Ruby and Paul and Baku!

Ruby, Katie and Paul in Fountain Square

They had a long, and mostly uneventful journey from Denver through Chicago to Frankfurt to Baku and have been here two weeks now.  Up late - sleeping late - and making me jealous!

We have been exploring the city together, finding the best restaurants for pizza, Chinese food and movies in English. We saw Minions with co-workers at the 28 Day Mall last Saturday night in assigned, and very comfortable seats – and YES popcorn! The importance of which cannot be underestimated!

Last weekend was a long holiday weekend for most, a most important celebration that marks the end of Ramadan.  I don’t claim to know much about it, but know that finally those that practice, can eat during the daylight hours and I no longer have to hide my snacking at my desk.

Paul making friends

  

The beautiful building is the Museum of Literature that I will drag the family to this weekend.

I love the carpets here, another thing I know little about and must admit being intimidated by the shops and carpet salesmen. I can’t imagine walking on these works of art or paying close to what the women who worked for months in darkened rooms makes them worth.

While we still haven’t made it to the Modern Art Museum, we find small galleries around town. The contemporary art in Baku has been a beautiful surprise to me. 

New Art in the Old City

Finally found an apartment and can move in Thursday,  the day before Paul and Ruby arrive - yippee! So looking forward to them being here, so we can explore together. 

Can’t wait to show em…

New art in the Old City  - above

The view of the Ferris wheel from our new home - below

I want to show them the cats that I sneak up and photograph....

I want to introduce them to Azerbaijani peanut butter!!! Well, it might actually be from some other country – but how can it be bad – its 65% peanuts for gods sake  - and so nicely displayed in the bedazzled bowl in my hotel room.

Speaking of bedazzled – I can’t wait to take them on a ride on the magical Jules Verne merry-go-round in Fountain Square a few blocks away

And I will tell them no matter what, even if they just want a little snack, even if they are starving and craving home-like food, do not touch these things with a 10 foot pole. What was I thinking?

 And I can’t wait to visit the Modern Art Museum together. This seems like a really cool place. I wanted to go last Sunday but found them closed. Checked the website and found their  "viewing instructions” on the About Us page. These fit very well with my experience in Baku museums so far – someone follows you around and forcefully tells you where to go next. 

Taken directly from their website -

“Considering exhibits, please keep restrained while expressing your delight or disagreement both in words and in gestures and mimicry. Viewing the exposition please be quiet. You can discuss the displays in a low voice, sharing impressions with your companion, but don’t impose your opinion on them. Try not to argue by all means.

There is no need to approach the pictures too close, blocking the view for other spectators. It is better to observe some pictures from afar (for example, works of impressionists or pictures of big sizes).

It is strongly forbidden to touch the exhibits in a museum.

There is no need to visit museums keeping a noisy company or after getting any alcohol drink –you will hardly have an appropriate mood for the correct perception of museum displays.”

Kind of makes me want to get drunk and touch some paintings! 

Baku isn’t outer space --- just feels like it sometimes

·      For anyone who isn’t familiar with the Caucasus – Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia -  it is a region formerly controlled by the Soviet Union, from Bolshevik times through the early 1990's. When the Soviet Union collapsed they all got their independence, for better or worse. There is a lot of history and baggage as you can imagine.

      I showed up at the State Museum in Baku this past weekend to take a look-see at 20^th century Azerbaijan/Soviet art. I arrived right at opening time and the ticket taker was running late so the museum cleaning lady brought me into the coat room, sat me down and gave me tea and a sweet – nice. I think she felt sorry for the poor sweating foreign lady. Some interesting works. I saw the Russian painting above and thought --- yes. Maybe I am assuming – but this I get, this makes some kind of sense to me. Good old-fashioned 1960’s white people in outer space. This is going to be an interesting place!

·      I wanted to spend the weekend walking around Baku. I wanted to breathe in the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the town. I wanted to figure out where to find an apartment, do some things that make me feel normal (visit a museum) and do something different like attend the final day of the 1^st European Games.  Badminton was cool, and 3 hour 3 hours was quite enough to satisfy that itch.

 So I wandered through the Old City, an ancient part of town with walls 6 feet thick. A place for cats I sense, or maybe my eyes are just open to them. I came upon this little one in a bit of a sticky situation. Wait a minute…. birds don’t eat cats … cats eat birds – right?! I’m pretty sure the old lady across the street thought me a crazy one yelling and flapping my arms to break up this – going nowhere for the cat – situation. How long did I stave of the inevitable?

     I was reminded today that there is a fine line between asking dumb questions and making stupid assumptions – it is not a continuum with those choices at either end. I am forced negotiate this razor edge daily in this new place.  Pretty soon I get tired of asking stupid questions and go for it and more than half the time I am wrong. Luckily I am usually the only one to suffer – like assuming I know which direction I am walking, but ending up on the wrong side of town, lost, in a 105-degree day and being chatted up by an uninteresting, drunk Brit – cracky! 

With heat stroke eminent and in near delirium, I find my way to the pedestrian part of the city – yeah! I see a nun walking down the street.  Her lower half obscured by a half wall. Very traditional I think and very hot she must be, but rather model-like with her habit flowing in the Baku wind. Hmmm – how many nunneries can there be in Baku? She comes to a clearing and I see on her feet very non-nun-like non-sensible shoes. Wait a minute – nuns don’t wear high heels – do they? Alas, not everyone fits my worldview and I think yes, this is why I travel, to see new things with new eyes. Cheers sister!

I sense this country which has been around for centuries... with all its different-ness,  is way smarter than I am...

or is it....I mean who do they think they are fooling?!?

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