Vernissage and Thank you dinner by Susan Bosovich
It was a good day to have MUCH less structure! After staying up and Dancing Friday night after a full day's work, I was in need of a sleep in day.
Our original plan was to go to the history museum at Republic Square at 10 am. My daughter, Alicia, and I had gone to see this museum in 2009 so I was not planning to attend. Evidently that was a thought in alot of minds.
Our other plan for the day was shopping at a flea market style place called Vernissage. You could get just about ANYTHING, except the kitchen sink there!. That had been on the calendar earlier in the trip but we had run out of time, much to the dismay of our serious shoppers. (Another reason to skip the museum and go staight to shopping) We met for lunch at Square one(a more americanized menu) and continued shopping!!!!
Note: In the past we have bargained with the sellers and been able to get lower prices. This year, however there were signs up in Armenian at many of the booths. Some added Russian as well. It was when we were almost done that we saw a sign in English that said, "Do not try to bargain." Now we understood why no one would come down in price.
Everyone seemed to find something interesting to purchase. Rug purses, Duduks, Nardi boards, magents, bookmarks,jewelry, etc,... so we were happy with the game plan. In the end Leo and his brother, Peter, were the only ones who went to the museum after lunch while we went back to Vernissage.
Personally, I slept in, meandered through making and eating breakfast as I am in an apartment instead of the hotel (which includes breakfast). I took a mini nap before actually getting dressed and ready to go. Then, I went to the hotel for internet to upload to the blog, check email and FB and such before meeting up with Tony for the walk to Square one for lunch. He had taken the opportunity to go to the internet cafe to upload grades for school. We have several teachers in our midst but he's the only one who actually had to do school related work on vacation!
We met at 6 pm to go to a thank you dinner with the family who's home we had worked on last year. Fortunately it wasn't a 70 minute drive to get to this house. It was wonderful to see the family in their completed home, smiles on their faces and exclamations of,"Shnorhakalutyun!" (Thank you!)
We had a delicious dinner of Khorovatz ("Grilled" over a small, hot stick fire)Lamb, chicken, tomatoes, mild peppers and eggplant, with vegetable salads, delicious fresh fruit varieties, breads, olives, and wine. It was followed up with a variety of Honeycomb (yum!), watermelon, sweet cakes for dessert with Armenian coffee. Way too much to eat AGAIN, but so hard not to try a little of everything. {I hope that my next team comes with a very big appetite!}
On the way back we saw fireworks going off but did not know what the event was, we just enjoyed them. Some of us went out to a local cafe under the trees near Republic Square where we could hear the music accompanying the water show. They really play an unusual mix of music! I called it an early night and the rest of the gang hung out for a second drink before calling it a night.
The kids had decided to go our for ice cream instead. Evidently they met up with some of the youth from KPMG group and so they hung out for quite a while. When the adults returned they were a bit surprised but handled it well. Everyone had enjoyed the evening in their own way. Only one more day together and then we must say goodbye. (Can we start planning a reunion already???LOL!)
It was a good day to have MUCH less structure! After staying up and Dancing Friday night after a full day's work, I was in need of a sleep in day.
Our original plan was to go to the history museum at Republic Square at 10 am. My daughter, Alicia, and I had gone to see this museum in 2009 so I was not planning to attend. Evidently that was a thought in alot of minds.
Note: In the past we have bargained with the sellers and been able to get lower prices. This year, however there were signs up in Armenian at many of the booths. Some added Russian as well. It was when we were almost done that we saw a sign in English that said, "Do not try to bargain." Now we understood why no one would come down in price.
Personally, I slept in, meandered through making and eating breakfast as I am in an apartment instead of the hotel (which includes breakfast). I took a mini nap before actually getting dressed and ready to go. Then, I went to the hotel for internet to upload to the blog, check email and FB and such before meeting up with Tony for the walk to Square one for lunch. He had taken the opportunity to go to the internet cafe to upload grades for school. We have several teachers in our midst but he's the only one who actually had to do school related work on vacation!
We met at 6 pm to go to a thank you dinner with the family who's home we had worked on last year. Fortunately it wasn't a 70 minute drive to get to this house. It was wonderful to see the family in their completed home, smiles on their faces and exclamations of,"Shnorhakalutyun!" (Thank you!) 
We had a delicious dinner of Khorovatz ("Grilled" over a small, hot stick fire)Lamb, chicken, tomatoes, mild peppers and eggplant, with vegetable salads, delicious fresh fruit varieties, breads, olives, and wine. It was followed up with a variety of Honeycomb (yum!), watermelon, sweet cakes for dessert with Armenian coffee. Way too much to eat AGAIN, but so hard not to try a little of everything. {I hope that my next team comes with a very big appetite!}
On the way back we saw fireworks going off but did not know what the event was, we just enjoyed them. Some of us went out to a local cafe under the trees near Republic Square where we could hear the music accompanying the water show. They really play an unusual mix of music! I called it an early night and the rest of the gang hung out for a second drink before calling it a night.
The kids had decided to go our for ice cream instead. Evidently they met up with some of the youth from KPMG group and so they hung out for quite a while. When the adults returned they were a bit surprised but handled it well. Everyone had enjoyed the evening in their own way. Only one more day together and then we must say goodbye. (Can we start planning a reunion already???LOL!)
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