Day Two

Day 2 Monday

Breakfasted at the hotel and anticipating a day of sights and sounds of Georgia. V, our driver from the US Embassy, picked us up at 0930. We drove to the embassy where V business. We enjoyed conversation on and off that day with V. He is a 47 year old Georgian with at least a 13 year old daughter. He works for the US Embassy and the Bi-lateral Affairs Office. He served in the Soviet Army in earlier years, being stationed in Ulan Batur, Mongolia. He told of a Russiaa Colonel who was assigning him duties. Vano told the man he had a driver’s license and should be used as a driver. The man asked how many sheep he had sold to get his driver’s license; implying the derogatory impression the Russians had/have of the Georgians. V (and most Georgians) do not like the Russians at all. They will admit there having been benefits of the Soviet presence (infrastructure, construction, etc) in Georgia, but for the most part it was not a good experience. V used the word “idiot” a lot when he was speaking of the Russians.

After leaving the embassy, we went north out of town and into the countryside. We took a backroad over some hills and began to climb. We arrived a church which sits high atop a hill overlooking Mshketa, Georgia, the ancient capital. This church was originally built on this spot in the 5^th century. It has been re-built in the 9^th and 13^th centuries. Thirteen monks from Assyria journeyed into Georgia in the 4^th century. This church and 12 others were built by each of the monks to spread Christianity into Georgia. From the balcony of the church, we looked down about 500 feet to the convergence of the two rivers, the Mkvari and another river. V showed me where the old Soviet base was along the highway. There is little left, some foundations, a drill pad and some deteriorating housing units. Apparently, the Soviets mined many areas of Georgia and did not map the areas. There are still many unlocated mines in Georgia, a significant hazard to the Georgians and certain areas are just off limits.

We then visited the cathedral in Mshketa, reportedly the shroud of Christ is buried in this church. We took a potty break in some lady’s house (Vo knew her) and she only spoke Russian. V then took us to lunch at a very unique restaurant. All bamboo construction. A covered walkway led to individual dining rooms, seating about 6-8 people. V ordered more food that six people should have eatern; cheese bread, tsenkali, dumplings, BBQ pork and beef. A unique part was the “salad”. Onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and tarragon sprouts. The tarragon is a very unique spice and quite tasty.

We then headed back into Tbilisi. Monday evening Matt picked us up for dinner. He took us to the “the Old House” on the river. What a fantastic experience. We enter from the main street through an impressive double gate into a courtyard. There are small dining rooms set about the yard (like the other place we were at). We turned right into the main building and crossed an open floor to an upper platform where we were seated. After ordering, Matt took us outside to tour the rest of the facility. Outdoor cooking facilities, tables by the river, a beautiful evening and us wondering how we can be so blessed to be experiencing this!!

Dinner was marvelous, more traditional Georgian food. A male quartet played and sang for the dinner guests while we ate. One of the men played a very excellent flute/recorder.

Our sleep/wake schedules are all screwed up and we find ourselves sleeping for a couple of hours and then waking. I did not sleep but about 1 ½ hours this night.