Staycation, continued

Our staycation is long since over, but I still have some photos to post. 

We spent a few mornings exploring parts of the town we hadn't seen yet.  On my list was this church, that sits on a ridge to the south above the Old Town. 

We didn't know what it was called, nor how to get there, but we were able to use our GPS to find it when we were in the vicinity.  Turned out it is a small monastery, and there was a service going on. I did not take photos inside the church, which was lovely.

The view was fantastic.

We next went to the Metekhi Church, which stands on a cliff on the left bank of the Mtkvari River.

The statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali in front of the church is very often photographed from the north, but the sun was in the wrong place at the time we were there, so here he is from the back.



Tbilisi really is a beautiful city.

 

It was a very windy day - check out the water fountain.

After all that touring, we were hungry.  We went down to the Turkish restaurant row in the Marjanishvili district and checked out the Ankara cafeteria.  The food was great, with lots of Lenten options (and some really yummy looking meat dishes that we will check out after Pascha).

Independence Day

July 4 was Thursday, but the community celebration with fireworks took place last weekend, starting at 6 p.m.  At 2 p.m., midway through naptime, I realized that my girls did not have appropriate attire.  I turned my stash upside down in search of the right fabric, and then sewed furiously until 5 p.m. Thanks to the very easy Oliver + S Popover Dress pattern, my girls had patriotic frocks by party time.  The girls had a blast and even stayed up to watch fireworks at 10 p.m.

Then on July 3, the Embassy held its official Independence Day reception. Jeremy was the emcee and I sang the national anthem.  No recording to share, but just as well since I did hear a snippet and my "see" was spectacularly off-key.  Well-supported, clear and with good tone ... but staggeringly flat.  Yikes.  Sorry guys.

I sewed myself a dress for the occasion (Made By Rae's Washi dress plus a ribbon belt) and I do have a photo of that for you.

In Georgia

We arrived in Georgia around 2 p.m., after a 4.5-hour drive. I was wrong - it's not 100 miles to Tbilisi; it's about 170. So we made decent time and didn't get lost (not really, anyway). Then we went straight to McDonald's for Filet of Fish sandwiches and french fries, and then did some art shopping and cafe sitting. We are staying at Betsy's Place, a nice hotel at the top of a hill, with a great view of the city. Tonight we went out for a good Georgian meal (sturgeon shashlik, khachapouri and salad with walnuts), and were surprised by some phenomenal restaurant music. There was a male quartet that sang some traditional Georgian music and then started taking requests ... from the table of Azeris sitting a few feet from us. Taline's Armenian blood sprang out from under her pop culture-loving American exterior, but there were no altercations. We did, however, request American music, and they obliged us with "My Way," after a terrific rendition of Funiculi Funicula for a table of Italians. Fantastic music, and a very nice evening. I stupidly forgot to bring my camera cable, so I won't be able to post pictures until I return to Yerevan on Monday.