Despite the title of this post my story today is nothing to do with plastic surgery, though it is about making something more beautiful.
You may remember me saying that Marjanishvili Street has been undergoing a complete refurbishment.
Before I can tell you what has happened I must apologise for inadvertantly misleading you. The street that has been refurbished is actually called Agmashenebeli Avenue and it ends at Marjanishvili Square. Hmm, that’s probably how I got confused.
In my defence I would point out that it’s very difficult to read street signs when you are less than one meter tall.
Oh dear, I hope no one read my previous post and visited Tbilisi and got lost!
Anyway, Agmashenebeli Avenue is located in an historic district close to the left embankment of the Mtkvari River and was constructed by the German contractor Friederich Vezel in the 1880s. It is one of the most popular shopping streets in Tbilisi and the tall person, De and the little person often go there to shop.
For much of this year, the avenue has looked like a construction site with all of the buildings being repaired and repainted and even re-roofed in some instances.
Even the road has been re-surfaced.
Amazingly, the street and its shops have remained open for the whole of the period of reconstruction.
Well, I am very pleased and proud to announce that on Saint George’s Day, November 23, the street was officially declared “reconstructed”.
We went there today to see what it is like.
It looks fantastic!
All of the buildings look like new and are painted in beautiful pastel colors.
Our President, Mikheil Saakashvili, visited this historic district and told residents, “What is being done at Agmashenebeli Avenue and in Old Tbilisi must happen in every part of Tbilisi. There should be no more disadvantaged neighborhoods in our city and every one of them should be comfortable for our citizens. Tbilisi should become one of the best cities in the world in terms of beauty and living conditions”.
I like our president. He is a man of vision and determination. I think all countries should have a president like ours.
We walked the whole length of Agmashenebeli Avenue and saw many wonderful buildings. There is even a pink police station, which I think is very lovely.
Of course, every street needs the support of a very important service to keep it looking its best so I was very pleased to see ladies who sweep. Keep up the good work ladies!
Walking along this wonderful avenue makes me feel proud to be Georgian.
There are more pictures of the refurbishment in my earlier post:
https://bassasblog.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/a-new-face-for-marjanishvile/
