Exploring Tbilisi

I had one day off in Tbilisi to explore the city, so I set out for a walking tour of the city. I began up the street from my hotel because I had spotted a couple small bread shops in previous days.
I stopped by one of the shops to try to get something that looked like a jumbo-sized rugelach. I saw some women way back in the store, so I waited, and waited, and waited for someone to help me...but no one did. When I say they were in the back, this was like 2 store lengths in the back. So, I eventually gave up and decided to find food elsewhere.

I started at the Tavisuplebis moedani subway stop.
Here's a picture for my little friend Theo. Yellow buses!
This is a monument dedicated to hunger strikers killed by Soviet troops in 1989 that is in front of the Parliament building
Rustavelis gamziri is a really wide street, and in order to cross, there are underground tunnels that one goes through. Within these tunnels, there are vendors who sell anything from old Soviet memorabilia to popcorn. This is a picture of the staircase down to the tunnel:
I started going down side streets and found this park. One of my favorite sites during this trip:
Even in the Rustaveli area, where there are Ermenegildo Zegna stores, one finds very grand architecture that is then littered with rubble. This was along a side street. A funny story happened with the car pictured in the foreground of this photo.
I thought the car had died because there was a man who was sitting in the car, and an old man and woman who were pushing the automobile. I took a couple pictures of this, and then went about my way. Then all of a sudden I hear this loud bang, which caused me to jump from being startled. A couple guys watching me started laughing at me and I laughed at myself along with them. But after the bang, the car started running, and the guy was on his way. It almost felt like I kind of bonded with these two Georgians laughing at me.

Here is another shot of Soviet era cars, which are present all throughout this region.
Oh, and another one of my friend from yesterday's quick post

and his really rude friends:
and then the rudest one of all:
I made my way to the Old City, where Tbilisi first developed.
I started going down more side streets and found some really interesting houses. I guess I'm really surprised at how so many buildings are literally falling apart. In my travels to Asia and my one time in Latin America, I didn't really see this in the cities. Well, I take that back, I did see a lot of houses like these in Beijing, but that was several years ago. However, what makes Tbilisi more unique in my mind is that, again, even in the nice areas, you find buildings that are completely gutted--and not due to renovation.
Also, as if through some higher power, guess what I came across:
All those shabbat dinners and hamentaschen making seemed to lead me here.

This is the view of Mtkvari River, which divides the city.

I eventually made my way to the sulphur baths:

and decided to go to the Orbeliani sulphur baths

where I got a private bath and massage. I looked around in the public part, but I really couldn't handle it. This was the outside of my private bath. I couldn't take pictures of the inside because my camera just started steaming up.

So, the bath was relaxing, but the massage was really strange. This old woman comes in about 15 minutes after I had been soaking in the bath, and she started rinsing off this granite slab where my massage was to take place. What basically ended up happening was that she gave me a bath. She started with exfoliation (using this weird mitt to scrape all the skin of me), and then had me rinse off under the shower faucet in the same room. Then she took the bar of soap I bought and massaged me using the lather from the soap. The whole thing hurt so badly and I have bruises on various parts of my body. But after returning to the sulphur bath for some more relaxation, I actually did feel much calmer.

I tried going to a Georgian restaurant next to the baths, but their electricity went out. While there, the English-speaking waiter, a 20-something guy, got really excited that I was there, and invited me out to a night club with his friends. Don't get too excited because I didn't go.

I ended my day out with the only other thing I wanted to try while in Georgia: kinkhali.

They definitely used those dumpling presses they sell in Chinatown to make these. I was excited to eat these, as they were not cheese-based and didn't involve ground walnuts. It was very similar to Chinese boiled dumplings, except the filling was spiced with this distinctive Georgian spice. They were good, and next time I'm in Georgia, I'd like to have more of these.

So that about wraps up my short trip to Tbilisi.