This morning’s random breakfast selections included chick peas with rice, stewed tomatoes, sausages and fried mushrooms.

We took a Yandex back to Etchmiadzin this morning since I wanted to see the relics at the museum. Turns out there are several museums: an art museum, a relics museum which has one room containing the spear that pierced Christ and a remnant of Noah’s Ark (not pictured), and more. [Side note regarding the spear, there are four relics across Europe/Middle East that claim to be the spear that pierced Christ, but the one in the Etchmiadzin museum is the only one with traces of matter on it from that time period.]

Upon leaving the one-room museum, I was confused since we didn’t see relics of the right hand from St. Gregory’s arm, which is encase in gold used to stir the holy oil, and a lot of other magnificent pieces I remembered being in a large museum. After trying to find an English-speaking priest or anyone who speaks English, we learned there is a third museum in the Catholicos’s residence that contains the arm and other significant works. We were told it’s being renovated, and after a quick online search, I couldn’t find out how long it has been closed to the public or when it would reopen. Additionally, after inquiring about going below Etchmiadzin to see the Pagan temple underneath, a priest told us that the public is no longer allowed in the area under the church. A lot has changed and it’s made me sad. 

We walked through the complex to reach St. Gayane’s church and then took a quick Yandex to see St Hripsime’s church and her coffin under the church. Both are UNESCO heritage sites, and the women are martyred for their belief in Christianity during Pagan times.

After arriving back in Yerevan, we made another trip to the Vernissage Market to pick up some things and then headed to the Mika sports complex for D’s final game. It was fun to watch him compete again with a nice group of young men and their families. 

After a quick dip in the pool, we went to dinner with friends from Belmont at Rehan for another excellent meal of hummus, baba ghanoush, kufteh, yelanchi, fatoush salad and sou boureg, plus a platter of mixed meat for our entree. The couple we are with ended up having some friends in common with the waiter, so he brought us a Syrian dessert (halawet el jibe) on the house. Our hard-working waitress from the other night recognized us and gave Paul a four-pack of beer as we were leaving the restaurant. 

On our way back to our hotels, Paul was stopped on the street by a man who said: “Hey, I know you!” It was Der Vart, the priest, who spent several sessions with our kids at Camp Vartan. Why is it that Paul gets recognized in every country we travel to?! I, of course, confused Der Vart with another priest and feel terrible but as Paul reminded me, he’s a man of the cloth and will forgive me. Sigh…