Picture this... Istanbul '07

Hi everyone... pardon my spelling as the keyboards here are quite different. And... contrary to what Ron thinks (tee hee)... we didn't cart our laptop this far... so we just hop on the internet when a computer is available. We've been lucky so far as our hotels have each had one in the lobby that we're welcome to use. We're having a great time, but I must admit being a traveller in countries so different sure does make you kind of timid. Let me backtrack a bit to Vienna. It was a very interesting visit. The Lippizzaners were absolutely fabulous...even better than we had imagined. The only seats in the house that were better than ours, were the two seated in front of us. Kathy really is skilled at looking after us...and she had us seated at the head of the arena - as if we were royalty (it was actually called the Royal Box). I won't get started about the performances as I could go on for hours. Suffice to say it was an emotional and memorable experience...one which we'll never forget. We also took a boat trip up the Blue Danube river.... it was very nice and we got to see the newer part of Vienna (as usual for us, we're staying in the old part). On our final evening we had a lovely dinner, complete with weinerschnitzel and schnapps. Our main impression of old Vienna was architecture (particularly huge palaces and buildings) and statues everywhere.....of every description. The other thing that impressed us a lot was their transportation system...really quite efficient.. we even took the underground from our hotel to the airport...and actually got there in time to catch our plane. And now (Wed) we're in Istanbul... at the Apricot Hotel... a quaint, small hotel in the old part of Istanbul (Sultanahmet)... only a block from the Blue Mosque in fact we look out our room window at the Blue Mosque (complete with calls to prayers at 0530 hrs that blow you right out of bed !) and across the hall from our room is the hotel terrace where we have a view of the Sea of Marmera with freighers and ferries coming and going continuously. Breakfast is served on the terrace every morning and the selection is great..yogurt, breads, fruits and veggies and freshly made eggs of at least 6 varieties. (we're definitely not losing weight on this trip so far!) We've toured the Blue Mosque this morning and are off to see another mosque now. Tomorrow we have yet more to see and (believe it or not) Kathy has convinced me we can't leave Turkey without having a Turkish bath (yikes!)... more on that later. We'll add some photos when we have time...hope you're all well..and thanks to those who have written...we really like to hear from home... there's a way to add your comments to this blog...please feel free. Love you all... CJ and Kathy