February 17,2019
11:26am
Pachelbel Canon in D is playing in the background while I
attempt once again to resurrect my arid blogging days.
Ruel and I just celebrated 17 years of being husband and
wife a little over 2 weeks ago and he decided on the spur of the moment to
treat me and the girls to something great and wonderful! He has never been the
adventurous kind…but I guess he just amazed me some more with his capacity to evolve.
We almost always have the choice to go right or left at
the fork down the road.
Rise above or sink down low!
To believe or to doubt!
To worry or to keep the faith…with hope and love tucked
nicely in the pockets of our hearts!
And so, our adventure began…
First Day, February
11,2019:
After almost 3 hours of packing our stuff with the help
of my 15 year old, I was able to doze off at almost 1:30am…setting the alarm to
2:00am because taxi pick up was booked for 3am. And by God’s wonderful grace
and provision we set off to the airport.
It was cold outside. Getting inside Hamad Airport was
most soothing. It was warm and cozy. Check in was a breeze with just a trickle
of passengers at that time. The counter agent was friendly and so nice.
We had our early morning meal right after. The girls had
Burger King, while Ruel and I shared in my big breakfast of hash browns, sunny
side up egg, sausage, brewed coffee with garlic bread from another food stall.
Good enough, we had a long walk to the far end of the
airport since our plane was at gate E. Then, had to take a shuttle bus to it…
and boy, it was super cold with a light drizzle. The sun was gloriously rising
as we headed for our A320 airbus.
Watching people in their winter coats was very
entertaining.
Marina spotted a church choir mate and friend. She was
with her parents. We waved to them as they were seated 3 rows away.
Marcelina got the window seat while I got the middle and
Marina was at the aisle. Ruel was across the aisle. Ruel had the 2 seats to
himself. He was lucky to be able to transfer to the window and stuff most of
the pillows, blankets and his thick jacket on the vacant one.
The flight was a little over 3 hours and less than an
hour before landing, Marcelina announced to us that she could see snow capped
mountains already…and of course, we remembered to take our first photos of
Georgia, the country, not the US State but the former USSR colony.
It was such an awesome sight!
The in-flight meal was warm and delicious! The little one
was happy with her Qatar Air kiddie gift and she kept insisting that the orange
tails to her space ship bag was just a ribbon and didn’t stand for the
anything…if you say so my dear, but I still think it represented the flame from
the booster rockets, while she says it is just for decorative purposes. That is
my strong willed daughter for you.
And so, we landed with just a bit of sleep for me.
Ala, our pick-up transport service grinned a wide smile
with twinkling pale blue eyes to us while she held a sign that read, Olegitos.
After a short pause exchanging currencies and deciding
where to get a local GeoCel sim card, Ala, herded us to her spanking new
Mercedes Benz SUV. Weather was a cool 6*. She gave us tips on what to eat and
pointed out the sights to us. She was a bit apologetic that the trees were
brown and the landscape very grey… a novelty to us instead since we have never
experienced four seasons weather ever. She also admonished us for giving 10
Lari/Gel to the beggar with baby, saying it was too much money!
The architecture
of the government buildings along the way were very interesting and ambitious
towards the new Georgia…but the move to preserve the old Georgia was very
strikingly attractive. The cobblestone
filled avenue of our AirBnB apartment
along 88 D. Aghmasheneveli was more than
I could ask for. It turns out that the apartment#7 was part of a World War 2
building painted light pink and we were situated on the 5th
floor…giving us an expansive view of the city, the landmarks and part of the Caucacus mountains.
We had an added bonus each time, the elevator was quite
antiquated and gave us such a thrill and challenge to embark on.
Our landlord, Oleg was a young, huge Georgian who lifted
our heaviest luggage with ease. He gave us a tour of his beautiful apartment
with 2 wide rooms and high ceilings and 2 balconies. He assures us that he will
just be a phone call away if ever we need him.
I made a wry mental joke to myself, Oh yeah, indeed if we
get stuck in the scary elevator, please come to our rescue at once…which thank
God, did not happen at all and was a source of much glee and fun for us
instead. Oleg was proud to announce to us that the Olegitos apartment was one
of the few buildings in Tbilisi that had an elevator.
After a short siesta, we headed out for our first exploration of beautiful Tbilisi at past 5pm. We retraced
the path Ala, our airport pick-up took to bring us to our accommodations. We
found the GeoCell store. The clerk who assisted us was very helpful and pretty.
We walked a few more meters and turned a corner and found the restaurant Ala
suggested , Shemoikhede Genatsvale. It sat beside the Mtkvari river. Interior
was quaint and rustic. Decorative plastic vines and grapes were very appealing.
Golden lights were very muted and soft
to the eyes.
We had some Georgian nuts while we waited for our food.
The Megruli Kachapuri, Khinkali and the
eggplant dishes did not disappoint at all! Waiters were most helpful and
professional. Even the cleaning lady was very warm in the WC which compensated
for the freezing water coming out of their tap.
The experience warmed me up so much that I did not put on
my coat as we walked back to the apartment. This amused Ruel and the girls so
much since we were witness to the facial expressions of shock of passers-by and
other pedestrians who could not understand why I was not bundled up like them
in 5* weather.
I laughingly joked…that’s peri-menopause for you!
After some frustrated discussion about towels and pillow
cases and sharing of bed by the little one who did not like to sleep alone on a
big bed in a new place,
lights off was welcomed much earlier than our usual time.
No comments:
Post a Comment