Anitkabir โ Day 8
Rob, the girls and I caught an early bus into the city and walked over to Anitkabir, Ataturk’s mausoleum. The list of rules, once we were allowed in, was a mile long. As some type of ceremony was starting, we were ushered into the museum so we wouldn’t get in the way. The first hallway
Roman Ankara โ Day 6
I made sure that we were up and at ’em earlier today. After breakfast, Phil, Rob, the girls and I headed down the hill to catch the bus to town. Today we were more prepared for the stop! We walked up Ataturk Boulevard towards the Column of Julian. We walked through a nice little park;
Old Ankara โ Day 5
Having had two nights sleep, I think we are finally getting caught up on sleep after the frenetic days just after we arrived in Turkey. Breakfast was scrounged from what was left in the fridge — bread, honey, cheese, cucumbers and coffee. Phil, Rob, the girls and I went down to the university bus stop
Exploring Ankara โ Day 4
I tried my best to catch up on lost sleep and stayed in bed until 10am, and I was the first up of the four of us. We showered and made eggs, toast and coffee for breakfast before heading out. All six of us walked down the hill to the bus stop and waited for
Arrival in Ankara – Day 3
I woke as the sun came up around 5:30. The scenery had changed drastically from when I had fallen asleep. We rolled on past field after field. Chloe woke quite a bit later and went to have breakfast in the dining car with the rest of the family. We arrived at the Ankara Train Station
Istanbul โ Europe to Asia, Day 2
After exploring Sultanahmet Square, we took the very crowded tram back to the funicular and walked over to the hotel to pick up our bags. We then took the funicular and tram to the ferry dock where we met Barbara who had arrived via train and tram from the airport. (Thank goodness for text messaging!)
Istanbul โ Wandering, Day 2
Due to the time change, I had a hard time waking up on our first morning in Istanbul, but managed to get up, get showered and get packed. Once all five of us were “up and at ’em”, we headed up to the terrace floor of the hotel for breakfast. Thankfully, “Terrace” at this hotel
Istanbul โ Exploring, Day 1
After a short rest and a shuffling of hotel rooms — with five of us, we had two, but only one had been available at check-in, we headed out to find some lunch. Our hotel is in a litle pedestrian area full of little shop and restaurants, so finding a place was no challenge. The
Istanbul โ Arrival, Day 1
On Wednesday, I woke up somewhere over Amsterdam, still hours away from Istanbul. Breakfast was the lamest airplane breakfast I’ve ever had, but at least it was vegetarian. While approaching Istanbul, we caught some glimpses of Black Sea and then mosque after mosque; thankfully, the guy behind me stopped counting after 15. As in Atlanta,
Photos from Istanbul
We have two short days in Istanbul before we take the 1.50TL ferry to Asia and ride the overnight train train to Ankara. There I’ll have time to caption the photos and write about our adventures. For now, here are the photos.
And weโre off!
We’re now on our way to Turkey, but first enduring a 4+ hour layover at JFK. The time is easily passed in the SkyClub where we are indulging in snacks, drinks, wi-fi and comfy chairs. We’ll head over to our gate in an hour or so and get ready to get on our long flight
Thursday Evening in Decatur
Thursday evening I continued with my mission to get out of the house instead of sitting home doing mind-numbing tasks. We managed to get out of the house with the recycling and the library books to return, but Chloe neglected to bring shoes! While Camille searched for books and knitting patterns, Rob ran Chloe home
Flicks on 5th
Tuesday night , we went to the Stone Mountain Laser show. Last night, we headed out of the house again for another free show…Flicks on 5th, “a free outdoor summer film series at Technology Square”. I’d been searching the web for half an hour to find something to do and had resigned myself to an
Lasers, Fireworks and Pyrotechnics
Lately I’ve been feeling like I’ve been in a terrible rut. I’m bored with the mountain of daily tasks I have to do. I’m bored of staying home trying to get things done. I’m trying to get to where I’m not missing out on things just because “I have so much to do!” Yesterday evening,
arts in the park
This Memorial Day weekend, we headed up to Blue Ridge for Arts in the Park. We’ve been every year since 2002, except for one. I’d say that makes it a tradition! This year, we headed downtown on Sunday morning, successfully beating both the crowds and the rain. The girls enjoyed seeing all the different booths,
renfesting
This year, we returned to the Georgia Renaissance Festival, both girls proudly wearing the cloaks they had acquired when we attended the festival in 2008 (read more in Ahoy There Matey) . While I have no desire to go to Dragon*Con (another excuse for grownups to dress-up, be silly and have fun), I do like
botanical garden blackout
this weekend, with our friends from out of town staying with us, we did something we rarely do. We went to a “tourist locale” on a weekend. Not only that, we went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. While in the past we would journey to the gardens on a weekly basis, we would never go
LEAF โ day 3
The wind blew and blew during the night. What little sleep I had was not restful. In the morning we refreshed ourselves with some hot TANG, heated on the JetBoil. Before heading back to the Kids’ Village, we all found our winter coats to wear — so cold still! The girls and I spent the
LEAF โ Day 2
We woke to a very, very windy morning. The night before, both ATMs were broken, so I didn’t want to spend the last of our cash on breakfast. Instead, the girls had hot chocolate and fruit and granola bars, which suited us all fine (Thank goodness for the coffee press gadget that came with the
GBK Gwyneth
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