Day 1, wait, 2, wait - maybe day 3?
Well, after a long, long, LONG journey we are finally here in Yerevan. The flight to Prague was very long and sleepless for a lot of us, which meant our day in Prague (a 10 hour layover!) was pretty exhausting. The city is pretty interesting - never been to a more Eastern European city like that before. We had all sorts of adventures, like seeing Frank Gehry's "Dancing Building" and doing other sorts of general exploring. World Cup is huge there! Remind me sometime to tell you about the really crazy day-hotel we stayed in. Oh man... Oh, we should tell you sometime about the fake Hard Rock - but more on that when we get home. More exciting things to share!
Anyways, we arrived in Yerevan around 4:30am this morning after a 4 hour flight of solid sleep for all of us. By the time we got on the plane we were all pretty much zombies sleeping involuntarily at weird moments. So we got to the hotel, went to sleep, and woke up to go to Etchmiadzin for church. Oh - and Ararat was right outside our hotel window. What a site to see when you open your drapes for the first time!!!
Our group went to Etchmiadzin - the mother cathedral of the Armenian church - this morning. It was INSANE! Little old ladies pushing, bishops and priests EVERYWHERE, etc. etc. The campus was beautiful and the service was wonderful. The singing by the choir and the deacons was INCREDIBLE. We also saw the Catholicos - sat right by him actually in the chancel. By the time church was done it was 1pm and we then took a tour of the Veharan - the Catholicos's residence - and the museum with a former priest of St. John's.
It was soooo hot this whole time - many of us had a hard time dealing with this sweltering heat. But we are dealing with it well by drinking water! The trip was quite the experience, followed by quick visits to St. Gayaneh and St. Hripsime, which are right by Etchmiadzin.
Tonight we're taking it easy and then tomorrow we head down to Yeghegnadzor for Habitat after a city tour of Yerevan. I'll probably post after that trip, so talk to you in a few weeks! Miss you all (Aram says hi :))!
Anyways, we arrived in Yerevan around 4:30am this morning after a 4 hour flight of solid sleep for all of us. By the time we got on the plane we were all pretty much zombies sleeping involuntarily at weird moments. So we got to the hotel, went to sleep, and woke up to go to Etchmiadzin for church. Oh - and Ararat was right outside our hotel window. What a site to see when you open your drapes for the first time!!!
Our group went to Etchmiadzin - the mother cathedral of the Armenian church - this morning. It was INSANE! Little old ladies pushing, bishops and priests EVERYWHERE, etc. etc. The campus was beautiful and the service was wonderful. The singing by the choir and the deacons was INCREDIBLE. We also saw the Catholicos - sat right by him actually in the chancel. By the time church was done it was 1pm and we then took a tour of the Veharan - the Catholicos's residence - and the museum with a former priest of St. John's.
It was soooo hot this whole time - many of us had a hard time dealing with this sweltering heat. But we are dealing with it well by drinking water! The trip was quite the experience, followed by quick visits to St. Gayaneh and St. Hripsime, which are right by Etchmiadzin.
Tonight we're taking it easy and then tomorrow we head down to Yeghegnadzor for Habitat after a city tour of Yerevan. I'll probably post after that trip, so talk to you in a few weeks! Miss you all (Aram says hi :))!