It's 10:30 Sunday night, October 30, and Nancy is resting in bed from the trip and first day's fun as I write this.
The travel here was relatively smooth...all three flights were on time, and layovers were minimal. We left Columbus at 7:41 Friday evening and landed here about 9:30 local time Saturday evening (just after noon back in Columbus. However, Armenia went back on winter time the overnight we arrived, so we are 8 hours ahead of Columbus until the U.S. adjusts its time shortly). Two of the three training dept. officers from ArdshininvestBank were waiting for us in the airport...twice, actually, since one of them thought we were arriving in the morning, so they made a double trip to the airport for us.
It was very good to see Karen and Arevik again...they were incredibly gracious and hospitable to with me during the project last autumn, and are planning to do the same this year. More on that as this blog evolves. On the car drive into town they caught me up on changes in the bank, and promised to let Nancy and me sleep and relax on Sunday instead of doing heavy-duty touring.
After unpacking and a quick dinner in the hotel lobby snackshop, we were in the sack by midnight local time with no reservations about sleeping until noon if necessary.
But, of course, there was too much to show Nancy in Yerevan on the one day, since she will be on her own during the next five workdays as I pretend to train bankers. So we set out at 11:00, right after a fine breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and I tried to give her a lay of the land to help her plan her week. Some of the highlights of our 8-mile stroll were:
Armenia's largest brandy distillery (we will visit it later in the week)
Republic Square, the acknowledged center of town
An extremely upscale outdoor shopping/office/apartment mall, under construction, where little has progressed since last year
Opera House
The largest local fresh foods bazaar in the area
Outdoor art show across the street from the opera
Grocery store about 2 blocks from the hotel, where we can stock up on soda and snacks at about 1/4 of mini-bar prices at the hotel
And a bunch of places in-between. A good part of the time was spent in areas that were new to me, since I only had one day to explore when here last fall, and we wanted to find a restaurant for dinner that did not cater to tourists. We finally found one just outside of the fresh food mall, and had a fine meal of tabouli, spiced shredded chicken fried in lavash, mushroom soup, and grilled lamb. Expensive by local standards, with a tab of about $19 including drinks and tip, but delicious.
Back to the room with some snacks and sodas, Nancy to plan her travels and me to go over my training notes one last time. I'm looking forward to this trip, but hope Nancy doesn't get bored while wandering around this week...or doesn't see everything available. With the number of museums and other historical attractions, that shouldn't be a problem. At the opera house we did see a number of coming attractions on various posters, and have tentatively decided to attend a classical music concert on Thursday night. Unfortunately, cultural event promoters here don't seem to see much value in listing events that occur beyond the next weekend or month. And, this being the end of October, we can't get any online listings that cover past tomorrow.
OK, that's it for tonight. Many more things to muse about, but we have to leave some material for later during these three weeks. Take care and have a great Sunday.
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