Weekend in the bilisi of T

Although I love seeing friends I am beginning to realize that I hate big groups of people more and more. Too many opinions, too many bodies and it’s near impossible to get anything done in a timely fashion.  We look like a swarm of foreigners and you know how I hate swarms!

It was an awesome weekend though.  We arrived to Tbilisi Friday in the late afternoon, found a hostel that could accommodate off of us and waited for all the “out of towners” to arrive.  The wine in this country is actually out of this world!  It actually tastes like fresh, sweet as hell, grape juice.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  As we waited for everyone to slowly trickle in, it was time to bust out some wine—4 bottles were easily polished off with 7 of us there and off we went to a hooka bar—why “we” decided to sit outside on the covered patio while it rained boggles my mind, it was freezing.  Clare calls and says they have arrived in Tbilisi.

H- “Walk towards the man on the horse.”

C-“There is no man on the horse”

H- “He is on a mini mountain with a church behind him—his name is Erikle” 

So I had noticed a guy walking up and down old Tbilisi while Katherine and I, were on the phone  and on our way to pick up the girls from the Maxi Pad bridge.  I fully stopped him and started a conversation—as I fully hung up on Clare mid-convo.

H-“Hey, I’ve noticed you walking up and down the street. Where are you going?”

Giorgi- “I am meeting a friend. Where are you from?”

H- “I’m from Canada and she is from America. What’s your name and where are you from?”

Giorgi- “My name is LEBRON. And I am a basketball player. And I am from Tbilisi.” 

H- *confused look* “Ok, bye. See you later. “ (Please note- that his name was NOT Lebron and it never will be. There are NO LEBRONS in this country and if there are they are visitors—your name is Giorgi you damn liar!) 

The group was complete by 11pm and it was time for more wine.   We all ate, drank and went back to the hostel as we were all tired from a full work week and the long commute. Try getting 10 people into a hostel unannounced definitely not the easiest of tasks. Well we somehow did it—granted 8 people squeezed into a room that should only fit 4, and there was a lot of bed sharing but it wasn’t even the sexy kind.  One of us, Pete, got lucky by sleeping on a couch that I am sure was made of marble and barbed wire.  It was also the QUIETEST hostel in the universe. We could make practically no noise after 11—you live you learn I guess. Next time, we plan a bit more!

The next day we checked out Lilo—a large bazaar on the outskirts of Tbilisi.  I was very excited about getting some clothes. *long sigh* so apparently, I can’t find anything here. I need to cut down on the katchapuri :( I tried on a bunch of pants, all of which made me look like I was a reject from the Broadway musical Aladdin.   I also tried on a million boots, all of which can’t fit my damn calves.  Anyway, after splitting up and going off on my own I bought a pair of lower cut boots *with tassels on the back :)* and another pair of shoes which I am very excited about. Clearly!

At night, we all got dressed up and headed into Old Tbilisi to go to Kiki’s birthday party.  The Hooka place was rammed and we ended up squeezing into a table with 3 guys (1 of 3 pictures below) from the Czech Republic that had just arrived to Tbilisi. We told them what to check out, what to avoid and gave them a quick Georgian lesson.   We re-joined the birthday goers and off we went to Lobby Bar (a dance club/ lounge thing) were we met a bunch of Georgian rugby players (and the equipment manager hahaha).  We had an awesome time!  We got back to the hostel at about 3ish and everyone passed out.

In the morning, we packed our stuff, got some lunch and went our separate ways.  Lauren and I stayed in Tbilisi for a few hours, walking around and checking out an antique sale of sorts. I ended picking up a Russian award metal given to someone after the war!   


Awesome weekend all in all.