This social media thing is alot of work. I've got people on facebook who want to see pictures & then others who look at the blog. I've just doubled my "personal" / "friendly" communications workload. Next thing you know, I'll be expected to update my LinkedIn profile, my Yahoo presence and my Google documents.

I've started going through the pictures. That's another thing, with digital photography the whole idea of "it's just electrons" leads to an over-abundance of picutres. Since Dave & I don't know what we're doing, we take bejillions of them. Each year the picture count increases. Vietnam in 2009 was 1100 pictures, Thailand in 2010 was 1500; this trip - 1,970 pictures to go through and reduce to a handful worth doing something with. This is a freakin' full time job!

We stayed at Thatched Cottage in Lacock. Our host, Nancy, was superb! Breakfast was cooked on her racing green Aga range and served at the kitchen table overlooking her patio & garden. The house was an add-on to the cottage. You have your own entrance, bathroom, livingroom area & the bedroom is the loft of the cottage. You're in the countryside off of one of the little lanes with a funny name.






A view of the lime-washed walls in the loft / bedroom area inside. Unfortunately, our other pictures of this charming little cottage didn't turn out. That said, a picture can't capture a really good bed & the bed here was great. Good water pressure & lots of hot water in the shower too.



Here's some pictures of Lacock. The first one is of the George Inn. Beer - nothing to be astounded by. Yorkshire Pudding - delish!





Views of Lacock Abbey. This country home had actually been inhabited until recently.











Then there's the countryside drive we took one day. Dave just drove & we worked very hard to simply get lost in the rolling hills under the blue sky & white, fluffy clouds. We'd thought about going to Stone Henge, but were warned about construction, traffic, and immediate access. So we went to Avebury. We meandered our way around to Avebury and then back to Lacock. It was a Sunday. Cricket players were out in the fields. The sheep were grazing among the standing stones. Churches let out and people stood in the church yards. It was a beautiful day.

Just strap a diaper on me & call me Super Girl

The curse is not broken. Linda had to put our dog Blossom down while we were gone. Apparently, Blossom had cancer and tumors began to erupt after we left. There is, of course, more to the story, but that is not mine to tell. We were hoping she'd make it under palliative care until Friday morning, but that did not happen. She collapsed again on Friday.

And while I'm not hospitalized, the hacking cough my sinusitis turned into is about to take my head off. I'm headed (as usual?) to the non-emergency clinic today for a prescription. None of the items we picked up at the pharmacy in Istanbul really helped. The 8 hour medications worked 6 and then only 4. On the flight from Istanbul to London, we even had a run in with some lovely Americans while I was hacking up a lung that tic'd Dave off so much he was ready to take out an 80 year old biddy in my defense. We even got a "You people..." out of them. Ahhh, the post-SARS world. At least the child crying next to them was less distracting to her evil-eye.

Where we were in Istanbul was perfect. We were downhill from Taksim square and so spent the final day just in the area. I wasn't up for much more than strolling action. We did take in a hammam, but let me get this out there right now. We're spoiled here in Seattle with the Olympus Women's Spas in either Lynnwood or Tacoma. The hammam had nothing on them. Those bath houses & scrubs (especially) set a hard to be standard. That said, the Galatasary Hammam the hotel recommended was a disaster. Sure they got a lot of suds going - using a straight soap which made my skin itch afterwards. Sure, they washed my hair, and it stuck out like Bozo the Clown after it dried it had so much "body". The dressing rooms were dingy, dirty dingy, not charming dingy. It wasn't used by locals. Why should they pay 100 Turkish Lira when they can get a good scrub for 30? Glatasaray was more expensive than the bath houses here in Seattle & with a lot fewer amenities and a lot more black mold.

Istiklal Caddesi (Street) is amazing the way Khaosan Road is amazing, but in a cleaner, chic-ier way. There are still dreadlocks to be found, I heard something like 400 night clubs, buskers, coffee houses, kebap restaurants and pedestrian streets filled with everything from burkas to stilettos. I still loved the little shops in my Galata Kulesi (tower) area.

The piazza around the Galata Kulesi housed filming crews at least twice while we were there. One of the films took place at the bar where we'd made friends with the owners & the help. Every night there were some busker wanna-bees practicing their juggling, guitars, and existential philosophy. One night a group of them set up a little balloon with a lighted sterno pot to lift it. Once it finally took off over the trees, it flew out over the buildings with lots of wood in them. I left my hotel windows open at night for the fresh air and the sounds of life. Below us was the corner store which sold a sultan's wealth of the EFS Beer each night, bottle-by-bottle.

