Day Two

Day 2: Monday We ate breakfast at the hotel, anticipating a day filled with the sights and sounds of Georgia. Vano, our driver from the U.S. Embassy, picked us up at 9:30 a.m. We drove to the embassy, where Vano took care of some business. We enjoyed conversations with him on and off throughout the day. He was a forty-seven-year-old Georgian with a daughter who was at least thirteen. He worked for the U.S. Embassy and the Bilateral Affairs Office. In his earlier years, Vano had served in the Soviet Army and had been stationed in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He told us about a Russian colonel who was assigning him duties. Vano told the man that he had a driver’s license and should be used as a driver. The colonel asked how many sheep he had sold to get his license, reflecting the derogatory attitude Russians held toward Georgians. Vano, like most Georgians, did not like the Russians at all. Georgians would admit that the Soviet presence had brought some benefits, including infrastructure and construction, but for the most part it had not been a good experience. Vano used the word “idiot” frequently when speaking of the Russians. After leaving the embassy, we traveled north out of town and into the countryside. We took a back road over the hills and began to climb. We arrived at a church sitting high atop a hill overlooking Mtskheta, Georgia’s ancient capital. A church was originally built on this site in the fifth century and was rebuilt in the ninth and thirteenth centuries. Thirteen monks from Assyria journeyed into Georgia during the sixth century. This church and twelve others were established by the monks as they spread Christianity throughout Georgia. From the balcony of the church, we looked down about five hundred feet to the confluence of the Mtkvari River and another river. Vano showed me where an old Soviet military base had stood along the highway. Little remained except some foundations, a drill pad, and several deteriorating housing units. Apparently, the Soviets had mined many areas of Georgia without properly mapping them. Many mines remained unlocated, creating a significant hazard for the Georgian people. Certain areas were simply off-limits. We then visited the cathedral in Mtskheta, where the robe of Christ is reportedly buried. We took a bathroom break at the home of a woman Vano knew. She spoke only Russian. Vano then took us to lunch at a very unusual restaurant constructed entirely of bamboo. A covered walkway led to individual dining rooms, each seating about six to eight people. Vano ordered more food than six people should have eaten: cheese bread, khinkali dumplings, and barbecued pork and beef. A particularly unusual part of the meal was the “salad,” made with onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and fresh tarragon shoots. The tarragon had a distinctive flavor and was quite tasty. We then headed back into Tbilisi. On Monday evening, Matt picked us up for dinner and took us to the Old House, a restaurant beside the river. What a fantastic experience. We entered from the main street through an impressive double gate and stepped into a courtyard. Small private dining rooms were arranged around the grounds, much like those at the restaurant where we had eaten lunch. We turned right into the main building, crossed an open floor, and climbed to an upper platform where we were seated. After we ordered, Matt took us outside to tour the rest of the property. There were outdoor cooking facilities, tables beside the river, and a beautiful evening settling around us. We found ourselves wondering how we could be so blessed to be experiencing all of this. Dinner was marvelous and included more traditional Georgian food. A male quartet played and sang for the dinner guests while we ate. One of the men played the flute, or perhaps a recorder, exceptionally well. Our sleeping and waking schedules were completely disrupted. We found ourselves sleeping for a couple of hours and then waking again. I slept only about an hour and a half that night.