Whirlwind first week summary

The first week of the Circle has been hectic, full of good food and lots of traveling in three (!) countries. I will try to summarize.

The flight to Kiev from San Francisco was good and Lufthansa met my expectations of German efficiency. It seems that most people in Kiev can speak Russian so I don't stand out terribly except that my friends and I are the only three women in the entire city not wearing stilettos.

The very next day after a delightful traditional breakfast involving syrniki (here's the Wikipedia link), we headed to the airport and flew to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Georgia is a small country in the Caucus mountains known best for its delicious food and attractive men. Pictures coming up. Of the food, not the men of course. The Georgian language and script are not even vaguely related to any languages we know so we spent a good amount of time wandering about. Since its recent military conflict with Russia, Georgians took down most Russian signage but they are thankfully friendly enough that they will speak with me in Russian regardless. We spent an entire day wandering the old churches and neighborhoods of the city including a beautiful fortress up on a hill neighboring a 20-yard-tall aluminum woman warrior statue.

The next day we took a 6-hour marshrutka (route taxi) to Yerevan and made friends with half the people on the van. Our new friends ranged from 1-year-old David who was feeding the entire time to a large Armenian man that encouraged us to try the wonder of fresh-baked puri (flat Armenian bread also popular in other countries. Again, here's the Wikipedia link).

Yerevan is wealthy and cosmopolitan compared to Tbilisi's run-down and even falling-down historic buildings or Soviet apartment blocks. The day included one sad and depressing visit to the Armenian Genocide Museum, a rainy walk through the main architectural attractions and a curious discovery that the band System of a Down is Armenian. The drive back to Tbilisi from Yerevan took us through beautiful snow-covered countryside and here we are, back in the land of khachapuri. No, seriously, you have to click on that link because it's the most delicious food.