A Rainy Day in Georgia: Time to Head to the Museum

Metal heads in bowls. Now at the Georgian National Museum.

It was a rainy morning in Georgia.  It was pouring down rain hard with lots of loud claps of thunder.  Not ideal tourist conditions.  But when you on vacation on a rainy day, that means it is a great day to go to the museum.

I went to the Georgian National Museum, which -- and this is important given that it was pouring rain -- was only a 10-minute walk from the hotel.  The bottom floor has the anthropology section.  Skulls, like above, and animal bones, such as these:

There once were rhinoceroses in Caucasuses.

Ostriches too.

Are these what I think they are?

Historic, even prehistoric, jello molds.  From so long ago they were from a time before jello came powdered in a tiny box.

And this is a belt.  For a man.

What fascinated me about this was just how tiny the men's waists must have been from when that belt was new.

Hunting scenes on the side of the belt:

And here is a metal female head in a metal bowl.

It's like the metal male head in a metal bowl up top, only female.

And this is a small piece of gold ornamentation:

There also was an interesting exhibit of Georgian Orthodox church art that, for some reason, forbade photography.  So I took no photographs.

All in all, the national museum was not very detailed on the history of Georgia, with one notable exception.

The exhibit covering the period of Soviet occupation of Georgia, which is roughly from 1921, when the Bolsheviks conquered Georgia and ended the First Republic of Georgia up through the fall of the USSR in 1991.  Georgia had a treaty with the Soviet Union to recognize Georgian independence, but once the communists had full control over Russia, they broke the treaty.  And proceeded to go on a massive killing spree.

The communists slaughtered the Georgian elite, the religious leaders, artists, anyone of prominence in the Georgian community.  Why?  Because they were communists and communism is evil.  Satanic evil.  If you know anything of the history of Bolshevism and communism, you know that is not hyperbole.

The exhibit consists mostly of photos are writings of those slaughtered by the communists,  It tells the story of the evil of Soviet communism more eloquently than a timeline ever could.

This is an exhibit of the first in Georgia to be murdered by the Soviet communists:

Never again.

Zagreb, Croatia: It's Like Something Out of a u2 Video

Zagreb, Croatia, reminded me of a u2 song. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For? No. Try again:

Where the streets have no name!

(Sorry, but I like the Pet Shops version better. Especially in video format.)

I google-mapped directions to the in-town car rental location and the hotel I booked, the Best Western Astoria, which I selected because it was close to the train station. So I thought if I can't find the hotel or the Hertz store, at least I should see signs to Glavni Kolodvor, the train station. What could go wrong?

Well, except for the fact that google-maps is worthless, because the streets either (a) do not have any sort of name visible and (b) do in fact on the maps change name block by block by block (literally, and I am using the word "literally" to mean "literally" and not "figuratively," like some people do nowadays). It took me three hours -- again literally literally -- to find the Hertz location. (And by the time I got there, it was closed. One half hour early.) I used up so much gasoline trying to navigate the streets of Zagreb, that I had to refill the tank from the pre-drop-off fill-up.

And before some of you do the "why don't men ask for directions" thang, I did. Three times. The directions from the first gas station only got me more lost. The second set of directions -- when I ended up back on the tollway pointed in the wrong direction facing a 20km drive to the first exit to turn around -- helped some. Finally, a "policija" gave me a street map when Direction Set #2 got me close, but still lost. The map he gave me was all dog-eared, but it was a lifesaver. (Figuratively. Not literally. My actual life was not in danger at that point. But I did have to use a bathroom.) He was apologetic for the condition of the street map, and I could tell he was rifling through his English language vocabulary to describe the dog-eared condition of the map. When he handed it to me, he said, "it is cabbage."

I love it. Next time I'm given something all dog-eared and worn, I'm calling it "cabbage."

My first impression of Zagreb was poor. And not just because of the completely indecipherable street layout. I was lost primarily on the southside of town, called Novi Zagreb. It was filled with all these worn-out 1960s "urban renewal" era construction. It looked like something out of Soviet Russia. Literally! Or Cabrini Green Chicago. Southside Zagreb is lousy with that look. The core of the city -- Centar -- is much more attractive, with that old "European capital" look. Literally! Again! Such as, por ejemplo:

That said, given my problems finding anything in downtown Zagreb, I am very happy I re-adjusted my plans to be in Zagreb Wednesday, rather than trying to return the rental car the same day as my train trip to Budapest. I'd have missed my train and literally would have been stuck in Zagreb.

Internet connection slow tonight. More pics of my Thursday AM walking tour to follow.