Trippin in St Pete

[2tallbill]

[2tallbill]

[2tallbill]

The presidential palace (Georgian White House)

[2tallbill]

[BillyB]

When you talked to strangers on the street or in markets in Georgia, where they happy to talk to you after hearing your accent? Would it be easy for a guy visiting Georgia to meet ladies in public? Not all FSU countries are bride hunter friendly.

[msmobyone]

Turkish Prisons Airlines didn't have much legroom.

))

I actually like THY - Turkish airlines = 'they hate you"

They aren't the cheapest but fly where I need to go...  and seem to value you business.

Istanbul is 'chaotic' but a classic cultural mix. The Turkish Lira is really weak and it's a good place for a vacation with a FSU partner - or to meet up with family  / friends

[2tallbill]

When you talked to strangers on the street or in markets in Georgia, where they happy to talk to you after hearing your accent?

The Georgian people are the friendliest people in anyplace that I've ever went.
I walked in a bar looking for another restaurant so I told a waitress that I was
looking for the @$$%%)(IU&*(^&%JHHGGFVH <<<<< use your
own indecipherable name here. The waitress told me they had excellent food at
her bar and I explained that I was meeting a girl and was told to meet her there.

She tried to give me directions but could tell I had no clue to what she was saying.
So the girl went in the back room, grabbed her coat then my hand and walked
along a labyrinth-like path and presented me to the door of the ____________
indecipherable name restaurant then turned around to return to work.

She was a very cute young girl maybe 20 years old. (if she were 10 years older I
would have asked her out on a date)

Would it be easy for a guy visiting Georgia to meet ladies in public?
Not all FSU countries are bride hunter friendly.

Yes and no

You could ask a girl for directions or any kind of help within reason.
Georgia is very friendly by any standard. Georgia might be friendly
towards bride hunters however it's nearly impossible for bride hunters
to hunt brides in Georgia.

It would be easier to go bride hunting in a convent. I will try to make the
situation more clear. At this point in my adventure I was just starting to
find out  what the various difficulties hunting brides in Georgia might be. 

[2tallbill]

))

I actually like THY - Turkish airlines = 'they hate you"

They aren't the cheapest but fly where I need to go...  and seem to value you business.

Istanbul is 'chaotic' but a classic cultural mix. The Turkish Lira is really weak and it's a good place for a vacation with a FSU partner - or to meet up with family  / friends

The seats were made for midgets more so than any airline I've ever flown.
It would have been impossible for me to do something like put down the
tray table to eat for example. If I got a dollar for every time I was hit with a
trolley going down the isle or bumped with something I would have made
maybe a hundred bucks each way.

For a XXLT sized man the trip was pure torture.

[2tallbill]

I had been warned by more than a few well meaning individuals about going to
Georgia that I should be very very careful since

1. It's a Muslim country and they will cut off my head and put it on a stick
2. It's near Chechnya and those radicals there will cut off my head and put it on a stick
3. They are at war with Russia! I could be bombed or in a Russian POW camp for eternity.

First Georgia is a Christian country

Second for those who can look up a map on Google but don't know topography
or about mountain ranges. There is a range of mountains between Georgia and
Chechnya. Everything to the West of these mountains is called Europe and everything
to the East of these mountains is called Asia.

This is because this is a HUGE mountain range and it separates the two continents
even though it is one land mass.

Third The shooting war is over. Most Georgians and Russian like each other.

Having said this most Georgians consider themselves Europeans and they identify
each other as such. Without getting into geopolitics or techtonic plate science I have
no problem with calling them European especially since they are on the Black Sea and
no Mt Range goes through the middle of the Black sea to separate Europe and Asia.

[2tallbill]

FREEDOM SQUARE IN TBILISI
Freedom Square in the center of Tbilisi was built in the early 19th century

Following the collapse of the Russian Empire the square was re-named Freedom Square during the foundation of the First Georgian Republic in 1918 but renamed, first “Beria Square”, and then “Lenin Square” during Soviet times.


If you look at the gold Statue in the photo I can tell you that it had a statue of Lenin
until 1991 when it was removed following Georgia’s independence from the Soviet Union.


If you look over the shoulder of Freedom Square you will see a large statue in
the background, which can be seen from most of the city.


In 1907, the square was the location for an audacious and bloody bank robbery, involving Joseph Stalin, which netted the equivalent of 4 million US dollars in today’s money₁.







1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1907_Tiflis_bank_robbery

[2tallbill]

The Georgian Flag





The Georgian Duma




A close up of the Stone work at the Duma

[2tallbill]

I sell windows so naturally I take a photo of them wherever I am




I am sure that's this is no interest of anyone but myself, but there is an Inswing door
in the center with sliding windows to the sides. It's nearly impossible to make sliding
windows that tall and narrow and for them still to work very well. They are probably
frozen/painted shut but I would love to go up and mess with them to find out.
I managed not to knock on the doors and ask it I could play with their windows.

[2tallbill]

Downtown Tblisi

[2tallbill]

Walking around downtown Tblisi

[2tallbill]

Walking around Tblisi

[2tallbill]

Walking around Tblisi

[2tallbill]

Walking around in Tblisi

[2tallbill]

Walking around Tblisi

[2tallbill]

There is a church or a castle or something historically significant every 30 meters
in Tblisi. It's the Georgian equivalent of walking around Trajan's forum

[2tallbill]

Christianity came very early to Georgia which was first preached in Georgia
by the Apostles Simon and Andrew in the 1st century. It became the state
religion of Kartli (Iberia) in 337

Most Georgians are Christian, but they have Jewish and Muslim roots as well.


There is a Mosque on the other side of this, I could see it with my eye but I couldn't get
the camera to see it.

[2tallbill]

Downtown Tblisi

[2tallbill]

The Mosque

[2tallbill]

According to legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was surrounded by forests
King Vakhtang I Gorgasali went hunting in the heavily wooded region with a falcon
The King's falcon injured a pheasant during the hunt, after which both birds fell into
a nearby hot spring and died from burns.

King Vakhtang became so impressed with the hot springs that he decided to cut down
the forest and build a city on the location. The name Tbilisi derives from the Old Georgian
word "Tbili", meaning warm.

Here are the Hot baths that are in the Center of the city

[2tallbill]

Walking around the center of Tblisi

[2tallbill]

In Tblisi you are really tripping over Churches