Dwight on the road

[Coytee]

Ok the duck is just to the right of your wife on the railing. she is standing behind the guy in the orange shirt. Steve

Heck.... on this laptop I can't see the guy in the orange shirt but you're right! So we have a winner!

I can slow down for a minut now.

We're 7 hours ahead of eastern time so right now it's 6:30 and at home it's 11:30. Been an interesting trip so far. I would have done it differently but the wife wanted to see some things and doing some of them has cost us some travel time. Having done it that way, she's of a strong opinion (and I'm 85% with her) that if we come back to Europe again, she'd be just as happy skipping Italy altogether. Although she'd give you stronger negative comments on Italy than I would she raises some accurate points. While in Italy, I think we'd agree that Pompeii was probably the most charming. I don't mean the Pompeii that got oblitherated but the new city next to it. Walking through that evening as we were heading back to Naples.... it simply felt like a small, charming SAFE little place with all the tourists milling about. Naples did not give that same gut feeling of being safe & comfortable like Pompeii nor Rome did. So, if we ever went back to Italy I think we'd do it differently.

Istanbul...although we've only been here long enough to get off plane, walk around for a couple hours and go to bed... is just simply a whole new world compared to Italy. At the hotel, we checked in and they sat us down for a little meeting. They brought out a little glass of citris refreshment for both of us, brought local maps, some tourist brochures and went over some of the typical highlight places to visit here and where they were in proximity to us.

I've got a converter for the european plugs and Istanbul uses the same two prong that was used in Italy. I was happy to see that until I noticed ALL the recepticles in our hotel have the prongs recessed about 3/4" inside a round hole. The plugs we had in England and Italy were flush. I've got a square transformer so I've got a square transformer into a round hole problem. Went to the desk and asked if they had what would essentially be an extension cord of some kind. Showing him my square transformer, he recognized immediately that it wouldn't work for me. He pulled out a little extension plug (turns out I also had one now that I saw what I was looking for) and said to try it. He went on to say that if it didn't work for me to let them know in the morning and they (the hotel) would simply go out and buy me what I need.

Everyone here seems to speak English just fine or at least, fine enough to negotiate some meaningful conversations. I can't say that about the folks in Italy (which isn't a slam, just a statement). We met a very interesting lady on the train to Pompeii. She was born American but moved to Naples about 30 years ago. She was an English teacher who was by now, fluent in Italian. Turns out, she also speaks German, Spanish and I think another language. As I recall, she listed about 5 total. To talk to her in English, she had a MOST strong Italian accent so you'd never know she was born in New Jersey. I asked her if when speaking Italian to the locals, if she (in their ears) still had a foreign accent and she said yes. She said it in an interesting way.... When talking to Americans, we seemed to feel she was an Italian who spoke excellent (though heavily accented) English. When talking to her fellow Italians, they thought she spoke excellent (though heavily accented) Italian, same with German.... and so on... she went on to say that in her view, this has sort of put her onto an Island where she doesn't feel like she's 100% accepted into ANY of these cultures because each language she speaks can tell that "she's not from here". It was kind of interesting watching her reflect on her self perceptions of where she belonged. (in her eyes, answer was nowhere)

Wife was up last night setting the priorities of what she wants to do while here. Although I don't mind walking THROUGH the Bazar, I'd personally walk through it in about one hour. I've charged the cell phones in the event I get too bored there as she will be in her element. Willing to spend all day going through each vendor....then at each vendor, going through all the trinkets and maybe in some cases, going through some interesting stuff. I've tried to tell her that "me" doing that with her is about as interesting as her going to a tractor dealership with me and looking at tractor after tractor after tractor.... she says it's not because looking at tractors is boring.... besides.... she'd simply tell me to go on my own and she'd not do it.

hmm....are we communicating here?

[*-)]

We were looking at doing a tour of Princess Island. If it's the same island a guy from home told me about (he was born/raised in Istanbul), it's a place you boat to, mount a donkey and ride up to the top of it for lunch. Now it's not looking like we'll have time for that. One place I wanted to visit is/was Ephesus. http://sailturkey.com/panoramas/ephesus/ It's a lot further away than I thought.

