Second Day in Armenia

Shaun and I spent our second day in Armenia visiting the Genocide memorial, the Yerevan stadium and several outdoor markets. The best market was near Republic Square and featured all kinds of beautiful things! We purchased some items for my mom and some paintings for ourselves. The biggest surprise I have found in this city is all the art out on the streets, and the prices are simply amazing. Near the entrance to the market however there were various Yerevan residents who had spread blankets on the ground, old card tables and even the ledges on the various fountains and had spread various odd collections of items out for sale. Old records, door knobs, old wheels from strollers, various head lamps for cars, electrical wire and even coins of different nationalities including American quarters and nickels. It was a very strange site that I have never seen before. The experience at the market was great and we even had a lot of fun haggling, though some we did not even try to haggle with. One Yerevan resident after seeing that I was American tried to sell me a tea cup for 20,000 the equivalent of 60 US dollars and the amount 5 adults would pay for a very expensive meal in the city...I walked away.

The most meaningful day to me, was the Genocide memorial. While there were beautiful monuments I found the best monument was a garden of trees that had been planted each with a plaque nearby detailing the person, country or organization that had given the memorial tree in honor of the victims of the 1915 genocide, some even bearing individual and family names. The plaques were from Greece, Russia, America, Iran, Canada, Romania and other countries. Some plaques detailed individual names such as Bob Dole and other Senators and Presidents. The overall effect was very moving and seemed much more meaningful in it's simplicity than some of the larger more showy structures. As we left we past a grandmother with her two granddaughters they were all holding hands and walking amongst the various graves. The littlest granddaughter aged around four reached out and touched one of the gravestones, and the other aged around six, touched the face etched into the tombs head stone while the grandmother spoke. One of the members in our party remarked that she was most likely passing on the history to the next generation. This remark and the site of the little family really touched me...it made me want to take the time to write down my memories so my grandchildren know their history and where they came from which is many times more important than any other schooling one receives.