Hitting taxis and Kanye West 6/18/16

I never thought I would eat tomatoes for breakfast, but here in Armenia, I found myself going back for seconds for both tomatoes and cucumbers at 9:00 in the morning. The buffet breakfast was a great way to start the day because there was something for everyone and the produce was locally grown and tasted absolutely delicious.

Our first stop was the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies. Our bus MAY or MAY NOT have hit a taxi on the way into the parking lot. The jolt was big, but the scratch was small! I wasn't sure where we were at first, all I knew was that Kanye West had stepped foot in the building before, and that was only because some girls were whispering about it earlier. Once we got inside, the expansiveness of the center was very clear. They had remarkable resources for children and teenagers and it was all free of charge. Their main goal was to make sure the students had the opportunity to do something they loved. They also had really cool "tumobiles" that were made out of wood and rolled around so the kids could use their computers with their friends.

Next we were off to the Geghard Monastery. Our hair smacked our faces in the wind outside, we lit candles and said a prayer, drank holy water, stood in awe of the architecture, and sang Hayr Mer as a group in the reverberating third floor.

We didn't hesitate to use our recently exhanged dram to buy some sweet goodies on the way out.

"An khundzor eh," the vendor said while pointing to one of her handmade treats. "An noor eh."

Let's just say I bought both the apple (khundzor) flavor AND the pomegranate (noor) flavor.

We also went to Garni which was just down the road. It was a Pagan temple built in 70 AD that is the only one standing in Armenia to this day.

It also had an Ancient Roman Bathhouse right next to it for the King at the time.

On our way out of Garni, a woman in our group started picking cherries off the trees that were drooping into the road. They were so sweet and ripe that I was amazed by the flavor. And then she reached up and grabbed a fruit I didn't recognize.

"Mulberries!" My friend shouted while she started to follow the lady by reaching up and plucking them right off the tree.

"The lighter ones are the ripest," the woman said while eating the one in her hand.

I decided to try one and was pleasantly surprised by the sweet, fruity flavor. Let's just say I ate "ten" more. UPDATE: We had ACTUAL mulberries for dinner and they are BLACK not green. Turns out I ate unripe fruit and loved it!

After all a full day of sight seeing and fruit eating, we headed to Republic Square for our final stop -- the light show.

The fountain spurted water and different heights and rhythms to go with the beat of the music. It was truly a great way to end the night.