Mama and Papa O Come to the Baijan: Part 7

I may never eat a mussel again.

Ok, rewind.

Up at 9:30 to have a nice cup of coffee (well, a nice cup of instant) before starting the day.
Then, we go, and walk to Chinar, a trendy restaurant in Baku that is sure to make you forget you are in Azerbaijan. The have a Sunday brunch, and I thought for Mother's Day, it would be an appropriate place to celebrate.

The bruch was lavish. Sushi, salads, curries, duck, mussels, soups, anything you could imagine was there, and we ate like it. They have a great little drink menu too, so I got my Bellini and I was happy. We were there for a few hours, enjoying the food and the company.

When we were finally finished (we had to try the desert...they make AMAZING macaroons...), we went out walking again. Back to Old city, my mom wanted to bargain for a table cloth (although the boys thought that I didn't bargain well enough – to that I say, why didnt you say anything?!!! Though I think it was still an ok price.), and then into another little shop to get a quick lesson on carpets. There's a shop in Old City where the owner sells to the generations of PCVs, and he was very happy to have us. In fact, we got scolded for not announcing our PCV status upon arrival. He was nice though, and I think if I end up buying a carpet before I leave, I'll definitely go there.

Unfortunately, as I was sitting there, the room began to get warm, and I started to get a little dizzy. “Hm, maybe it's just the room.” Nope. About an hour later I was at the hotel room re-visiting my Chinar brunch. Not so good the second time. I felt awful, not just physically, but also because the weather was beautiful, it was Mother's Day, and the last day with my parents, and all I wanted to do was lie in bed and not move. Womp Womp. Fortunately, it didn't stop them from going out and exploring, and while I was napping, Matt scored some major points by going out and finding the soccer ball for my cousin my Mom had been spending all weekend looking for. He came back with it and she was thrilled, my guess is she'll have a hard time sharing it with my cousin.

A few hours later, I was feeling at least good enough to walk around, so we went and showed my Dad The Brewery, one of a few places in Baku where they brew their own beer. We only stayed for a quick drink, and then headed to Adam's for dinner. (A cruel fate, to be at Adams and not be able to eat the deliciousness. I did ok with a few tastes though.) We stayed there for a while and chatted, my parents being kind and not telling Matt too many embarassing stories about me as a child. (I guess I was just too damn cute to be embarassed by anything!) When it was late, we headed back, and set up the taxi for 3:30 am the next morning to take my parents back to the airport, and then to America.

The alarm was cruel, but we walked out to see them off. Turns out it wasn't a taxi so much as the owner of the hotel driving my parents to the airport! We went back to bed, and when I woke up the next day I was not quite well enough to sit on a bus for 9 hours back to site. I knew I had to get moving in that direction though, so I slept a little longer, and went back to Goychay with Matt for the night. (Thankfully, Goychay is about halfway between Baku and Balaken, so it breaks up the trip pretty well).