Busy Days ...

Not much to write about so I'll just make a quick review of the past two days (which were busy and fun).

Yesterday started at 9 am with a partial board meeting for our Tirana International Women's Group at the lovely French Bakery in the center. Perfect cappucinos, hot and buttery croissants, and lots of laughter filled the hour and helped us make a few decisions.

Next, we rushed out to the huge "Tregu i Madthe" (the big market) which is a messy, muddy, Albanian version of a grand bazaar. Except everything comes from China I think. But we had a list and we knew where to go. An hour in the fantastic buttons and trims shop and we drove back to the center for a stop in Adriatic, a great office supply shop with really helpful staff, and a zillion different pens and markers.


We lunched at Serendipity sharing the delicious Jumbo Combo which comes with chicken wings, onion rings and more. Stuffed, we needed a walk and quickly made our way to the Millenium movie theater where we were hoping to watch Elizabeth:The Golden Age, but were disappointed that it starts on Friday. Some of us departed for home, while some of us stayed and watched the movie that was playing. It was so memorable that I have forgotten the name. Robin Williams played a priest of some sort who gives premarital counselling to a young couple. There were a few silly scenes and we laughed a bit, but overall it really wasn't much of a movie. As you can see we practically had the theater to ourselves!

In the evening we had a business dinner at a new restaurant called Millenium, located right next to the cinema. It's trying to be upscale and though it really does look rather trendy (black, red & white decor), and the chef is completely Italian, something doesn't quite work. I'm not sure what it is- the artistically weird plates they serve the food on, or the descriptions of the food that don't really match up to what's served. It needs some work.

Today was another glorious day. We are experiencing fantastic weather this month with temperatures everyday over 10 degrees. Who can complain. And I want to knock on wood before I tell you that the electrical situation here has been really, REALLY stable since before Christmas.






We filled the morning with our painting class from 9-12. I finished a small painting I was working on and am pleased with. The photo isn't a great one- it is hard to take a shot of a varnished painting without getting a lot of reflections! But at least you get an idea of how it looks.









Lunch at Rozaffa, a wonderful seafood restaurant. There are actually two restaurants, one fancy and one not. We chose the not so fancy one where we sat surrounded by politicians (we spotted the Minister of Foreign Affairs), Albanian families, and young couples. This is the place for fresh, delicious seafood, pasta, and pizzas, and it's fast and very reasonable if you don't pick the Monkfish (which we did but how can you resist it?). Here's another sleeping kitty who I found just outside the reastaurant door.


After lunch we zipped over to our favourite art supply shop on Kavajes Street and stocked up on some new paints and canvases. Now my we're all set for next week's class.

Then home for the rest of the afternoon which I spent getting my over-flowing laundry basket back to normal. Tomorrow is Friday, my morning is free (so far) and I'll have tea with my girlfriends in the afternoon. And then it's the weekend- AGAIN! Yippeeee!