First Day of In-Person School For H

The Monday after our return was Kiddo's first day of in-person school at his new school (since we decided to switch schools in-between evacuations--not knowing we would be evacuated again). He had missed the first official week back since we had to delay our return to go to Georgia, but H took it like a champ. After exactly 1 ½  years since Kiddo last being at school in-person, walking him to the bus stop felt so . . . normal.

Before:

After:

When he came home in the afternoon, I asked how his day went and he said "strenuous!" But then he talked about how much better it was to be in-person than on a computer.  It has been a crazy couple of year, but I love seeing who H is becoming!

Back to Bangalore--Again!!

Once we found out H's school was going in-person again, we decided it was time to go back to India. (Since we were in Dubai, our return could be much more flexible.) However, we had booked our Georgian holiday before we knew we would be going back, so we scheduled our return to India for the weekend after we came back to Dubai. That meant that as soon as we got back to Dubai, we needed to start getting ready to leave again. I know you're probably thinking, "Come on, you've been living out of your suitcases.  How hard can this be?" Well, it turns out that you accumulate a lot of things (toys, books, clothes, etc.) while just living, so every time we changed locations, there was always a whittling down process. Plus, Brandon and the kids were still doing remote work and school all week, so that was keeping them busy. The up-side was that, since we were living in a hotel, we didn't have to worry about making the place clean before we left!

We took advantage of our last week by eating all the foods

we'd miss in India: burgers and Lebanese were at the top of the list.

This also meant some fun evening walks.

And then it was time to go! We ended up buying one more suitcase so we could bring back some fun things that are harder to find in India (ie marshmallows, Japanese curry paste, etc.), but all in all I think we did pretty good.

Landing in the middle of the night is typical for any international Indian flight, but no matter.

After a good night's sleep in our own beds, we ordered our favorite biryani to celebrate our return. After four months of being evacuated, it was good to be home.

Republic of Georgia!

Knowing we might go back to India at any moment, we wanted to take advantage of Dubai's proximity to so many great countries during an upcoming school break. Once we realized that Tbilisi was just a short three and a half-hour flight, it was an easy decision. The Republic of Georgia had been on our list of to-go places when we lived in Russia, but we never made it. Now was our chance and we couldn't pass it up! So be prepared: this was the trip of a lifetime and we have the pictures to prove it!

We arrived in Tbilisi at the same time as one of their Olympians (remember how the 2020 Summer Olympics were postponed by a year?)!  It was pretty cool to see all the hype in the airport as he walked out of the terminal.

The entire city felt somehow nostalgic, even though we had never been there before--sort of like a smaller Moscow, or maybe similar to Sarajevo. We were in love.

The views from our apartment near Freedom Square

First things first: food! It is only a little bit of an exaggeration to say that half the reason we came to Georgia was for the food. We tried a little restaurant down the street from our apartment for an early dinner and it was delicious!  CJ was upset that they didn't have khinkali on the menu, but we assured her that there would be plenty of opportunities.

We were hoping to attend a concert--an opera or ballet--while we were there, but couldn't verify online whether they were performing.  So after dropping the kids back off at the apartment, Brandon and I walked up to the National Opera House and strolled around the area. The office was closed (Covid?) so we scrapped the concert idea, but thoroughly enjoyed our walk.

 

 

The next morning we were ready to go adventuring in the city! We were centrally located, so we were able to walk almost everywhere (and take a million pictures along the way).  

 

 

We walked through the Meidan Bazaar on our way to our first destination: the Palace of Queen Darejan.

Next, we intended to ride the cable car up to the Mother Georgia statue, but it wasn't running (Covid?).  So we walked back across the river for some lunch to fortify ourselves...

Our first tarhun of the trip!

Khachapuri! (even this gluten free girl 

had to eat a bite or two of khachapuri everyday)

... for the trek up the hill to see her.

 

From Mother Georgia it was a short walk over to the Narikala Fortress. CJ loved climbing all over with Brandon!

From there it was a short walk down the hill to the Leghvtakhevi Waterfall, Tbilisi Central Mosque, and the Orbeliani Baths (which we did not partake of). 

After an ice cream break, we decided to take a short boat ride on the Vere.

On our walk back to the apartment, we stopped to look around at a church.  

As we walked down a side street, we noticed a delivery man stopping to get a bread-type thing from a basement window.  Brandon asked him (in Russian) if what he was eating was good and he assured us it was.  So we investigated that window and there was a woman making what we learned were lobiani in what looked like a tandoor oven. We got a couple to try and they were amazing!  Such a fun surprise to discover a new Georgian food from someone's basement window.

With such provisions, the rest of the walk back to our AirBnb went by quickly.

