End of Georgia, Last Day and After

Lost

On Saturday, our last day in Georgia, I did a blog post, but it wouldn’t upload, and when I tried later it had vanished. 

I am home now, but was too tired to re-do it yesterday, so here is my second try now. 

After breakfast at the hotel…

Breakfast room, looking toward lobby

…..we headed out for a walk. Hot day. No picture, but we saw a derelict stretch limo just parked to rot on a street. Most all running cars are shiny and in good shape, and car washes are a booming business, but when a car is not useful anymore, in just gets abandoned anywhere. 

First destination: Stalin’s propaganda printing presses to drum up support for Communism, while he was still in his home country, before he became Big Stuff. We found the building, which was supposed to have an on-site caretaker who would let visitors in, past all the locks and gates, when you rang the bell.

But no one came, so we did not give 5 Lari each to the Georgia Communist Party.

Beyond that stop, we went to a shooters’ supply shop at a gun range. The shop opened, eventually, much after the posted opening time, and the shooting range was closed. Maria got a 511 t-shirt with a Georgia flag. SOMEBODY had to get a t-shirt on the trip. From there we went to a Winchester gun store. I hear gun prices are 50% higher in Georgia than at home.

Walking on, we saw this odd sight….

…. hundreds of snails on a long metal fence. Fried. It was hot 🥵. 

No idea why they were there, but my theory was that they crawled up in the cool nights to savor the warmth, and didn’t get down in time when day came. Snail trap, anyone? 

A random strip of pretty roadside park, in an otherwise dilapidated area. 

More typically, in most parts of the city, sidewalks may have random deep holes in them, be missing parts, have loose tiles (likewise with loose manhole covers, which can be interesting), be blocked by vehicles, or just be missing altogether, so one navigates the streets in traffic. 

  A view to the fortress in the hills. Note the roadwork.

This road is in full traffic operation. No signs saying “Men Working,” or caution cones. It’s just drive at your own risk, like with the cows and dogs in the road, but in this case operating machines, raised utility covers, holes, and not much space to maneuver around the obstacle course. 

But, one does what one can. So too in finding places to live. Is this place habitable? Of course it is habitable… well… one section is.

This was near our hotel, to which we went back for a break. It was HOT 🥵. 

Later we went out to find dinner. Walking. The first place was just fast food. Walk on. The second was closed. More walking, across the river, to the city center. It was hotter than the morning. 

The third place was open, pretty, and cool, with misters on the awnings that sprayed the atmosphere and anyone nearby, but only had menus by QR code, which didn’t work on any gizmo we had. So we walked on. “Walk on, Walk on, with hope in your heart…..” Eventually we went to the restaurant where we had dined at the beginning of our trip, but this time inside. 

That little bird is a quail.

That drink was called lemonade. I never did get an actual lemonade, in all the times I ordered one. Evidently the term is used for any sweetened water drink, with some fruit in it, or Waldmeister, as the case may be. 

Note, behind the glass are the traditional Khinkali, filled dumplings. 

Our view out the restaurant window. 

The same church from a different angle on our walk back to the hotel. It was still hot. 

By the way, in answer to an earlier question about the statue - it is the founder of the city. 

Good bye, Tbilisi. Goodbye, Georgia. 

Then it was finish packing, and try to sleep a bit - I mostly didn’t because some people decided it was a good night to be noisy until 1:30 in the morning, and we had to get up at 2:00 a.m. We had a driver take us to the airport, to fly to Istanbul, then Zurich. Then Home, Sweet Home, to try to get the inner biome back on track. And to preserve fruit. The young people froze a good quantity, so the pears are about done, but the plum tree is still loaded, and grapes are about ready. 

The End of that trip. 

I may post a couple of bits of art sketches from the trip, later.