We left Hallowell, Maine on the 25 November at 01:30 and headed to Portland as we began our journey. The only problem with very reasonably priced tickets is that they are not often the best connections. On the 03:15 bus we left in light rain for Boston, where we caught a flight to JFK. All this was fine until we had a layover of over five hours at Kennedy before the flight to Istanbul. Then in Istanbul we had yet another five hour plus layover before the flight left for Tbilisi. Part of the Istanbul time was spent in Starbucks, where the dad of this young boy gave me permission to take a photo. At age three you can sleep anywhere, unlike those of us on our 70's...shopping carts are out of the question.
We arrived in Tbilisi at 17:00 on Saturday, the 26th of November.
Sunday was spent sleeping in...after spending 13 hours in bed we actually accumulated 8.5 hours of sleep. When you sleep for 5 hours and then are wakeful or restless you try not to get out of bed and after listening to a podcast David was back asleep and Marty eventually went back asleep as well.
After breakfast, our first business was to get a new bathroom heater. Our small flat has only only a small gas heater in the main room, but that does not reach the bathroom. We got over to one of the many markets and did our shopping. Dato, our friend, said the proprietor was the sister of someone who lives in his courtyard. He saw her brother in her face.
After we were at the market we headed to Goodwill, a large grocery store chain in the city, and got a lot of the things we needed. The big stores are convenient, but they have driven away the little mom-and-pop stores that we miss so much.
Note the presence of Oreos on the shelf at Goodwill. First time we recall seeing them in a store here in Tbilisi.
David contemplates the choices of beer before purchasing. They are almost all imports now; hopefully we can find the local brews in smaller stores.
Now, it is interesting that Goodwill don't allow photos to be taken in their stores here. Cannot figure out why, what State or store chain secret might be disclosed in a photo. Marty did not see the sign and so was told not to take any more photos.
After unpacking and cooling our jets at the apartment for a bit, we headed out to see just what changes had taken place on Agmashenebeli, the major street near us. Several years ago the government started to do a face lift on the street, but it was only on the business district on the northwestern end and we live near the southeastern end. We had been wondering how long it might take for the renovation work to come our way. Well, it did during the 15 months since our last visit here. This instant gentrification is an assault on our senses because the change is so great.
Renovation takes many forms and has many consequences. In the case of our part of the city the first immediate change was the disappearance of several small markets at which we always shopped. They are just gone. The larger market in the square nearest to us has changed hands and been upgraded in quality, but it doesn't have the same neighborhood market feeling it used to have.
Once on Agmashenebeli the renovation hits you full face. The buildings are all the same, but their faces have been cleaned and painted; the old shops have been replaced with boutique coffee shops, wine stores and small up-scale restaurants. Traffic has been blocked from three or four blocks so that pedestrians can enjoy the ambience. We suppose that tourists and the more affluent Georgians will be drawn here, but the charming neighborhood that we remember is gone.
Here are a few shots of the present Agmashenebeli. In warmer weather, it will be crowded.
'Tis old photo below shows one of the things we loved that has disappeared.
No comments:
Post a Comment