The trash collectors & the street people work together to keep the city clean. The trash collectors collect & the street people sort through, pulling out recyclables. Istanbul actually has a lot of walking streets in the few districts Dave & I were in and they were clean. Even with all the tamed wild city dogs and cats around. The Turks tag the "wild" dogs here to show that they've been given their shots & neutered. We saw a large number of Anatolian Shepherds lolling around in Cappadocia with the blue tags in their ears. In Istanbul, same thing, but not so many Anatolians as much as general shepherd mixes.

Perfect spot

We're sitting on the deck of the Ritim Galata Bistro. The Galata tower rises in front of me. This deck is at the corner of the one-way street, the only one, down which cars can turn. Some of the drivers look to take out the upper edge of this tiny deck. One truck had 3 people in the front seat. The middle man started laughing when he saw my face pursed like a Gucci.

This piazza had a swing trio playing in it last night. Couples danced in the warm May air. I would have made Dave, except I've acquired a nasty cold complete with hacking cough & lost voice. This little corner of Istanbul is manageable for the number of people in the street, the lack of touts (hawkers), the beauty of the streets, the sounds. Lovely corner. Great recommendation from our travel agent, Kadir. He was re

On the other hand, no one explains that the Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque face each other across a courtyard. Too bad it is filled with buses. But those monuments were built for tens of thousands.

The 7 hills of Istanbul

Turns out we're near / at the top of one of them. The Goleta tower was built in 1455 and is the center of a lovely little piazza where everything is downhill. 3 steps off the center of the piazza and you will need to have trained 3 months on the stair-master for the return trip. We walked a couple of side trips.

Jim, this counts as mountain climbing with shoe shops & cafes. David comments that I am out of shape - that's just because I've made him stop at four cafes in six hours. Okay, we stayed at two of those for over an hour each, but for God's sake, I climbed the freakin' 7 Hills of Istanbul in ONE walking tour. I swear. (Okay, there were also two potty breaks...and then I stopped at 3 stores selling shoes...)

Small World

We moved on to Agva, atown built at the estuary to the Black Sea. Driving out of Istanbul seemed to take hours, but apparently we are still in Istanbul. The city is a province. We're ataying at Piccolo Mondo - a 20 room resort on the river. This place is worth returning to Turkey for. Both breakfast & dinner are included in the price. It has tables on the two layered terraces jutting out over the river, but more importantly, there are hammocks and swings under the trees. We're here at the end of May. It is considered cold, but we find the sun intense. We,ve napped, swing, drink wine & listened to the call to prayer three times today.

The sand is soft here. You sink past your ankles. The Black Sea is cold, but clear.

Istanbul touchdown

Currently caught in a Turkish traffic jam. We're trying to cross the Bosphorus. We've just paid the toll. There are men who are standing in the lane dividers selling pretzels from a pole. Earlier, in another slow down, there was a man begging, holding his daughter in his arms. For the most part though, all we've seen are men selling bananas & water - until the pretzels that is.

David did not get arrested

We are now situated at the Argos in the Pigeon Valley of Cappodakya. We hung out in the barren Bucharest airport where the anti-terrorist machine gun toting people look so good you'd think they were movie extras on Battlestar Galactica, we stood in line to enter Turkey. The lines were short on people, but long on the thorough discussions the border guards were having with the entering people. They opened new stands up, the one devoted to Turkish nationals, and we rushed over. We made it to the front only to find we needed a visa - yes, somehow I missed this requirement, but no big deal. We rushed over to the buy a visa section, charged our need, and headed back to the shorter lines.

Two old women straight out of a Russian fairy tale cut in front of us, as well as a gentleman wearing a long something-or-other, as did yet a 4th person. This is when we learned how lines are formed. There is not one central line feeding all other lines. The shoert lines to the right of us were really short & required people. We hopped over.

The two babushkas with their rose-covered scarves, black skirts, & checkered blouses moved over to the empty stand labelled, "Turkish Nationals". Dave & I waited. That's when I began to notice the deliberation with which people were allowed to pass through. Two minutes per person. We were 8th in line. I didn't notice the guy with the long dress thing in front of me carrying a bag stamped "duty free Irak".

We finally made it through with 30 minutes to spare before boarding our next flight.

Turkish Air is an amazing airline. They seem to have wider & deeper seats, they still serve food on a 3 hour flight. I was able to fall asleep without Medical assistance. We landed in Kayseri (pronounced like "kaiser"). No baggage - no joke. Just joking. Apparently it had arrived on a different flight. Both pieces ( we made it out of Romania without unpacking bag #3), in a different part of the terminal. We weren't the only ones, so there were a trail of little touristlings following the Momma airline employee across the tarmac, around to the next building. I guess we'd been quarrantined for some reason. Ha!

Our driver met us and everything started to go right. Yea! Kadir!

Uchishar makes me speechless...


The Argos hotel is one of the few hotels worth paying extra for. More on this later. I've been indulging in a very dry muscat and it's late.

We're well and i made it out of the tomb.