Harvest in Satemo

December 2, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

All photos taken by Lasha Merabishvili. In late September, I joined a friend and his family for a weekend in their village outside of Gori.  We took a marshrutka (a small bus or large van, usually bright yellow, which is the most common form of public transportation in Georgia) from Tbilisi to Gori, and then something that looked like a Soviet-era school bus from Gori to Satemo.  I’d estimate the top speed of this second bus to have been about […]

Categories: Eurasia, Georgia, History, The Great Outdoors, Travel • Tags: Eurasia, Georgia, Photography, Travel, Wine, winemaking

Autumn in a Flash

November 4, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

These days, it takes being stuck in bed with a fever to get me to sit still and write something that isn’t for work.  The positive side of getting sick in different countries is that it reveals local beliefs about remedies and convalescence (usually some combination of tea, lemon, and honey), and some castigation for whatever I did to cause the illness in the first place (in Russia, it was running outdoors).  Here in Georgia, the advice has been to […]

Categories: 2013, Eurasia, Friendship, Georgia, Tbilisi • Tags: autumn, Eurasia, fall, Friendship, Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, Tbilisi

Paris sightings

September 2, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

We’re not in Georgia anymore, Toto.

Categories: 2013, Europe, France, Paris, Travel • Tags: France, Paris, Photography, random, Travel

Arrival and Versailles

September 1, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

Upon landing in Paris, I was immediately whisked away to moonlit Avenue des Champs-Élysées by my Parisian host.  Coming from Tbilisi rather than New York, I was shocked by the grandeur, the wealth, the diversity, and the sheer number of people packing the sidewalks.  It was dazzling. We chose a random restaurant with outdoor seating and ordered an icy-cold bottle of rosé.  Thus began a week of culinary indulgence.  Sadly, I didn’t take any food photos, because I tend to consider […]

Categories: 2013, Europe, France, Friendship, History, Paris, Travel • Tags: France, Photography, Travel, Versailles

Paris highlights

August 29, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

Paris withdrawal, day 2:  Symptoms are manifesting in expected and unexpected ways.  Currently drinking white wine, eating Camembert cheese, and watching episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 1.  I suspect this has something to do with the Captain. This was my first trip to the City of Light.  I had tempered expectations of Paris, based on the advice of many friends and coworkers: “Parisians are awful to anyone who doesn’t speak perfect French.”  “The Eiffel Tower is nothing […]

Categories: 2013, Europe, France, Friendship, Love, Paris, Playtime, Travel • Tags: France, Paris, Photography, Travel

Carpet shopping

August 20, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

Some things I saw on a casual Saturday in Tbilisi, accompanying two Swedish visitors as they shopped for Georgian carpets in the Old City.

Categories: 2013, Eurasia, Europe, Friendship, Georgia, Graffiti, Tbilisi, Travel • Tags: Eurasia, Georgia, Photography, Tbilisi, Travel

How could I forget about Prague?

July 8, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

“She went outside and set off in the direction of the embankment. She wanted to see the Vltava. She wanted to stand on its banks and look long and hard into its waters, because the sight of the flow was soothing and healing. The river flowed from century to century, and human affairs play themselves out on its banks. Play themselves out to be forgotten the next day, while the river flows on.” Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being […]

Categories: 2013, Czech Republic, Europe, Prague, Travel • Tags: Europe, Photography, prague, Travel

My Georgian 4th of July

July 6, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

Happy 4th of July to all of my American friends and family! Sadly, I never realized how special this day was to me until I spent my first Independence Day outside of the States.  It’s a day I associate with hotdogs, volleyball, Sandlot, sparklers, fireflies, laughter, swimming, beeritas, red, white, blue, and family.  I missed out on the majority of those delights, but Georgia served as a pretty good substitute. My first pleasant surprise was being greeted at the office […]

Categories: 2013, Eurasia, Europe, Georgia, Playtime, Tbilisi, Travel • Tags: 4th of July, Festive, Georgia, Holiday, Independence, Tbilisi

Shashlik for four, please

June 29, 2013 by Meghan Johnson

All photos by Amy Yu Mao The last leg of the journey with Amy took us south and west.  We set out early on a Friday morning with Khvicha and his young assistant (whose name I do not know, because he was introduced to us as the “master of shashlik”), who was recruited to help with preparation of the meal that awaited us. We made two logistical stops along the way.  The first was in Khashuri, where Khvicha and his […]

Categories: 2013, Driving, Eurasia, Europe, Food, Friendship, Georgia, History, Playtime, The Great Outdoors, Travel • Tags: Driving, Georgia, History, Photography, Roadtrip, Travel