As we got back to the hotel and prior to getting my luggage ready so as to embark on the early morning flight to Paris I decided to take one last photograph from my hotel room window.
We were soon driven through the city to a local restaurant where a folk dinner was going to be held in our honour.
The restaurant was very well decorated ... the food we were presented with was very tasty ... the musicians who played for us all throughout the dinner were really good, (despite the fact that I personally felt the sound produced by the duduk and the voice of the singer gave it a distinct longing tone, which could have had us all cry for no apparent reason) ... and yet the overall atmosphere was not the "happiest" one we had had ... there was a clear farewel type of approach to the evening that didn't allow us to express the joy of being together for (presumably) the last time ... at least in Armenian territory ...
Walking the streets of Yerevan that evening, the eve of the Genocide Memorial day, was quite an experience. Young people with lit candles could be seen walking towards the independence Square in groups ... they were well over the hundreds ... everywhere ... and according to what we were told by Arnine .... would be spending the night awake ... out in the streets.
... Light ... there was light in the darkness of the night ... the street lamps ... the lit town hall ... the "lit" minds ...
This short "discovery" trip in Armenia made me admire its people ... more than I already admired them ... and the following morning ... soon after having left the hotel and as we stood at Zvartnots airport awaiting to board the Air France flight I looked out and as I admired the Ararat Mountain from the waiting lounge felt a sense of peacefulness taking over me ...
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