We spotted this beautiful building across the street

on our walk back; it's a school.

The next day we joined a tour group to explore some nearby towns. Although there were a half-dozen other tourists in our group, we were the only family on the tour; everyone else seemed to be single. A few were primarily Russian-speakers, so they had their own guide even though we were all travelling together. (Every once in a while, Brandon would listen in on the other tour and tell me what slant they were getting.) There was also one other American on the tour--she works for an NGO in the Middle East and was also in--and it was fun to chat with her while we travelled.

The first stop on our day-trip was Uplistsikhe--a place we knew the kids would love. After learning a little about its history from our guide, we were free to wander around the ruins.  It was a lot of fun--and perhaps the kids' favorite stop of the day!

After, we went to the nearby town of Gori where we were served lunch in a local person's backyard (the best mchadi I've ever had!), and were treated with some traditional dancing. We were a little undecided about going to someone house for lunch instead of just going to a restaurant, but when we were told there would be entertainment as well, we were sold. (I like me a dinner-and-a-show!) The kids--I gotta say--were on their best behavior: waiting to eat until the host indicated that it was ok, eating the mushroom soup even though they don't love mushrooms, saying please and thank you, and overall being awesome. The host was so kind--showing the kids around her yard and grape vines, letting them play with their pets--and commented multiple times on how great the kids were behaving and even did a toast to them at the end of the meal.

The town of Gori is famous for one thing: being the birth place of Joseph Stalin. We went to the Stalin museum, but didn't dwell too much. We definitely lost CJ's attention with this one, but given the subject-matter, that was ok.  

The museum includes a replica of Stalin's childhood home...

...and his personal train carriage.

Our last stop of the day was Mtskheda, one of the oldest cities in Georgia and the former capital. First we enjoyed the views overlooking the city from the Jvari Monastery...

...and then we went into the city to the Old Town to explore the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. 

On our walk back to the bus, we bought some very chewy tklapi to share and then had to stop for chebureki when we saw it for sale. A little taste of Russia in Georgia!

The kids--ok, all of us--slept most of the way back to Tbilisi and we got back just in time to hit evening traffic. Since we were still tired, we hired a taxi from there to take us home, but by the time we got there it was time for dinner. We walked to a nearby basement cafe we had noticed near our AirBnb and had a wonderful dinner before calling it a day.

This couple behind us were speaking English and were obviously on a first date.

The guy spoke to us when his date went to the restroom--turns out he was American!

He seemed like a nice guy, but not a great date; he talked about himself the entire time.

Kharcho for me and khinkali for everyone else!

The next day was our last full day so we wanted to see as much as we could! We walked to Georgia's largest church, the Holy Trinity Cathedral and it was very impressive!

This dog followed us most of the way 

until he ditched us for another group of tourists.

Although these walks around the city aren't far,

they always take longer than we think they will.

So we stopped at a little lobiani shop for some sustenance.

After, we walked to the Clock Tower to catch it's twelve o'clock puppet show.  We had read that it was overrated--too crowded and the show wasn't anything that great--and it was, but that's ok.  Then we went to the Dry Bridge Flea Market, a giant flea market full of pretty much anything you could want.  Brandon kept a look out for Russian military belt buckles, but with no luck (everyone he asked said they were hard to come by). And I was on the search for some amazing art, but I didn't find anything I liked. Luckily, there was a nice restaurant nearby where we could take a much needed break for lunch.

After lunch, we caught a cab to the Chronicle of Georgia, a massive structure outside of Tbilisi which shows various scenes from the Bible. It was definitely giving us Volgograd vibes in the best way!

The view of the Tbilisi Reservoir looked lovely!

Too bad we didn't bring our swimsuits!

Next, we went back into town to see a few things that we had neglected, such as the Metekhi Church, which we had walked past at least four times.

The next morning we had a little time before our flight, so we explored the Georgian National Museum. The room about the former Soviet occupation got a little dark, but there was something fun for everyone to explore.  The girls especially liked seeing the traditional clothing.

We had one last delicious meal at a restaurant off of Freedom Square, and then had to hurry back to our AirBnb and collect our things to go to the airport. 

Khinkali are supposed to be eaten with your hands, btw.

While Brandon was in line to check in, the kids and I went to three different airport shops, trying to buy a stuffed khinkali toy with the last of our lari. We must not have had quite enough because everyone told us 'no,' but at the last shop the salesperson was willing to sell it for the amount that we had!

Totally worth the money!

The one hiccup of  the trip was discovering that because we neglected to pay for our checked baggage beforehand, we had to pay through the nose to do it in person. But, really, a small price to pay for such an incredible trip! The food was fantastic, the people were so friendly, the sites were amazing--it was a fabulous trip!