I am back a bit early from my trip, although it felt like four days. What an amazing adventure it turned out the be in just 30 hours. We went to Kino Rosia on Friday at noon where the cars heading north leave from, and caught a ride to Vanadzor, from there Shant's friend in Vanadzor drove us up to Sanahin, stopping on the way at a great little place for fish for our late Good Friday lunch. In Sanahin we stayed at a very dilapidated hotel and a sudden cold snap in Armenia caused us to all bundle up in a room, play cards, eat a healthy dinner consisting of M&M's (regular and peanut), Twix, and other kinds of chocolate. The women there were very nice and the next morning we had breakfast brought to our room. Then we wandered over to Sanahin Monastery, one of the nicest in Armenia. After taking loads of pics, and entertaining some school kids as they entertained us at the same time, we left Sanahin with our bags and took the cable car to the bottom of the canyon to the town of Alaverdi. In Alaverdi we caught a ride back to Vanadzor stopping on the way for the steep, one hour hike straight up the side of the canyon to the amazing monastery of Horomayri. It is one of a group of wonders here in Armenia that virtually nobody in the world knows about... neither local nor tourist. I had seen it from the top of the canyon, from where it is inaccessible, but this time I actually got to wander around the grounds. The monastery is built halfway up the canyon wall, and in fact, the canyon wall is one of the walls of the monastery buildings. It is incredibly well camoflauged and hard to spot, with no signs to help you out. The buildings, carvings, khachkars, caves, views, and canyon all make it unforgettable. Can I rave any more? I haven't added the new pictures to the page yet, but you can see how well camoflauged it is from above. Our driver Movses then took us to the Vanadzor bus station where we had a great lunch and after some commotion foud a driver for the last leg of our trip, to Yerevan. This guy, who we could only assume used to be a race car driver, got us home in record time. Travel in Armenia is always an adventure. Overnight stays and public transportation though turn any trip into an adventure...

As for Ashod the programmers "redundancy" logic, all I can say is phooey! What a bunch of nonsense, just like his code ;-) This is a forum not only to impart major events of your life, but the most minor. Readers want to know what it is like to live here, and that includes, yes, the cold weather. It includes what paying bills is like, prices, shopping, showering, getting around, dealing with cops, and for those of you who were with us last summer, REMONDING :-)