YAY TACO, Part 2

When I post pictures of myself, I am usually very picky about them. I usually have several pictures taken in hopes that one of them turns out good. I like my hair to be nicely trimmed, my clothes to be decent and I'll attempt to Photoshop out any major blemishes.

However, on occasion, there is an occasion so wonderful, so monumental, that I am willing to post a picture online, flaws and all.

Right now I am in drastic need of a haircut (which is scheduled for tomorrow evening), but it was too long to wait to have this picture taken. When I checked my mail today and saw the package from Woot waiting for me, I knew today would be the happiest day of my life.

Say cheese!

The other night the girlfriend and I decided to treat ourselves like high class citizens and enjoy a nice evening snack of Chili Cheese Burritos from Taco Bell fine cheeses, crackers and smoked salmon.

On the menu was one of my personal favorites, Agour. We also picked up Sage Derby (which isn't as tasty as I remember it), a Brie, and a new one I had never heard of called Tomme Noir. It's a very buttery cheese, yet mild too. It reminded both of us of Havarti. Highly recommended.

After consumption of the vast amounts of all of the above substances, Kate decided that my remaining Agour would be better off if it had eyes and teeth. Thanks to her art skills, I will be able to say I've eaten crocodile the next time I bust out the cheese.

Armenia - Day 6

Armenia - Day 5

Day 5 was another guided tour, with a visit to Garni and Geghard.

Garni is believed to have been constructed in the 1st century. It was destroyed by an earthquake and reconstructed in recent years.





After that was a visit to Geghard, which is neat monastery carved into the side of a mountain.





I think this is one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken



Tying a hankerchief around a tree branch supposedly brings good luck, hence this mess.

At this point I had developed a nasty blister on my foot and frankly I didn't want to walk any more. The rest of the day was spent filling out postcards and packing for the long flight back home tomorrow morning.

Aural torture

Before I took my trip, I had to make a few modifications to my flights. Since my trip was booked through Air France, I had to spend some time on the phone with them. Due to my complicated itinerary, I ended up on hold for vast amounts of time while agents did god-knows-what.

In order to discourage people from calling their customer support line, they have this snooze-inducing song as their hold music. And it repeats. Over and over and over and over.

Not only that, they don't even play the whole song. They just play the last half over and over and over. Men, if you have an erection that won't go away for some reason, just pop this tune into your iPod and your unit will be retracting inside of you so fast that you'll wonder if you were born female.

On the plus side, I checked out another random video by the same band and it had boobies. I like boobies.

Armenia - Day 4

I needed a break from walking around, so I went on two group tours on days four and five.

Day four first started with a visit of Echmiadzin, the oldest cathedral in the world.

We started off with a visit to St. Hripsime, one of the older churches in Armenia.





Then was to the Gayane Church, which is much younger than Hripsime (built in 630 AD vs. 618 AD).





We ended this with a visit to the Echmiadzin Catherdral, which is the oldest in the world. I was quite impressed with the entrance to the cathedral compound.







The day ended with a trip to Zvartnots. This was a cathedral that was supposed to be built to be even more grand than Echmiadzin, however it was destroyed by an earthquake. The ruins are quite interesting - I found them much neater than any of the other stuff I saw.





An ancient sundial.

These old jugs were used for wine. They may even be big enough to supply Sarah!

Some of the collapsed stonework that they've tried to document and reassemble.

I wish I had thought to take a shot with Mount Ararat in the background earlier, but it didn't dawn on me until we were leaving, and by then I couldn't take the time to get a good picture. Oh well.

Armenia - Day 3

I don't remember what I did on day 3.

But here is a very recently built cathedral whose name I can't remember.



This is a very odd building that is impossible to get a good picture of due to haphazardly strung power lines. It now holds an indoor bazaar.