Today was a fun, action packed day! We got up at 5:15 am, and by 6 am we were out the door walking to the Ealing Broadway tube station. We picked up a coffee and muffin at Starbucks for breakfast. The coffee we have had so far here in London is crap - very weak. Maybe it's because I've been so used to strong Turkish coffee! We rode to Shepherd's Bush station and then we walked to a hotel very close by where the bus picked us up. The bus drove around for an hour picking up people for various tours before finally dropping us off at a bus station near Victoria Station. We could have just gone to Victoria Station in the first place and saved the hour! We left the bus station about 8:30. ... read more

It's October 1 already, wow. We changed our plans today and didn't go to Windsor Castle. The family thought we should go into London so we could see as much as we can on our time here. We probably would have got up earlier if we had known, but it was nice to sleep in a bit. I had yogurt, toast, and tea for breakfast (Carol Ann only has instant coffee so it will be tea for breakfast while we're here). We took the tube from Ealing Broadway station, which is about a 15-20 minute walk, to Victoria Station, 35 or so minutes. Carol Ann drove us to the station this morning, so we knew where it was, and we walked back at the end of the day. We bought 5 day Oyster cards for the ... read more

We are in the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, enjoying a Turkish coffee. Our flight doesn't leave until 1:55 pm and it's about 11:15 now. We got to the airport about 10. Our ride was supposed to pick us at at 10 am but when we got back to the hotel at 9:40 he was waiting, so we quickly grabbed our bags and left about 9:45. Traffic to the airport wasn't too bad, considering Istanbul traffic, and it was a pleasant ride. The van got into a fender-bender at the airport. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often, since cars, buses, trams, all pass each other with millimetres to spare. This time there wasn't even a millimetre to spare! Oh well, we grabbed our bags and hopped out. This morning our alarm didn't go off until 7 ... read more

We packed up, had breakfast, checked out of the Hitit Hotel, and were in the mini bus ready to go at 8 am this morning. We set out on our long drive to Canakkale, making numerous stops along the way. Our first stop was in Izmir, at Nihat's house, so he could switch suitcases. While we were in Izmir waiting for Nihat Susan and I popped into a small shop that had all kinds of natural pharmaceuticals, but the women there didn't speak any English and we don't speak any Turkish, so we were unable to sufficiently communicate to enable Susan to buy what she was looking for. They sure had a lot of interesting things though, and it was too bad we couldn't make ourselves understood. The women were very sweet in trying to understand ... read more

We had a fun day today and I was happy to be feeling better. After breakfast (we always have yogurt at breakfast but today's was a particularly thick, tasty version), at the Ata Park hotel's sea front restaurant, we checked out and began our drive to Pamukkale. We made several stops on the way. Mid morning we stopped for a refreshment break, where Susan and I enjoyed Turkish coffees. I'm really loving Turkish coffee and we have one every chance we get. It is similar to the Arabic coffee we make at home. We continued on our way, through very pretty scenery. We passed through pine forests, then drier, more stony areas. There was lots of agriculture in this area, and we passed lots of greenhouses. Corn, oranges, pomegranate, and melons are grown here. We see ... read more