We’re in Istanbul!

Yea, were finally here after a fairly brutal 12.5 (I think longer) trip from LA, plus all those hours getting to LA and waiting for Turkish airlines flight. Very bumpy ride, made drinking hard to do. I watched 4 movies and read a lot during the interminable hours. I realized I should have written a “we’re off!” blog before we left yesterday — was it really only yesterday???? Thanks so very much to Dona for coming to help us with loose ends and taking us to airport and being willing to pick us up on what is probably the last flight into ABQ on June 2! Thank you, thank you! Plus, she’s going to sell the bracelets we made, the button flowers I made and the potholders and towels that Sandy made at the Turquoise Trail volunteer fire dept flea market on Saturday — everyone go out to support them and buy our stuff! Anyway, we got into Istanbul, went through a hideously long immigration line, though to be fair it moved relatively fast — at least they had more booths open than the US usually has. Got our luggage, found our driver and got to the Hotel Perula in Sultanamet area. Room is small, but it’s very nice and has a hammam, a Turkish bath that I can’t wait to use. After getting connecting internetly, we went out to late dinner that was amzing. Hummel (close approximation of spelling with umlats and other things) sultan and ravan kebab — oh so tasty. The hotel guy showed us the restaurant and even though they were busy they seemed genuinely happy we were there and treated us so well — such a joy, makes me want to leave big tips. So now it’s 10:30 Friday night Turkey time and I last slept about 3:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, so I really, really hear this bed calling me. Tomorrow we are off for adventures in the Grand Bazaar — we’ll tell all about it! Love, jm and lg