Armenia

It has been a week since we returned from our trip to Armenia. A week of catching up on sleep, laundry, email, work, etc. The fact that Zoe has three new teeth coming in and we were without hot water for half of the week only complicated matters. Thank goodness those teeth waited until we were back to start their painful push.

No doubt you are wondering how Zoe got along with the travel. It was a looming question for us as well before we left. While we were hoping for the best, we knew there was the possibility that the idea of taking a 20-month old toddler to Armenia for a week might not prove to be as brilliant in hindsight. It might turn out like some of those other bright ideas... like “hey, we’ve been home from Kazakhstan for 4 whole days so let’s go get a 7-week old puppy!” (an idea that at least one of us still questions the timing of).

Keep in mind that air travel is never fun under the best of circumstances. On top of that we had 12 hours of flight time plus a long layover and were dealing with a 9-hour time difference. Oh, and a child who won’t go to sleep anywhere except in her crib. Within that less than ideal context, Zoe was absolutely amazing!! It wasn’t without effort and a few minor hiccups along the way, but overall she loved it as much as we did. She took everything in stride and handled the lack of sleep and upside down schedule marvellously. We were thrilled to witness it and have declared our daughter to be a traveller. Look out world, here we come!

Following are a few photos taken in Yerevan (the capital). I will add more in a later post.

This is our hotel, located on the city's central and beautiful Republic Square.

This is another of the five buildings facing Republic Square. They were all built in the 1950's with the same design.

A closeup of yet another of the buildings facing the square.

Our hotel room was along the side of the building. From our balcony, this was the view to the west - block after block of Soviet style apartments. Anyone who has been to Kazakhstan knows not to judge an apartment by the look of its exterior! We have no doubt that the interiors are quite lovely.

From our balcony to the east we had a beautiful view of Mount Ararat every morning. Mount Ararat, Armenia's national symbol, is located in Turkey (or "western Armenia" according to most Armenians) and approximately 50 km (30 mi) from Yerevan. The mountain top was visible early each morning and then quickly disappeared into the haze for the rest of the day. The morning I got this shot was the clearest we saw it.

Couldn't resist a photo of this.

An interesting sculpture in the square around the Opera House. When we asked who it was, the only answer we got was that it was ugly and that the only two people who find it attractive are the sculptor and the president. But apparently those are the right people to have on your side if you are a statue in Yerevan.

Yerevan has many trendy outdoor cafes and bars. We stopped by this bar one afternoon early in the week for coffee and wonderful fresh squeezed juice. It is hard to see in the photo, but the seating is all couches and lounge chairs. Zoe had fun dancing in the grass and was fascinated by all the white "balls" on the ground. We ended up passing by this bar several times later in the week. Each time Zoe would point to it and say "juice, juice." We found it funny that she remembered it and a testament to how good that juice really was!

One of the conference outings included a trip to the roof of the university building to see the solar panels and the view of Yerevan. You know you are not in North America anymore when a group is welcomed onto a sloping corrugated metal rooftop nine storeys high without a railing or barrier of any sort.

Here is Zoe practicing her "I didn't do it" pose in our hotel room.