Several weeks back, my daughter asked if there was any place in Iran that sold English books for tweens like her (Oh, we miss you Barnes&Noble!). We searched online and found there was a bookstore called Book City in Tehran that sold such fictional fun. I've wanted to go to Tehran since it's meant to be the lovely bustling city bursting with young fresh faced people living exciting lives (or something like that). So we planned to go one weekend, figuring it would take a one hour drive from Pardisan.
First we had to get gasoline. There was a long line! My husband said it was normal and would go by quickly. He was right!
Our first stop was a rest station. It was really huge and really nice! Colorful and refined decor, restaurants, a toy store, a chocolate store, really clean and large bathrooms with a few Western toilets, and even a lovely fountain encased in classic blue swirly tiles.
So then we headed off toward the big city to find Book City. But then the GPS thingy said it'd be more like 2 hours to get to our spot. Oh no, cranky kids alert.
We drove past the shrine dedicated to the resting place of the
late Ayatollah Khomeini, peace be upon his soul.
Got into Southern Tehran...
And after a long while of driving around to find it, we finally did!
But it was CLOSED! Oh no, kids weren't too pleased, and neither were me and my
stressed out husband.
My kids wanted to give up and go home. But alas, my husband was not quitting!
So we found another location for BOOK CITY! It was much smaller than the first one.
But it turned out that they did NOT have English books! The worker there said we'd have to go the Northern Tehran Book City location to find the English books. Aha! NORTHERN Tehran is where the cosmopolitan action is at. It's another 45 minutes away from the South. By then we were so tired that we decided to go back home. The kids bought a few little items from the store such as this cute eraser...
Then on the way back towards Qom we stopped at another rest station. It was very cool with arcade games and rides for the children. There were lights that changed colors, an eating area, and even a splash pad that obviously opened in the hot months only. There were a couple of Western toilets there but it was a bad experience since the floor there was wet, it smelled bad, and there was no toilet paper. But let's forget that. There was a nice little shop selling colorful ethnic looking items, a candy shop, and more.
We headed home to see some lovely Iranian mountains as the sun began to set. Maybe someday we'll get to Northern Tehran. I hope I hope I hope. InshaaAllah (God Willing).