[customsteve01]

To find Dwight..... The first time I looked at the picture I thought that the lady in the black shirt looked like she was posing for the picture (at the time I did not know that she was Richards wife). Then Richard said Dwight was on the right side of the picture. So I blew the picture way up, like 800% and I saw a little yellow blob. then in another picture Richard pointed out that his wife was shopping, HHMM same lady as in the black shirt so then I guessed that the yellow blob next to his wife was Dwight. Steve

[Coytee]

To find Dwight..... The first time I looked at the picture I thought that the lady in the black shirt looked like she was posing for the picture (at the time I did not know that she was Richards wife). Then Richard said Dwight was on the right side of the picture. So I blew the picture way up, like 800% and I saw a little yellow blob. then in another picture Richard pointed out that his wife was shopping, HHMM same lady as in the black shirt so then I guessed that the yellow blob next to his wife was Dwight. Steve

Excellent deductions Mr. Holmes!! [Y]

Now, would you prefer the lunch at Klipsch Headquarters or perhaps I could bring back some of the interesting dishes I'm seeing here in Istanbul...I'm sure they will look just the same in several weeks... [:|] [+o(] []

With my luck you're the adventureous type....

[Daddy Dee]

Good eye Steve. I'm impressed.

Now, even knowing where I am supposed to look, I can't really identify it. May be this laptop screen, though.

[LarryC]

I can't really identify it. May be this laptop screen, though.

I assume you see Marion, behind the orange shirt sitting down. Click on the pic to bring it up enlarged -- the edge of the concrete "rail" to her left is a slightly brighter line which looks continuous, except for a break in the line right next to her. On this screen, the break looks like it's from a little yellow foreign body, and I imagine I see the red in its beak. At least I presume that's what it is.

[customsteve01]

I think I would prefer the less exotic food in Indy... I really like to try new foods but the three week wait sort of turns me off. Steve

[BLSamuel]

-- the edge of the concrete "rail" to her left is a slightly brighter line which looks continuous, except for a break in the line right next to her. On this screen, the break looks like it's from a little yellow foreign body, and I imagine I see the red in its beak. At least I presume that's what it is.

whew... glad I'm not the only one for whom the duck looked fuzzy at best

Coytee did say it was like a pixel in size ... probably more like 1/2 a dozen pixels? - a fun Dwight on the road pic.

Thank you Richard, for sharing your trip with us all.

[Coytee]

Today we went to the Grand Bazar here in Istanbul. Not something I really care to do but this trip in general and Istanbul more specifically, is kind of a shopping trip (as much as I don't like that). We thought the Grand Bazar would be outdoors, under some tents or maybe ramshackle booths. Seems its in a large building dated 1461. They have zillions of things in there but the reality of it is, it's a place that opens up for the cruise ships that come into port.

You can not walk past a booth without them asking you in to see their goods. They all ask where you're from and interestingly enough... I've met/known a single Turkish man my entire life. He was a wrestling coach for us when I was in high school and I went through school with his three daughters who were in my age group. I've gone from that single man from Turkey to 90% or more of these people saying "where from the states are you?" and I say Tennessee... "ahhhhhhh, I was in Tennessee 2 years ago" or they have a brother who lives there or daughter..... Seems Tennessee must be the only place any of them visit

The people here ARE wonderfully nice though. Spoke to an Englishman and his wife today as we were meandering around. He said something that I hadn't really put a finger on until he said it... he said they will never touch you here. What he went on to explain... as he might walk down the street in England, he might come up on a group of several people and they will simply walk straight through him as though they didn't see him and perhaps, actually physcially run into him. He said that here, they are VERY aware of each other and will go to great effort to walk around/through each other and simply be more polite about sidewalk manners than he feels they have in England.

