Surprise!

 03-05-2022

Last night we had talked about things to do today and I had floated the idea of taking the cable car up to the city overlook.  I wasn't sure it would fly because Ammar doesn't do heights willingly, and it was just an idea!

This morning we both sleep in and I'm not ready for breakfast until 10:15!  I do love being on vacation! There are "Mexican" potatoes this morning, potato wedges with sesame seeds!  And there are tiny pancakes that you can drown in a cherry compote.  Otherwise not much is different except I don't see the chocolate-filled rolls.  That's probably just as well!

We've ordered our train tickets for Tbilisi on the 8th.

pretty little display in the lobby

I go to find Ammar and after a while he hits the buffet and then we are ready to greet the outside world.  I'm happy as long as I get outside every day.  Today we head off in a different direction to see what there is to see. I'm content to follow his lead and wouldn't you know it, we find ourselves at the base of the cable car!  He knew where it was all along and just wanted to surprise me!

Notice the fish wrapped in plastic in the upper right.

This building is immediately across the street from the one in the photo below!

Such a city of contrasts

tobacco!

An entire window full of Ukrainian blue and gold

It's about twice as long a ride as the one in Tbilisi and I'm so impressed that he would ride it with me!  Lots of fun picture ops and some snow on the ground! Other than the little cafe there isn't anything up here but the magnificent view of the city.  When you're down below you can't feel the scale of Batumi;  but it Georgia's second largest city and you can see that from up here.  (Here come a million photos from the ride! Feel free to speed scroll!)

We believe these are oil tankers ready for the railroad.

I'm pretty sure they don't use clothes dryers!

More oil storage facilities??

I think it's a water feature in a private home or, perhaps, a hotel.

Look at that road!  Makes you a little queasy, doesn't it?

Our car looks just like this one!

Cool cemetery in such an unusual place, right under the cable-car line

Real castle?  Who cares?  It's so cool!

Her laundry is color coded with the house!

Coming down!  (or maybe going up???)

Oh my God, the mountains!

cafe at the top

The snow has lasted up here!

You can see the Alphabet Tower and the Sheraton Hotel!  

I'll take snow, even with footprints!

Between the wind and the now humidity...!

That's the new football stadium  in the center left.

Oh!  A kitty!!

Partially completed.  Is it not being worked on because it's Saturday,
or it is another victim of COVID-19??

Check out the terracing to protect the hillside.

From this angle you have to guess that it's a cemetery.

Batumi really is a huge city!

City of contrasts

Back down, Ammar says he wouldn't have done that for a million dollars if anyone else had asked him!

We check out a few more shops, not finding anything that we need, and go home.  I'm blogging and he's drinking espresso, and later we'll think about dinner and such.

I just love this light, hanging right over the sidewalk!! I think it's an octopus!

Oh!  I forgot to mention that we had more massages!!

Eventually dinner becomes a priority and rather than go the whole restaurant route we just run across the street to KFC.  Ammar loves everything American, for which I guess I should be grateful.  But tomorrow I get Georgian food!!  The young man behind the counter has more English than we have Georgian, but ordering is still pretty hit or miss.  We do get something close to what we ordered!  It is chicken, after all!

Back to continue spending the casino's money for a little while before bed time!  There's a demonstration in the park across the way.  It looks quite peaceful;  but it's loud enough to hear from the 11th floor!

Evening falls

obligatory elevator shot

I've decided to open that lovely white wine that Ammar bought me.  It's a delicious as I remembered!  Surely it will overcome the abundance of cappuccino I've had today!  Sweet dreams, all!