One Last Time

While we were looking for a house to move into, this is one of the things that Doug inspects. How much amperage does the house hold and what is the condition of the electrical box?

The one in this picture is a fairly new setup; however, the city is going around to houses and blocking the amount of amps they can run at a time, which greatly reduces the amount of cool and heat you can use when you need it.

Oh well, looking for a house will have to wait.

Kylie needed one last hurrah around town.

Kylie, Karis, and Doug went downtown and had fun acting like tourists for one day just taking pictures, buying last minute things from here that Kylie wanted to take with her, and generally, just enjoying the city one last time.

We hated to leave when it looked like it was going to be such a mild summer. 

These are the actual summers you WANT to be here for, but alas...

Locked In?

On May 10, 2020, we decided to do some "talking" as we walked around the old city. 

This particular day, our "talking" was answered, and we met a family, which started some Good-news chain of events.

There weren't a ton of people out, but it was so nice to be outside.

And on any given day, I normally wouldn't have taken pictures flowers, but I saw these on my photo roll and realized I must have just been really excited to get out and be in "nature" this particular day.

May 10, 2020

As if "lockdown" wasn't enough, Caleb decided to go for "locked in."

The story, as I understand it, is that Caleb, Doug, and Karis were in the kitchen, 

and Caleb told Karis he didn't want her to leave, so he locked the door.

Karis said she was leaving and walked over to simply unlock the key in the door.

Caleb told her if she got closer, he would throw the key under the door...

and that is exactly what he did.

He tried using a pen and a toothbrush (as evidenced in the picture) to get the key but to no avail.

That's when the hollering started.

We were upstairs, but eventually we heard them, and Keira saved the day.

I was laughing too hard to help, but I decided to document it with a picture.

May 17, 2020

 

Castle on a Hill

We went to the top of the original city during the first week of March 2020

with some friends. They hadn't been up there yet, and we always enjoy going 

for the history and the view. They took their two kids and we took Keira.

Only a few people live up there now while it is being restored, 

but people still visit up there every day, walking the streets and looking around

This is the first time I had visited this particular shop.  I've been to a couple of the museums and one of the rug shops, but I don't think this shop has ever been open.

It was crammed full of interesting items.

Some of the restored buildings.

An old mosque.

We also visited a small amphitheater

Before heading out the other end of the city.

The buildings and high walls of the original city shielded us from the sun, 

so we were pleased to walk out to this warm glow hitting us.

The old bazaar was just below us. I've shown you 

other pictures of it here when Karis' friend came to visit.

Some of my favorite parts of the bazaar are the crafts on these steps.  

They are so colorful!

You'll see them again when I post Kylie's graduation photos, 

because she took some of them down here in the old city.

Keira is always a popular attraction.  You can see the men behind her, 

looking at her, while she looks at me.

Some of the many carpets and bags for sale..

Pomegranate and pomegranate juice are some of my favorites, 

ESPECIALLY when someone else does the work of peeling the fruit for me!

The old city really is built higher than you think.  

Civilization built on top of civilization for a few thousands years 

resulted in where it is today.

And the new city is always bustling below.

 

March 4, 2020

As promised

You know how I always forget to take pictures when we go to all the "office" stores on the street we call "Stationary Street."

Well, I forgot again.

But we had visitors that came for a week, and when we got to the stores, my friend pulled out her camera, and I said, "Thank you for reminding me!"

She said, "Reminding you of what?"

I said, "I get in a fog when I come to these stores, and every time I have forgotten to take pictures, so thanks for reminding me."

There's just something about office supplies stacked floor to ceiling that keeps me from thinking straight.

For example, every time I walk in, I'm almost 100% sure that I don't have any notebooks and I didn't buy one the last time, so I always end up buying a new one.

You can never have too many notebooks, right?

So, there you go. This was the first store we went in and the only one I remembered to take pictures in.

THEN, we went to a book store we had heard about!  We were so excited!

They had a wide array of classics in ENGLISH.

We'll definitely return!

This young man was walking door to door, selling tea to store owners.  I just thought it was an interesting concept...

We walked on to the center of the city right before sundown.

This is the original city.  It was built on a hill with high walls.

In the last 90 years, the city has spread out in a circle around the mountain/city-center, and now there are over 2 million people here.

This is the busy bazaar around the city center on ground-level.

We decided to walk in and have some ice cream.


Then we walked with our ice cream to the fountains (which were not turned on), and we just watched people and visited.

However, it was a hot night, so we didn't stick around long

So, there you go.

As promised.

A picture of Stationary Street, plus a little extra.