhausted and skipped the parade of hot tour buses used by the athletes and instead returned to Yerevan in our Yandex. He promptly fell asleep in the car for the 40 minute ride back to the hotel. Many of his teammates are under the weather and nursing injuries, and D has been taking full advantage of the 24 hour nightlife, but its been catching up to all of them.

We haven’t kept the hours that D has, but we’re tired too. Tonight Paul and I grabbed a drink at one of the 40+ outdoor covered seating areas a block from our hotel. The fountains weren’t on but it was relaxing nonetheless. For dinner (10pm), we walked over to Burgery for some burgers with fries and because we’re in Armenia, a garlic dipping sauce for the fries. This is the first eating establishment where they gave us rubber gloves to keep our hands clean while eating the burger. An interesting gimmick and we pocketed the gloves to bring back to the Italy house.

We were about to call it a night early (11pm), probably going to bed before midnight for the first time in the past month, but Paul got a text from one of the athletes asking for a medical consultation. Back to the Marriott Paul went!

In the meantime, Armenia Travel posted a video of the beautiful chaos of Vartavar on Sunday…check it out!