We left Istanbul at 8.00am this morning in the snow! The roads were pretty wet and icy, but we made it out of the city without incident heading for Gallipoli. Once we cleared Istanbul the weather actually improved a bit. We thought that it might be worse on the Gallipoli Peninsula, but the snow stopped and the sky cleared. We even had some sun. We had a comfort break after a couple of hours. I think the minibus appreciated the break the most - it had a complete wash down to clear all the snow sludge from the windscreen and windows. The bus has an electric door and side step mechanism, but the ice had fouled things up a bit and the step was stuck halfway out ... or was it halfway in? After another hour ... read more

Our first stop today was the Dolmabahçe Palace. We caught the tram to the Kabatas terminus and then walked from there to the palace entrance. We arrived just in time to slip on our plastic overshoes and join the 9.30am English speaking tour. In 1843, Sultan Abdül Mecit wanted to reinvent the Ottoman Empire in a European image. The luxurious and lavishly decorated Dolmabahçe Sarayi, completed in 1856, is the result of that ambition. The gold and crystal decorations rival those of the Palace of Versailles in France. The sheer extravagance of this palace hastened the end of the Empire and the last emperor fled from here into exile in 1922. In 1922 the sultanate was abolished and in 1923 a republic was declared. Turkey's first president, Mustafa Kemal Pasa (Atatürk - 'Father of the Turks') ... read more

With our boarding time approaching we started heading down to Gate 10. Fortunately, before we walked all the way there, we checked the departure board to discover that our gate had been changed to Gate 3!! So it was about turn and back to Gate 3 ... which wasn't open so we wandered around looking for some more seating. We were really struggling to stay awake by this stage. We nearly dozed off sitting in the seats arranged around the television screens so we thought we should head back to see if the Gate 3 lounge was open. Easier for them to find us asleep there than have to mount a search of Terminal 3 if we missed our boarding call. Finally, it was back onto the plane at 0050 for our 0150 departure to Istanbul. ... read more

After the delay with our departure we had a smooth and uneventful flight between LAX and MEL. It turned out that the biggest problem with the seats was not their proximity to the toilets, but the occupant of the seat in front of Bernie. It was occupied by one of those individuals who has to recline the seat fully the second that the seatbelt sign is extinguished. And, as if that wasn't enough, he spent most of the flight humping around trying to get comfortable. I, on the other hand, did not have anyone in front of me and had a reasonably comfortable flight. I managed to sleep for a few hours and watched 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' and 'American Graffiti' in between. After breakfast had been served I watched two 20th Anniversary 'Absolutely Fabulous' ... read more

Today we shopped!! When we were at the outlet mall on Wednesday afternoon we noticed that the 4th of July Sale was running from 6/29 until 7/4 i.e. the 29th of June until the 4th of July. So we decided to make Wednesday a reconnaissance mission, while we waited for check-in time at the MGM Signature, and return to make our purchases today. I think that was worthwhile as they had quite a few shops with 'bogo' deals - buy one, get one half price. By the time we bought a pair of shoes each at a couple of shops we had purchased some pretty cheap shoes. Driving back along Las Vegas Boulevard we stopped to take a photo of the Welcome to Las Vegas sign along with the hordes of other tourists and one bridal ... read more