No, No! The Republic, not the State!

 October 7, 2021 Wow!  I'm back on schedule! Up and packed, I head downstairs to check out while Ammar has his last cup of coffee. This should have been easy!  We didn't take anything from the mini bar, which surprised our little reception clerk, and there shouldn't have been other charges.  The trick is that her card reader doesn't like my card and it is the one which I used to book the room.  Apparently that's the only acceptable card and when I ask what other options there are, since I have other cards, she doesn't know, poor thing! There are lots of attempts and I suggest typing in the number but I guess that these new little portable readers don't offer that option? Finally the Tech Whiz appears (no puff of pink smoke, though) and he doesn't seem to have any trouble. Our girl calls us a cab, Ammar comes downstairs, and oops, there's a new system and they didn't charge us initially for our last night! Here we go with the card, again;  but thi

 October 6, 2021 I am pretty beat from The Great Wine Adventure! We make it down to breakfast in stages and I finally try the oatmeal filled with lots of fruit and an omelet with everything!  Now that's a breakfast! When I left my favorite lady gave me a big wave goood-bye! Back upstairs and I work on yesterday's blog in fits and starts.  Ammar is working and it's just a companionable, quiet morning.  Eventually, though, we really need to get out of doors.  One of the friendly reception ladies suggests a mall that is more our speed than the Galleria was and it's only a four lari cab ride! There are lots and lots of stores and much of the mall is more like a shopping center at home, so we aren't cooped up!  In and out of lots of clothing stores where the prices are quite low but most things are made in China.  There is also a home-goods type store where I find an usual small glass bowl and a stationery store where Ammar finds gifts for his nieces. We also buy some mu

 October 5, 2021 (Too beat to post last night!!!) Today is an all-day wine-tasting tour with Gamarjoba Georgia Tours, to the Kakheti wine region of Georgia.  Ammar is still wrestling with the after-effects of all the meds he's been taking and decides that he really isn't up for a long trip on winding, steep roads without ready access to a bathroom.  Probably a wise choice;  but I'm still going.  The reception desk calls me a ride and settles on a 6 lari fare.  Somewhere between the man who makes the call, the girl who shows me the screen with the driver's info, and the other man who escorts me to the car there is a breakdown in communications.  I think this is not the man who was summoned.  This guy tries to drop me off in the middle of the Alvabari area and I have to convince him that I need the Metro station.  He is a bit disgruntled and when we finally arrive there is quite a scene when I try to give him ten lari for a six lari ride and he demands twenty.  He outweig