Home Again!!

We made it home! Amy's bag got lost again this time by US Airways (that bag is cursed...good excuse to go shopping for different one).

We went through US Customs during our layover in Philadelphia. We noted that this was the first time we were able to fill out one Customs form as a now we are a married couple... ahhhhh cute.

One observation regarding being back in the states, sadly a greater number of people here are louder, heavier, and generally a lot more obnoxious. Sigh.

What a great trip! How lucky and blessed we are to be able to see these amazing places and meet some new people!! We're very thankful that both of us love traveling so much...it's rewards are priceless.

Thanks to you all for reading our travel blog. It's fun to share thoughts and pictures from our adventures.

Thanks to Niko, Lauren, Charley, Diana, Vince, Lauren's friends, Niki's parents and his friends, Yesim&Ahmet &Derin at Berk, Fiona the Kiwi, Kadir at Elif Star Caves, our Balloon Pilot, Crystal from Canada, Elif&Burak, everyone at Expeditors Ankara and that Richard Dude from British Airways. And anyone else I didn't list here.

Now it's time to start planning for next year's trip...perhaps Norway...

Sunday June 29th and Last Full Day!!

It's Amy's Birthday!!

We slept in and got up in time for lunch (it's ok to do that on your birthday, right?).

At lunch Dave ate the shopska salad he loves so much.  It's simple..tomatoes, cukes, onions, while cheese, and olive oil...but delicious.  We've got to learn the secret so we can make it at home.  Even the Bulgarians get excited when you order this salad.  And Amy had that chilled yogurt-dill-cucumber dish whose name is pronounced 'tear-ah-tore'.

We headed out for a leisurely stroll around the old town area.  Old churches, big intimidating buildings from the communist era, and lots of monuments (mostly ones celebrating how the Russians came in and liberated this area from the Turkish rule).  We also checked out the crypt of a church that is now converted to a museum for icons (images of Christ, Mary, and saints which is common in Orthodox Christian religions).  There were 100's of them some as early as 1200's but most from 1700 and 1800's.

We had Amy's birthday dinner at Happy's (that place where all the wait staff are hot chicks in short skirts).  Dave had his last shopska salad while Amy had a beet salad.  We enjoyed one last rakia and some Hoegaarden Belgium beer (which btw for some reason has a higher alcohol content).

We also went to some local stores to pick up a few toiletries (toothbrushes, deodorant, etc) that were in the missing bag.  Shopping for items in another country is always an interesting experience.  Imagine trying to use hand signals to communicate to a non-native English speaker that you would like face lotion (oh and please the sensitive skin type with no perfumes and no SPF and in a container less than 100ml so we can take it on the airplane).  Geez.  

Some interesting observations in this city:
1) people here seem to be lovers of music.  Lots of posters and flyers advertising upcoming shows.  For example just walking around we saw ads for about a dozen shows like Yanni, Offspring, Iron Maiden, and even Steven Seagal's blues band.  I better not comment on their taste in music though.  :-)
2) the city seems to make attempts to preserve the historical areas.  For example we could see protected sites and even excavations in progress right in the middle of the city.  The tunnels used by pedestrians to cross under busy streets are lined with sections of walls from super old Roman streets and buildings and other artifacts.
3) as I mentioned before the country is struggling economically and politically.  Our hotel was across the street from the Presidential building and there were people, cameras, tons of security about to monitor a big meeting that was happening there about a possible emergency election.  Turmoil.
4) right before we arrived there was a run on some of the banks in Sofia.  The news reported later it was some greedy folks trying to stir up trouble for their own profit.  We were able to get our 200 leva out of the cash machine with no problems.

Amy's bag showed up at the hotel later that night.  Just in time to 'pack' again and get to bed early for a 7:15am flight on Bulgaria Airlines.

Sat June 28th - Ankara, Turkey to Sofia, Bulgaria

Today is Hammam (Turkish Bath) Day! What an interesting tradition! Amy has been to a Turkish bath before but this was Vince and Dave's first time. Pretty proud of them both...you know having a big hairy Turkish man that does not speak English scrub, soap, massage, and man-handle you is a bit intimidating. ;-)

A hammam building is like a huge hot sauna. This particular one in Ankara is over 400 years old and was ALL marble inside...just beautiful. There are different sections for men and women. You prepare in a changing room by undressing down to your undies, towel, and flip flops. When you enter the sauna part you are given a little bowl you use to scoop water from these sink-basins (again, marble) that you can fill up with hot or cold water. You scoop and splash yourself to soften your skin. The next step is the scrub. They use this mitt that is a cross between fine grain sandpaper and a Brillo pad to scrub you all over except your privates. The dead skin all comes off (seeing yours or other's dead skin is kinda gross). A quick rinse then a soapy massage where your masseuse really works out any tight spots. Then you return to your basin and finish up your regular bath routine (rinse, shampoo, etc). I noticed some of the ladies goofing off and having a water fight. Pretty interesting experience. All for 40 Turkish lira (less than $20). You feel soft and very clean when done. Dave really liked it and we decided we would check to see if there is a Turkish bath around Seattle.

After a huge breakfast at Elif's (complete with a candle on baklava to celebrate Amy's upcoming birthday) they took us to a location where we could pick up an airport shuttle. A quick ride to the airport and soon we were saying goodbye to Vince (his flight left earlier than ours). Traveling with Vince was pretty cool. We travel at a slower pace than he was used to (get up later, less activities,etc) but I think it was good pace for a group. Vince, I'm glad you made it to turkey...you make a fine traveling companion. See you back in Seattle soon!

Turkish Airlines had a 2 hour delay from our layover in Istanbul to Sofia. And they lost Amy's bag. It had most our toiletries, Amy's clothes, and all our souvenirs (doh).

So here we are again to Sofia, Bulgaria. It just worked out (lowest price airfare) that we would spend a full day here chilling out before heading back to Seattle. Hotel room in Arte Hotel was tiny but cute. Staff was super friendly and helpful.