Leaving Tomorrow

Lunch at the new Italian restaurant in Saburtalo

We are getting ready to leave which means that all week has been a rush to have lunches and dinners with family and friends until we can see them again.  The weather is turning a bit warmer and sunny, just beautiful for our last few days and hours in Tbilisi.

Last evening we had dinner with family, it was so wonderful!  We ate until we were totally stuffed.  There were several salads, wonderful pickled tomatoes and peppers, fish, chicken, breads, fruit, and cakes!  We had so much fun.  We invited all our Georgian family to come to Maine for our 50th wedding anniversary in 2015!  Several immediately said they would come.  It will be so special if they all can.  We shall see.

Today we had lunch with our old friends Larry and Maia Good; folks we've known for a dozen years here and in Armenia.  It had been a year since we last had seen them, and we enjoyed catching up on our families' doings.  Larry loves restoring old cars and currently is doing a 50s-era Pebeda convertible (Russian).  We asked him if he plans to ultimately ship it to the US, but he said he hasn't thought ahead that far - right now the restoration is enough of a goal in itself.

On the way to the restaurant in Gorgasali Square, we passed a sculpture in front of the where the Doll Museum had been.  The museum was a wonderful building that was torn down to make way for something "new and wonderful" (probably a casino or hotel)...gotta wonder about urban planning some times.  In the middle of the sculpture you'll see a young boy playing.  It is always a place to find children, as the sculpture seems to invite such activity.

Also on our way to the restaurant we passed the cat and dog lady, who always has kittens, cats, puppies, and dogs in her care.  So, being lovers of critters, we gave her a small donation and in return she captured two of her kittens so Marty could capture this photo.

Once in the restaurant (Tartine) we were serenaded by this older man and another fellow on the bass.  It was interesting because although under other conditions the music would have been lovely, these two men were often not in key and there was quite a bit of dissonance at times.  We did chuckle about this and enjoyed it anyway.  Atmosphere!

On our way back to the flat we passed through the ever-present flea market that expands greatly on weekends.  After a long day of sitting without much business there are only a few things you can do.  One of those is play chess.  We passed three groups of men playing chess all within about 50 feet of each other.

Always we are attracted to the visually interesting.  This spiral stair case on the outside of the building was really quite stunning and made even nicer with the laundry being tied off on it.

The last sure sign that we are nearing Christmas here is Georgia is the presence of the little carved trees which will adorn tables and some very large ones free standing on the floors of homes.  At the end of the holiday season these will have dried out and will be burned.  Friday and today were the first two days we have started seeing these for sale.

Tomorrow morning we will leave the flat at 9:30 and head to the airport.  Then it's on to Istanbul, Amsterdam (where we'll overnight), and on into Boston.  With luck the weather won't prevent us from getting on the bus and arriving in Portland and then extricate the car from the parking lot and on to Adam's Christmas party at the group home.  Soon we'll be seeing all of you again and we are so looking forward to catching up with you all.