Today was the first day of on and off rain predicted to continue in that vein for several days. It never got bad although we’d have to wait out the occasional thunderstorm. We made a detour through this park to admire the Statue of Komitas Vardapet, founder of the Armenian national school of music and a place Hilda remembered visiting with her mom.
We were on our way back to the Cafesjian to finally get into the galleries and to see it with water running in the fountains.
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Hilda had been supporting a group home for disabled adults here in Yerevan and she took this opportunity to visit there while Merlyn and I had lunch at Santafe where we lounged around for a while in the rain and it was comfy and tasty too. (internet photos)
Strawberries are for sale everywhere and I bought a big bucket of them from a guy on the street back on day 2. They were fabulous and as I write this on day 6 we will have the last few this morning, and they are still fabulous.
I put this mural here to note how little there is of street art, just a few murals like this one is all I’ve seen so far.
We visited the Martiros Sarian House Museum, a favorite artist of Hilda’s and the founder of the modern Armenian national school of painting. He died in 1972 at age 92 having lived a long and productive life. This is from their website since there were no photos allowed inside the house.
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We enjoyed another very good meal at another one of the high-end restaurants, of which there are many. This place is called Seasons where they have the restaurant with a nice combo playing light jazz, a lounge area, and a cafe ‘across the way’.
Recording the entertainment to share.
Moving on to Republic Square where later in May music will play and the fountains will dance.
Copied from “Discover Armenia” online: “According to ((the architect)) Tamanyan’s design, the construction of the square began with the building of the Government House in 1926. All the buildings of the square were completed in the 1950s, except for the National Gallery building, which was completed in 1977. In Soviet times, the Republic Square was named after Lenin and his monument was erected there in 1940 and dismantled in 1991, prior to the independence of Armenia.”
And here in Republic Square are the most famous of the drinking fountains in Yerevan called “Yot Ahpyur” meaning “Seven Springs” in Armenian.
Merlyn and Hilda moved on, it was 10pm, to join Sevak, Ida, and Shakeh at a music club. I went home. They got home after 2am…