Field trip Friday

We're doing a unit on architecture at Luke's request, so today we went to the Ethnographic Museum, a collection of traditional Georgian houses from all the different regions of the country.

First we went to Turtle Lake, a nice little lake at the top of a mountain overlooking the city.


I was not expecting to see so many people out and "exercising", which seemed to consist of wearing jogging suits, stretching, and walking around the lake. In Liam's words, "mom! A girl with orange hair! And pink clothes!" I wish I'd caught her closer up. Even her shoes are pink.


The boys had fun at a slightly not up to code playground.


Close up of the swing "mechanism":




From the lake we headed up to the very top of the outdoor museum--a huge, square stone tower typical of the Svaneti region. This area is cut off from the rest of the country 7-8 months of the year due to mountain snow and impassable roads. Aren't they cool? We hope to visit in May or June.



We chose a beautiful day for our outing; the sour plum trees are all in bloom. It reminded me of the cherry blossom festival in d.c.






Then we walked down the mountain to see these awesome wooden houses. I wish I knew which regions they were from but there were no signs at all. I'll have to do some research. Here's one on stilts:



I love the pattern of the wood on this facade:



Liam carried those two rocks up and down the whole mountain.





We had a nice little rest on this porch. We couldn't go inside but could peek thru the square hole you can see in the picture below




And this is what was inside: stunning railings, arches, everything was gorgeous.



The carving was so amazing. Sorry the pics are blurry. I was holding a wiggly Jude and taking pics through that tiny hole in low light...


We ended our adventure--and perfectly avoided the rain--with a nice lunch at a restaurant about halfway down the mountain, in one of the old wooden buildings too. Mmmm freshly baked bread.


And lobio: bean stew in a traditional clay pot. You can't tell but it is boiling in there. Steaming hot deliciousness. YUM.


You probably can't read it but our glasses say "made in the USSR." awesome.


And the waitress came up after we had all our food and took Jude back and showed him to all the other people working there. He was a little uncertain at first but when we were done eating and she gave him back to me, he cried. So i guess he didn't mind being a celebrity.


A perfect end to a great day out!

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