And it was an absolutely beautiful day in Almaty – sunny, warm, simply perfect! How warm was it? As this is being written (6:00pm), the current temperature has now dropped down to a pleasant 23C (75F) from the highs of earlier this afternoon. And this is March! In Almaty, Kazakhstan, for heaven’s sake!
It certainly makes one dream of the snowflakes falling in Petropavlovsk, does it not? Catalina? Kristen? Are you listening?
And how about those of you in the central regions of North America?
Okay, enough gloating about our one day of great weather, here (for a while, anyway).
So how did our day’s activities unfold? After a rather lazy morning around the apartment doing the mundane tasks of laundry, fixing our respective hairstyles, etc., etc., we ventured downtown to the vast TsUM store for our final bout of childless, souvenir shopping. And Sara certainly made the most of this opportunity to stock up on every conceivable piece of Kazakh paraphenalia for Zoe’s posterity chest. Plus a few things for ourselves, of course.
Upon completing the shopping, the perfect weather outside necessitated that we avail ourselves of its benefits. Consequently, we set up camp at the Kafe Keruen – an outdoor cafe in the large pedestrian mall on Zhibek Zholly (“Silk Road”) that specializes in shashlyk (kebab). A perfect place for people watching (Note to Catalina, Kristen, Suzanne – this might well become our target destination for next Saturday). And the people of Almaty were certainly out in full force, enjoying their extremely warm, holiday weekend. Gone was all hint of cold weather attire, out came the full spectrum of summer apparel.
And for those adoptive parents with Kazakhstan experience, we even saw young children toddling around in t-shirts and shorts – can you imagine such a sight?
We partook in an absolutely wonderful meal of freshly baked Georgian cheese bread, lamb shashlyk, sturgeon shashlyk (yes, you read that correctly), french fries, and ice cold beer (Chris, you would have loved this place). We lingered for several hours over our repast, simply soaking up and revelling in the entire experience.
How could we conjure up the appropriate picture of our Sunday? In the words of that great, wise, American philosopher, “It don’t get no better ‘n this”.
Well, actually it could. We could have been there with our beautiful daughter, Zoe. And with our family and all of our friends.
Vicariously you will have to live this experience through us. Trust us, it was wonderful. Today, Almaty was the most beautiful place on earth. And we wish each and every one of you had been here to enjoy it with us.
Almaty afternoon bliss...
We couldn't resist a shot of this Kazakh gentleman attending yesterday's festivities. 
This is one of the "behind the scenes" yurts from yesterday's festivities. They were used as dressing and refreshment rooms for the performers.
8 comments:
Cool! What a wonderful experience! That meal is making my mouth water! And great weather to boot (though it is warming up slowly but surely here in the midwest)! Once again, I love the photos! And it's great that you'll have so many great memories of Zoe's birthplace to share with her later.
Also - the change in weather forced me to shop the holiday weekend sales as I don't really have a versatile spring wardrobe and shoes for the trip. I just hope we travel soon because I won't survive Summer temps. in Almaty!
Nope - I cannot believe you saw children in short sleeves and shorts!! Hipocrasy!
So sorry to hear about Julian's wallet - but you seem to be taking this in stride :)
Enjoy meeting up with other adoptive parents next weekend!! We are glad that you will be able to introduce Zoe to them :)
Just caught up on your weekend in Almaty. I am so envious of the weather and eating out in Almaty. We hit Almaty in mid-April when spring had just hit....I agree, it was one of the most beautiful cities in the world. For the first four weeks of our trip the weather was delightful, the cherry trees in full blossom and the mountains on view every day......then late May summer and unbelieveable temps over 100!!
That is crappy news about your wallet Julian, you are so right though it could have happened anywhere.....I hope too much was not lost.
Only 3 more sleeps until your little love gets to come to your place - and then the fun can begin ;-)
On home news we got to go to the Easter Parade in the Beaches today......and it was a lovely day, we even got to bring the kids for a walk along the boardwalk...while it was not shorts and teeshirt weather like Almaty it was still a lovely day in T.O. that hints of warmer weather to come.
Cheerio
The Keogh's
Just caught up on your weekend in Almaty. I am so envious of the weather and eating out in Almaty. We hit Almaty in mid-April when spring had just hit....I agree, it was one of the most beautiful cities in the world. For the first four weeks of our trip the weather was delightful, the cherry trees in full blossom and the mountains on view every day......then late May summer and unbelieveable temps over 100!!
That is crappy news about your wallet Julian, you are so right though it could have happened anywhere.....I hope too much was not lost.
Only 3 more sleeps until your little love gets to come to your place - and then the fun can begin ;-)
On home news we got to go to the Easter Parade in the Beaches today......and it was a lovely day, we even got to bring the kids for a walk along the boardwalk...while it was not shorts and teeshirt weather like Almaty it was still a lovely day in T.O. that hints of warmer weather to come.
Cheerio
The Keogh's
I think you guys had too much lamb, sturgeon, beer and sunshine, that's the only explanation for thinking you are seeing children in shorts and tee-shirts, unless of course they were wearing three layers of each! Glad you enjoyed your weekend and found a new place for us to go to on my return trip, still hoping its sooner rather than later, one can only hope!
I hope you bought another suitcase to carry all the souvenirs back, the good news is that when I went home Lufthansa in Kazakhstan didn’t charge me the overweight luggage fee, hopefully you’ll be just as lucky!
Happy Spring! Chris
Great photos! I am so happy that you have enjoyed yourselves so much!
It was pretty cold here today - high 40s, but back in the 60s by Tuesday. I saw some Forsythias today and daffodils are in full bloom.
Oh man, you made me so envious with this post! :-) Not only am I one of the Mid Westerners still blanketed in 4 inches of snow, but the talk of all that wonderful Kazakh food is making me drool!
And I do have a hard time picturing the toddlers in shorts and tee-shirts. Wow!
Thank you for all the wonderful pictures. Between you, Catalina, and Kristen (we were in Petro this past summer), I'm getting my Kaz fix, but frankly, it's just making me want to go back for a visit!
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