Georgia: The Land of Many Playgrounds

After 3 nights in the wine region we headed to the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. A nice thing about the Georgian language is that things are often pronounced how you would guess they are pronounced.

The previous day there were elections that had very low levels of turnout and no international monitors (according to our driver, I did not confirm this). Many people who are opposed to the current government chose not to vote since the last election they viewed as invalid (international monitors cited concerning irregularities).

There is supposed to be a fence behind those vehicles which was torn down by the protesters.

We arrived in Tbilisi a little before we could check in to our apartment in old town so Katy got a latte, and the kids got a cake from the bakery across the street. We then were able to drop off our bags, and we headed to a playground. We stumbled upon a playground that I didn’t know was there on the way to the one that I knew about.

There were people cleaning the pedestrian only streets, and we were able to piece together that there were protests the previous night where people showed their displeasure at the election situation by burning things. Luckily, this happened the day after we arrived in town.

Archer examining his vending machine options with an ice cream.

After lunch of khinkali, Georgian dumplings, we headed back to the apartment, and Rose took a nap. Archer and I went out to get an IPA and play a game while Katy enjoyed some zero stimulation time supervising Rose.

A Rose nap time beer and game with Archer (black IPA).

I went in the wrong door at the grocery store and discovered a giant open food hall with probably 20+ venders. One thing with traveling with a 2 and 4 year old is that we often prioritize the “ease” of eating at a place vs places that are the most highly regarded. We do have some less intense days, but at this point the kids have been going for 2+ weeks. Rose has had very few naps where she has been able to sleep as long as she wants and bedtime has generally been 1-2 hours later than in Colorado. Needless to say, by dinner time we are not always operating at 100%.

We did the food hall for dinner, and I had a regional cornmeal mush and chicken dish. Katy had pho. She was eager to eat some food not from Georgia/Azerbaijan.

Brief Recap of Full Day 1 and 2

Day 2: Walked around the old city. Went to a smaller park with a few rides after nap. Went then went to a hipster restaurant in an old Soviet era factory.

If you are bored, read this menu at the hipster place. It is rather amusing.

The natural history museum. Rose was more interested in the stairs than in the museum.

The old city wall and border of old town. They are “renovating” a lot of the dilapidated old town, making it more of a tourist draw.

Archer examining things at the flea market.

So I guess I am telling our third full in Tbilisi via photos, semi real time.

The latte art on my morning beverage after the grocery store unexpectedly didn’t open until 9a when the plan was to get food for the kids and play in the park. Well I showed up before 8a, not even thinking it wouldn’t open until 9a. Slightly grumpy, then had AI find me this coffee shop that had breakfast that happened to be near the big church we wanted to go to, so I came back and got Katy and an Uber whisked us off.

A giant church in the middle of Tbilisi, visible from most places in town. Newly built. Shiny.

Two communal cups you can use to drink the holy water. Due to its holy nature this is sanitary. Enough water in the bucket for a little bathing, but I only saw people drinking it from the blue cup.

Tbilisi zoo is definitely a grade C zoo. Does not compare at all to the amazing Baku zoo. Total admission price $3.75 for 3 people, Rose free

Rose rode the swings and cars. A little lower stakes than the Ferris wheel. I asked Katy if I could ride the Ferris wheel with Archer, her mouth dropped open, her right eye twitched, and then she turned around and continued walking like I had said nothing. I took that as a no.

The last 3 days archer and I went out and explored while Rose napped. Katy chose to stay in and nap/decompress/not see any humans. Today I was feeling rather “short” with the kids, and Katy let me go and get some Georgian tea to take home and have a beer and decompress. The tea shop was not what I was looking for, but the beer was cold.

We then went to go to the digital art museum. Turns out that the entries are tours every two hours. Rose then spotted a donut with pink icing and sprinkles and the options were to give her the donut or else. We chose the donut.

We split a tarragon flavored local naturally sparkling mineral water. Way better than it sounds. This is now the only water Katy wants to drink in Georgia, even if it is $1 vs $0.15 for a bottle. High roller she is.

At least he wasn’t trying to run into the road.

Katy really planned this all along so she could take us in the 5 story shopping mall and ride the elevator up. Rose at least once on every floor tested their cleaning by using her back as a mop on the floor. Mix of US and European brands.

We walked around some more and just explored. This was Rose’s favorite statue. We had a yummy dinner and the kids are kind of shot after being gone for 20 days. Archer misses Wally cat and a little homesick. We used a movie for dinner entertainment for the first time in Georgia (7 nights)

The next day

Our last day in Tbilisi was going to be more of a “down” day. I had stocked up on donuts and chocolate milk from the grocery store the night before because I learned the hard way the previous day that the big grocery store doesn’t open until 9am when we went to get treats.

The kids and I played in the park and ate chocolate milk and donuts. We were going to stay out later, but Archer had to poop. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to change Rose’s pants since they got wet on a slide with what I hope was water from the parks sprinkler system… Well, when we got back Archer no longer had to poop, and then I got a message at 9:02 from a new number, “do you have a problem”. The rather rude message aside, it turns out there was a scheduling glitch, which was my fault, which had a driver show up at 9am the day before we needed him. After an hour of stress we had things sorted out, but my jovial mood had been thwarted.

All of us then went out, and Katy grabbed a coffee, and we wandered across the river to a new park that also had a water park. While looking for a bakery earlier in the day, I had happened on an article from a baker saying their favorite places to get bread products, and we were near one. Luckily google maps had a photo of when they used to have a sheet of paper with their products taped to the front of their store. There was nothing like this when we got there and google translate got us – round bean filled bread, a long potato filled bread, and a “layered kachapuri” which was more puff pastry dough with their traditional cheese in the middle. These are all cooked in a tone, which is a traditional clay oven. We then went back to the park and ate our yummy early lunch while Rose worked up the courage to go in the splash pad.

Mailing some post cards in a shady looking postbox

After lunch, we all walked through the flea market, and Archer came up with some grand ideas for what he wanted to spend his pocket money on, including a large axe.

We then went back to the food hall, and the kids got a traditional fountain soda ($1.75); tarragon is Katy’s favorite flavor and the most traditional flavor. During Soviet times it got so popular it was exported throughout a large part of the USSR. I grabbed some more tea from one of the shops, and we headed back.

After Rose was down for a nap, Katy and Archer went to get a coffee. When they came back Archer and I went out. We went back to the flea market and decided a keychain is a more realistic thing to buy. While we were walking through, the person Archer bought a key from on a previous visit came up and gave him another key for free, and boy was Archer excited!

We then stopped at the cafe at the end of the flea market street, and Archer got a milkshake and I got a beer, and we played a game and listened to some live music.

Heading back, Archer found the perfect keychain, which was shaped like a key, and we headed back and put all of his keys (3) on his key chain.

We then headed out to go back to the fair. We took the subway where we had an issue. The issue was Katy and Archer stopped while I was halfway in the subway because it was so crowded, and then the door started to close on Rose and me. Neither of us thought the door would just close and not reopen, but that is what happened. Some helpful bystanders helped pry it open so Rose and I could get in the car. Note to self, Soviet era subways might not have the modern feature of stopping closing if you are hit by the door, so push your way in.

The very long escalator ride down the subway

We took the cable car up to the amusement park (our second visit). The kids rode some rides, Rose went to the petting zoo (archer didn’t want to), we rode the Ferris wheel, and ate dinner. The kids got slushees to end the night; the guy recognized us from the other day and gave us three, one of each flavor. It turns out the green is tarragon flavored and not too sweet.