I slept so well last night. I went to bed at 9:30 and awoke at 6:25 this morning just before the alarm was about to go off. I had already packed everything except for my toiletries. I went to the bathroom to quickly clean up. By 6:50, I was sitting at the breakfast table. The lady served me a chunk of salmon coated with mayonnaise and vegetables, some hot sausages (hot dogs), goat cheese, a type of tomato salsa, butter, bread and tea. I ate quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I was out the door at 7:05.
I walked to the metro. There was an 8 minute wait for the next train. I got off at the nearest station to the bus station, and I walked another 12 minutes or so to the bus station. I got there at 7:45 and got a seat on the "8:00" marshrutka for Yerevan. That time is in quotations, because we waited 25 minutes after 8:00 for a woman who had reserved a seat and did not arrive on time. (She had to wait later, as you will read below!!)
The next problem occurred at the border. I was the only passenger in our van of 14 passengers who needed a visa. I had tried to get one online before leaving, and the system broke down; they sent an e-mail saying just to get it at the border. Well, when I arrived at the window, their power had just gone down. They said to wait 5 minutes. Not until 25 minutes later did the power come back on. Everyone on my marshrutka had finished and were waiting. The driver came twice to check on me. But he insisted that the delay was okay. By the time I got my visa, the whole van (including the late lady) had waited 30 minutes for me, too. I hope they felt better about me, because they saw me running after I got the visa--to the other window where they had to stamp it, and to the marshrutka to get on it. Plus, I apologized. The late lady didn't rush and didn't say a word!
We still arrived after 6 hours which was within the time range for the trip--5-6 hours. But it was a long trip, and I had not been able to go to the bathroom during any of it. And I still didn't get to until I had walked downtown and found my apartment--8 hours after the last time I had been to one.
The apartment is nice. It is in one of the old communist apartment blocks, but it has been remodelled. I've observed two problems. I can hear some noise from a neighboring apartment. And the elevator is a bit scary--a tiny, thin box with about a 2-inch gap where one can see all the way down the shaft when stepping on or off. It is not on a website. I was sent some photos by e-mail. I will see if it is possible to copy one of them into here.
While I was out walking waiting for the apartment to be cleaned, I was impressed by Yerevan. It is nicer than I had read it would be. My apartment is right in the center of town within just a couple of blocks of major sights. Lots of people were out, and there was a rehearsal for a stage presentation on the main square. It's obvious that I am not in Europe now. People look more Turkish or Iranian (Iran is near). And the music they were performing was more like Middle Eastern music, although one of the groups consisted of 8 male ballet dancers and one female performing a sword dance to European music. I'll write more about it all in the coming days. Today I am tired and want to rest.
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