Armenia Day 1 - nkcgoesarmenia

On Thursday, the trip to Armenia finally began: 65 singers, Thomas Kammel, Daniela Burkart, Kyoko Kanazawa, Carmen Roese, Katrin Beck, and Giovanni & Stefania Bergamasco gathered in front of the SG to head to Frankfurt. At the airport, the choir encountered an airport employee who had been a great help to us during the Ireland chaos 3 years ago. After a brief moment of fear over overbooking, everyone from NKC found a seat on the plane, and we took off with an hour's delay.

When we finally landed in Yerevan, it was 4 AM (Armenian time) and by 6 AM we reached the Ani Hotel Yerevan, our hotel for the next 6 nights. There we had time for breakfast, and many took the opportunity to catch up on a bit of sleep.

At 10:30 AM, we set off for our city tour in a double-decker bus, visiting the sightseeing points of Yerevan. We made a stop at a viewpoint where we had a stunning panoramic view of the Armenian capital. At our last stop, the opera, two singers from the Armenian Little Singers were already waiting to guide us to our lunch, during which it felt like we walked the entire route of the bus ride on foot ;) (by the end of the day, we had around 22,000 steps).

After lunch at a shopping center (the restaurant was a bit overwhelmed by our number), we walked to the Matenadaran Museum. The museum is named after the developer of the Armenian alphabet and serves as the central archive for ancient Armenian manuscripts. There, we were guided through the rooms in smaller groups and learned about Armenian medicine, science, and writing. Among other things, we discovered the natural dyes of the Armenian flag: red from cochineal, blue from indigo, and yellow from saffron. In a monk-like room, many historical scripture books were displayed, allowing insights into the science, culture, and language of Armenia. After our first museum visit, we also had our first “Grubbafoddo”.

We were allowed to spend the evening as we wished, and Yerevan, with its lively downtown, water shows with music, and a wine festival, offered many great opportunities.

Thus, the first day of travel came to an end, and since the journey was still tiring for everyone, we fell exhausted into our beds.