TEHRAN - DAY 1

 The flight was uneventful...I made it this time and had a window seat. Surprisingly the flight was full. Qatar Air is seemingly the airline of choice for Indians returning home. Fortunately the economy seats were relatively spacious and I was able to sleep  for a good portion of the flight. 

When we arrived in Doha I only had 45 minutes to connect to my onward flight to Tehran. When I got off the plane there was someone with my name on a sign...we walked/ran several concourses away to the next flight..I was the last one to board...so I made the flight but my luggage did not.  When I arrived in Tehran I watched the luggage carousel go around about a million times before accepting the fact the my bag was not there. The luggage guys had been advised by Qatar that my bag had missed the flight and they had paperwork waiting for me. They spoke English and told me my bag would arrive on the next flight the following day and be delivered to my hotel. Not particularly stressful since they seemed to have it organized.

The guide was waiting for me outside and we left immediately for the hotel...about an hour ride (38km). Arrived Eskan Hotel...okay...tired...sleep.

Next day...simple buffet breakfast...met my two travel companions. Elsa, 68, from the UK and Helen, a youthful 80 year old Korean-American from Oakland. Everyone is companionable and we set off for the National Museum. It's the first time any of us have been in Tehran and or first impression is that it looks sorta normal We walk a few blocks to a Metro Station. The first car is reserved for women only and all the others are mixed. Clean..efficient...everybody looking normal...all the women are wearing head scarfs but they look more fashionable and breezy then they do religiously covered. That was our continued impression throughout the day...sure most of the women were wearing more clothes then you would have expected for 80 degree weather but it looked regular.

We spent the day touring the museum , a palace with more mirrors then you would expect to find in a Russian oligarch's bedroom and the Grand Bazaar...all interesting but nothing that made the flight worth it...until the evening.

The evening had been unplanned tour-wise and was just supposed to be dinner somewhere...I had seen a video on YouTube about an area in the northern part of the city called Badran that looked sorta cool so I requested we go there. Everyone was good with that and so we set off by taxi around 7PM.

It was still light outside and as we drove through the northern part of the city we passed neighborhood after neighborhood of incredibly elegant residential housing. It could easily have been part of Paris. Not only were the residential building elegant but the stores and parks and houses were equally stunning in their prosperity and sense of "normalness"...this was not the Iran of sanctions and deprivation...of morality police hacking women for dress code violations...this was a handsome vibrant city that looked or felt like anything reported in Western media. Our destination was a magical setting with winding streets leading to restaurants terraced in the hills. The whole experience was an eye opener for sure.

I'll come back and post some pics...it's late and I'm tired.