A Turkish Bath at a Hamani in Antalya

THE TURKISH BATH WAS A TRULY MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE.  DICK ALSO WENT TO THE TURKISH BATH .... BUT HAD NO PHOTOGRAPHER : (    WE ONLY WISH WE COULD HAVE HAD A PHOTO OF THE "FOAM."

Gala at the Rotary District Conference in Antalya

We were guests at the fantastic gala evening held at the spectacular Mardan Palace in Antalya which is a city on the Mediterranean Sea.

The Blog.....

We have certainly not posted much on the blog lately.  Between sporadic blog issues and being so busy taking Turkish baths and going to galas and being entertained by host families in Ankara, it is hard to get to the blog writing.  Before heading out to the second hamam (sp?  Turkish bath), I will try to post a group photo from Ataturk's Mausoleum in Ankara.

Ankara is awesome!

So the "pieces" of our Rotary puzzle have finally all come together here in Ankara. Our team of ten is complete. The 2 cases of lost luggage have been resolved . We have all been treated royally by our host families in Ankara!  Today we toured Ataturk's mausoleum surrounded by Peace Park with trees from all around the world. We saw remarkable ruins of a HUGE Roman bath complex, the Museum of Anatolian Civilization, Ankara Castle with a sweeping 360 degree panorama of the City. All in all a wonderful, wonderful day. Local Rotarians planned the day. Some of them escorted us and they selected a very good guide. We sere all given silk scarves at a shop owned by a Rotarian, and we had a meal of "Alexander" at a restaurant owned by another Rotarian.. Our main "problem" is finding time to write on the blog and figüre put how to read the Turkish instructions that sometimes appear. Photos forthcoming hopefully!

One more has arrived....

Today Craig arrived in Istanbul....minus his suitcase!  Supposed to be able to pick it up tomorrow a.m. when we all go to the airport for our flight to Ankara.  The other 4 are arriving there today!  Tomorrow the official RFE exchange begins.  Tonight we who were in Istanbul (Roseners had gone to Ephesus today) had a "Rotary Experience."  We met Zakir Yenilmez whom Betsy had put us in contact with.  Zakir had been an exchange student through Rotary in Owatonna about 8 years ago.  Betsy had gotten to know him on her last trip to Turkey and was our liason.  We thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with him and his girlfriend Beste.  (Joanne had her own Rotary experience today which she will probably relate at some time)!

If it's Monday, it must be Istanbul!

This is Joanne (as I'm having some trouble logging in; go figure).

Another beautiful day in Istanbul.  If the pictures were not so slow to load we would have an entire photo gallery to share. We've taken hundreds of great pictures. Everything is a photo opt!

Today, we did a self-directed tour. Started out at the Baslica Cistern which was the most amazing underground cistern, the biggest and most spectacular cistern in all of Istanbul. In its day, it provided water to the palaces in Instanbul. The ceiling is a forest of pillars; a total of 336.  After that, we walked to the Hippodrome, which in its day was the site of chariot racing. Few remnants of that activity remain. But, the shopping (which clearly wasn't there centuries ago) is worth a stroll from one end to another. And from there we walked to the famous Blue Mosque which was exquisite. While it has beautiful blue tiles, truth be told, the tiles pale in comparison to what we saw in another of the 4,500 mosques. The tiles in that mosque are some of the oldest and most beautiful in all of Turkey. Who couldn't resist time in the Grand Bazaar. Incredible shopping experience!  400 vendors. Like, but then again, unlike, the MOA. Didn't stop me from buying a leather jacket:)  And this was just the morning!  From there, we had a most enjoyable, albeit quite warm, cruise on the Bosphorus. What a great way to see Eastern and Asian Istanbul!  Stopped for some world famous yougurt on the Asis side. Must run now. Our guide and friend from Istanbul and his wife are taking us out to dinner! More to come tomorrow. Maybe pictures, but don't hold your breath. Joanne

Jim and the Carpet

Sealing the deal!