Ragnar's World: Taking it easy in Tblisi

Finally, I was on my way. Slightly delayed from Gardermoen, the small Embraer 170 took to the sky. I was offered a muffin as onboard snack, but declined. Had eaten enough sweets that day. It was friday, and we always have sweets at work on friday. I knew that I would be landing in Tblisi very early in the morning, so I tried to sleep instead.
We landed on time in Tallin. I walked into the terminal building and tried to figure out where I was going. This was easier said than done. On one info-board, it said gate 13, on another, the gate wasn't showing. On my boarding pass, it said gate 11... After some reading of the list of flights, it looked to me as if all flights in my direction left from gates 10-14, which was through passport control. Which made sense, in a way.
It is very easy to understand why Norwegian passports are popular among criminals. Through more or less all passport controls I have passed, the officers barely look at my passport before they stamp it and wish me a nice stay. So too in Tallin. A couple in front of me had their passport scrutinized in every possible way. When I arrived, the lady barely opened it, looked at the picture, looked at me, smiled and waved me on.
On the other side, it became even more confusing. On one screen, it said gate 13, on another it didn't say anything. And then in changed to "Check in, gate 10-12". "What the hey?" There wasn't anybody around to ask, so I just wandered around between the gates, which, just for good measure, had no obvious system. But in the end, some people arrived at gate 13. Ready for boarding.
The plane landed in Tblisi after a more or less sleepless night travelling from Oslo. 04.05 in the morning, local time. The sun was far from up, and so was my brain. When I left the plane, some of the bags and suitcases was on the tarmac, and people picked them up. I stood there for a few seconds wondering what was going on. I asked one of the guys standing there what was going on. I got a blank look and a very informative "Yes!". And a smile.
Another guy speaking English came up to me saying "Not you! In the terminal!". I still have no idea what it was all about. But it might have been something about customs check. When I stood at the baggage claim, I read a small signs saying : "If your bag has a red tag, please contact the customs officers!". Predestined customs check. Neat. My bag didn't have a tag. Probably looked too boring.
I knew that the homestay I had opted for staying in, was closed until 6 am. So I tried to spend as much time in the airport as possible. But after 5 minutes, I had changed money and checked out the airport facilities. So I settled in a cafè, ordering a cheese sandwich. "Cheese toast!", the waitress corrected me. "Ok!" I said. "You may sit down now!" she said and smiled. I sat down, watching a guy climbing a small ladder in an attempt to switch on the telly. On top of the ladder he looked like he was about to fall down, but he caught the telly and his balance. The telly didn't work.
My cheese sandw...toast arrived. So did several other guys to try and fix the telly. After some heated debate, the telly worked again. Showing the arrival time of the 8 flights that were supposed to arrive that day (at least between 6 am and 5 pm). Not exactly a hot destination, one might be convinced to believe. The guys attention moved to the other telly. So did mine. After a few minutes they got it working. Showing music videos. At 5.45 I decided it would probably take 15 minutes to town, so the homestay landlady would be up. I walked outside and negotiated a price into town. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the taxi driver actually knew the address. I am not too used to this where I have traveled...
The guy in the taxi tried to speak to me, but he soon realized that I didn't speak any language he spoke. "Fuma?" he said, picking up a pack of cigarettes. I politely declied. "No fuma, candy!" he exclaimed and handed me a wrapped candy. I smiled and accepted the chewy candy. Chewing on a piece of candy while he tried his best to explain what the different sights where that be passed. "Polisi head!" he said and pointed to a glass object that I thought was some large piece of art. Wow! Ok! That was not expected. I noticed that he was "crossing" himself all the time. I tried to see if I could find any virgin statues, but saw none. So I concluded that it was just the way he drove. Maybe the virgin would provide us with safety. Then he exclaimed "Iglesia!", and I, in my ignorance, asked "Catholic?". "NO! Noooooooooooo!" he said and waved his hand! "Orthodox! OOORTHOOOODOOOOOX!". Ok...
After a few more sights ("Antenna", "Iglesia" etc) I realized that he was trying to speak Spanish. I speak "un poco espanol", so suddenly our conversation picked up a bit. He finally stopped outside a very inconspicuous gate with the words "Dodo" chalked on the front. The street was empty. I rang the bell, and Dodo (the little, old landlady, not the bird) opened up the gate with a big smile and a "Hello! Welcome!". She and the taxidriver exchanged some words before she closed the gate. "I see you want to sleep!" she said. "Yes, shall I check in now?" "No, no! You need sleep! I find a room for you to sleep!". She took me to a room. "I will check in later!" "No problem, young man! Just rest now!" I dropped my bags on the floor, hit the sack and fell asleep. 10.18, I woke up again. Dodo had gone into town. I was heading there myself. Wanted to take the city in, and take some photos. The weather was pleasant. Not too hot, nor humid. Just ok. I wandered around for a few hours, getting "lost". A perfect way to explore a city. Had a great time, taking lots of photos. Watching people. Looking at the houses in the old city. Walked up the steep and heartache-inducing steps to the Mother Georgia statue on one of the hills. I tried not to upset too much all the young couples standing in the path, kissing. Away from the prying eyes of other people, it seemed. They would be standing there, in hot embrace, kissing. Until they saw me. Then they would split up, look away and pretend like nothing had happened. I had to smile.
On the way down, a small church was open, so I snuck in and took a photo. It was dark, so I had to make a long exposure to see anything. Didn't come out too bad.
All in all, it was a good walk, and it was not until I sat down in a restaurant that I realized I had walked the whole day with my fly open. No wonder so many people smiled when they walked past me. Oh well. I don't mind being the entertainment of locals.
I have included some photos here. Enjoy! (Click on the images for larger version)