Last night we made our nightly walk from our hotel down to Old Town.  The streeets in Georgia are filled with artwork and in particular, sculptures.  

Nothing is easy to find in Tbilisi so we walked quite a while to find our new favorite restaurant, Organique Josper.  The restaurant specializes in organic Georgian meats and vegetables and was written up on Nick's chef's website egullet.com. 

The restaurant was right down our alley with simple, organic food and very reasonable in price.  The restaurant is located in the heart of old town with beautiful old cobble stone streets.  We sat outside and enjoyed a bottle of some organic Georgian wine, dinner and some great people watching.  (We will probably go there again tonight!)

 

Lots of kitties in Tbilisi and they always seem to seek out Nick who of course feeds and pets them.  Here he sits next to his kitty friend who sat with us the entire time at dinner giving him the sad eyes.

Friday nights in Tbilisi are certainly happening, with the streets filling up with people, young and old to enjoy the nightlife with talking, drinking, dancing and singing. 

After dinner we walked through the streets of Old Town to enjoy the energy of the evening, lights and music.

We can’t get over how beautiful it is here at night with everything lit up.

This is our walk home at night!!

We always feel safe walking at night – truly Tbilisi is a hidden gem of Eastern Europe!!

What's a cosmopolitan city without its own Cartier?!

Today Nino & John picked us up at about one o'clock (remember, nothing gets started in Georgia until after 11 am).  First we bought Mara a wonderful stroller and then onto pick up toys for the other children at the foster home where she is staying.   We then visited the Dry Bridge flea market to shop and enjoy the sights.  The market was filled with beautiful artwork, jewelry and artifacts.  We will go back tomorrow to buy some artwork, possibly something for Mara’s room so she can wake up everyday to her beautiful home town. 

Here some animal tusks used for storing & drinking Georgian wine!

 

After Dry Bridge, we visited Mara to take her to a children’s park.  We were nervous that she may not like the stroller but settled right in.  

At the park, at first she was a little scared of the noises and excitement, but quickly started to enjoy looking at the different rides and sights.  Her first English word being “WOW”!  She loved to walk around & around and didn’t even want to leave the park.  

She asked for Nick to pick her up and carry her for a while.  She melted into his arms (and into his heart).  And yes, here she is starting to get tired.

Can you get over her cute smile??

Once we left the park, we stopped at a vendor to buy her a small treat and she knew exactly what she wanted: a flower that lit up.  She played with it the entire drive back to the foster home.

When we got back to the foster home, she enjoyed her daily biscuit and watched the other children play with their toys.  The toy blocks that Nick suggested were a huge hit!

Tomorrow we will bring Mara to another children’s park on top of the mountain.  Each day she seems to warm up to us more & more.  Today she even seemed sad when we left.