Tomorrow...if we go as planned...I'll get another notch on my belt. It will be a cheap one but it will qualify none the less. Tomorrow we're going to the other side of the river (Bosphorus). The other side is on the Asian continent. Currently, we're on the European side. Istanbul is the only city in the world that straddles two continents. I've never been to Asia so once I'm over there that will take me to 5 of the 7 continents! (North America, South America, Europe, Africa and then Asia) Doubt I'll ever get to Anartica but you never know about Australia.

I DO feel that getting to Asia this way is cheating but it is what it is!

[Coytee]

We went by the Blue Mosque and of course, got there too late and it was closed for prayer. Got a short tour around the exterior of it with a local guy showing us the old horse stables (that are now stores) and another building that used to be a prison. Interesting because as he was talking, he led us right into a building... and as I suspected.... his carpet store.

These people, though very polite and very nice, are relentless to sell you something. I think they know they can bully some people into buying something or perhaps bully you into their store for some "lessons" on how to buy something. Then they show you various rugs and then...somewhat sneaky in fashion, they say what do you think? Well, let's take out the ones you don't like... then they prune the pile down to maybe 3 rugs, all which are your favorite of that bunch (doesn't matter that you didn't walk in there to LOOK at rugs). Then when you are down to one rug, they're presuming the sale is closed and start wrapping it up. It's actually rather smooth how they do it. I see it coming from a mile off though. I just kept walking on past one guy and finally from behind my back he yelled something out about "you didn't have to be rude" (hmm.... I'm just walking down the sidewalk and didn't stop in his store to buy something and now I'm rude? [*-)]. If I recall, I even told him "no thank you " as he first tried to capture my attention to reel me in.

I'm told that on the Asian side of the city, you don't have all the shops and therefore all these sales tactics going on.

[customsteve01]

Sounds like your having a good time even tho your shopping and being RUDE..... I bet they would be calling me rude too... lol Steve

[LarryC]

See the Hagia Sophia if you can -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia. Over 1,000 years older than the Blue Mosque, btw, and I believe it has one of the largest domes in the ancient world.

[Coytee]

See the Hagia Sophia if you can

We're going to try to do all those tomorrow (Wednesday). Supposedly, there is a building here that is "the first church in the entire world" or at least, the remains of it.

I DO think this trip has been an eye opener for the wife. Prior to us leaving as we haggled/argued on where we might go...she finally said something one day in a bit of exasperation with me to the effect of..."when you travel to these places, all you want to do is see some of those boring old buildings and historical things.... I'd rather do something different and shop" (or some paraphrase of that)

Now that she's been to England and seen some of the history there, the bud has started to finally blossom a bit (though admittedly not as much as I'd hoped) BUT... she finally seems a bit more intrigued and fascenated say, when walking through Pompeii, realizing that these streets were built by someone centuries ago, the artwork.... and the rest of the story about how they died.

Yes... although it's slow to happen, I think she's finally realizing that going to some of these old places steeped in history can be just as interesting as shopping.... ( [:^)] )

Her priority is STILL shopping because to hear her say it...she's not done any, waiting for Turkey (cough). Regardless...she did want to come here specifically to go to the bazar (which she now sees is just a tourist trap) and get her family some rugs.

Interestingly enough, prior to leaving, her sister has a friend who has a friend kind of thing...who is actually FROM here. We called him prior to leaving as she wanted some pointers on where to shop for rugs. He specifically told her that he, as a man from Istanbul, would NOT buy a rug here as you can get them less expensively in the states, and/or, you can get a higher quality rug from Persia for similar dollars.

She bought a rug yesterday

[]

So.... it WAS with both eyes open that I came here knowing it was a shopping trip. It was also with both eyes open (from having travelled over the years) that parts of this trip would be a tourist trap...I've done it anyway so I can't really complain as much as I'd like to. She's been looking very much forward to this and I'm just having to take every opportunity I can to to point out to her when she seems to be really fascenated by some of the boring historical buildings and things that we've seen that sometimes seeing old boring historical buildings can be just as interesting/fun as shopping.... of course, then she slaps me for my blasphemy []

[jamesV]

Richard,

Your travel has taken you to some wonderful places, thank you for sharing your trip with us. I look forward to the rest of your trip even if you are a "RUDE" American. []

James