Barnum and Bailey with a Persian Twist!

SATURDAY! Was it a great day? You better believe it! Dinner, Circus, and Shopping with a new and dear Azeri friend, Elmira. (I know, right? The circus!)

our tickets:

So, Dinner:

We ate at a VERY charming little cafe called Dalida. We sat outside wrapped inside provided, pre-warmed blankets and ate pizza with this view of Targova, the main "city center" area:

Here we are!

I wish you could have some sort of idea of exactly how HUGE this tiger was--all together, there were 3 tigers and a lion. But this specific cat was enormous:

Yes, this massive animal swung 30 feet above my head for a few minutes. Slightly disconcerting? Uhh, yeah. :

The docile lion:

again, here's the big one:

I loved watching the little kiddos watch the animals and clowns and yell in Azeri and Russian...SO precious:

This lady was crazy:

This bird was crazy:

Enraptured:

Trapezing:

Hilarity ensued in the mirror room:

I'm beginning to see a connection between my parents talking about sending me away with the circus and making sure I got good at the trumpet. Folks, this could be me:

These guys were good...the bar that the middle guy is being suspended on the necks the other other three upside-down guys... And, they spend more time upside-down than rightside-up...that counts for something and definitely gets you points with the littles:

The circus was a good mix of animals and clowns and illusion artists. It wasn't up to par with the US's safety regulations (and this next picture is proof...the horse jumped the barrier, with the monkey on board, and terrorized a small child in the front row):

Azeri Circus Snacks:

And, to top it all off, a live orchestra accompanying the hilarity. LOVED it:

The fighting kangaroo. The highlight of my day:

He (She? How does one even tell?!) was AWESOME:

aaand, enjoying some humidity-soaked cotton candy:

This is one of the little things that made last week awesome. And Barnum and Bailey? It's just one thing less I have to miss.