Anaklia AquaPark and train to Tbilisi

For a drastic change in activities, we headed to the Anaklia AquaPark today. This town on the Black Sea is filled with pretty much all Georgians - there seemed to be almost no foreigners. Very few people speak any English (just some of the teenagers), so communicating was entertaining - lots of charades and even some writing numbers on hands. People stay out on the beach late at night which translates to people sleeping in in the mornings. So, we had a late breakfast (because places did not open until later) and headed to the water park. And, we finally got some watermelon 🍉

The water park didn't open until 11:00, but it was already super hot by then. We figured that there would be a long line at the door, but we were some of the only ones there. The cost of the park was about $5 for the day! It took a little bit to figure out the locker system (with the help of some Georgians) - it's genius. Then, we had our run of the park. The demographics of the folks doing the big slides were Georgians that were under 25 years old, so we stuck out like sore thumbs. The slides were so fun though! There were no lines all day even though it was 95 degrees outside.

My favorite slide was the one that was completely dark on the way down. It made Fallon feel sick, but since 2 people were needed for the slide, she took one for the team and went down an extra time with me. After several spins around the lazy river and lots of rides down the slides, we reluctantly called it quits. We were dreading how hot we would be for the next several hours. Just walking back to get our stuff that was stored at the hotel nearly melted us. But we made it and were able to grab some lunch before catching a taxi ride to the train station in Zugdidi (with Mario Andretti).

We survived the taxi ride which felt like a slalom course of cows, pigs, people, bikers, and other cars. The Zugdidi train station is nice, but HOT 🥵 and it was 104 degrees in Tbilisi. We couldn't wait to get on the train for some air conditioning.

The train arrived in Tbilisi at 11pm, but our hotel was not far from the train station, so we arrived not long after that and immediately went out for gelato because gelato for dinner at midnight makes sense. Tbilisi was super hopping at midnight on a Tuesday which kind of blew my mind but it does explain the late mornings for Georgians. Miriam's was a sight for weary travelers and it did not take long until we were sawing some logs.