Kid-speak

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Geo: 41.1, 29

Alex: I'm having a great time at Turkey. We woke up at the hotel and had breakfast. Then we took the train to the ferry. We rode the ferry to an island then we walked to a beach and went swimming. We had lots of fun. After that we bought some simit and peaches. If you wonder what simit is, it's Turkish bread with sesame seeds. The shape of simit is an "O." After we ate simit and threw some to the seagulls, we wrote postcards. We went to a park and went to a ferry back to the hotel. I played a game with my dad on the way back. It's called "I'm going on a picnic." How you play it is, the first person says, "I'm going going on a picnic and I'm going to bring..." and they have to say something that begins with A and then B and then C. They keep taking turns. But if one of them doesn't remember the word and gets it wrong, then they are out and the other person wins. But you can play it with multiple people.

We had dinner. What I had for dinner was an omlette and then we had ice cream. Then we went to the movie Transformers. How they did it in English and Turkish was, the guys spoke English, but the words showed up in Turkish. And then there was an intermission in the middle of it. Then we went to bed.

Josh: Today we went to the Princes' Islands on a ferry. While we were on there, Kate started a cartoon: Bucky Beaver and I started a cartoon called Lord of the Sandwiches. It's about the Pork Roll Sandwich to Rule Them All. Once we got to the island, we walked around until we got to a small beach. There were shells all over the ground and it was kind of rocky. There was this circle of crystal-clear water and deeper it got blue and darker. We played around for an hour or two. While we were walking it was kind of dusty, we all got juice and some chips. We came upon this restaurant. It was open air and had lots of little trinkets to buy. There was a cat family who was hanging around our table. Kate wouldn't stop taking pictures of them and was again hypnotized. It had a nice view over the water and you could see another island not too far away. In the water we saw a porpoise and on the land we saw a stable with a bunch of donkeys. We had our lunch, walked out and got a horse and carriage. We rode back to the town, got some simit and peaches. We went to some rocks by the water. Kate and I got a peach and Alex got simit. We made some seagull friends with the simit and I nearly got one up on the rocks. There were seagulls in the water and boats going by that made waves crashing on the rocks.
We left and a guy tried to yank us into his restaurant. We kept walking, mailed some postcards and left the island on a ferry. On the ferry ride, Kate and I worked on our cartoons. When we got off, we went to a mall, got some ice cream and went to see the movie Transformers. After that we went to the hotel and went to bed. The End

Kate: Yesterday we went to the Princes' Islands. As my brothers didn't mention, the Island is a really beautiful place. The shores are made out of crushed shores that have not yet turned into sand and the water is crystal-clear. The houses were elegantly built, some with Greek columns and others were Victorian houses. In almost every single yard we saw palm trees, bougonvilla, hydrangea and many other beautiful flowers. We walked our way up to a beach. It took a while to get there. The walk was hard because it was mostly uphill. We saw some adults at the beach with water wings and my mom noticed that people were surprised that Alex, Josh and I could walk so well, so we guessed that most people in Istanbul don't learn to swim at a young ages. The swimming area was a beautiful park filled with pine trees and the swimming area was a rocky cove.

On the way back, we took a horse and carriage. The main trasportation was horse and carriage. We only saw 4 cars while we were there. They also ride bicycles. The only downside of the horses was that it kind of smelled in parts of the island. They kept the streets clean from horse waste by putting a pouch behind them, next to the driver's seat.

I really enjoyed the movie Transformers that we went to see in the evening, except that it was way too loud. The only downside of Turkey right now is that I miss Kenny.

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Photos

A beach on Princes Island
After the long walk up we found a small pennisular park with pine trees, pine needle ground cover and steep slopes to a rocky shore. Luckily there was a small walkway down to a shell and pebble beach. It was a perfect break to the long hikes and hot days in the city.

Carriage Ride back to town
After walking several miles up and into the island the kids demanded a carriage ride back to town. There are only service cars on the island so bikes and horse drawn carriages abound. All three kids were delighted.

Princes Island
We went native and did what everyone else does in the Summaer in Istanbul- Leave! A short ferry ride brings you to Princes Island which is like Block Island off of NY but without the references from Pliny the Elder. Refreshed after a swim the kids are ready for the short walk up to a cafe for lunch.

Tourist snap
Just behind the photographer are three children delightedly feeding their snacks to seagulls. The photographer was tired of the children and took a picture of the pretty blue boat instead.

Town center of the "big" island
Sure it's a tourist trap, but it's out of the "big" city.

Comments

[danuta]

i loved your pictures,hope you did enjoy your trip