10-10 (Tues) Istanbul

Today we went to the other side of the river but not the Asian side. It was rainy when we left but it soon quit and it was just cold!

We weren't impressed with "New Istanbul" we like the old part where we are staying. When we got back to our side we went to the Spice Market and then walked to our favorite restaurant for lunch. After that we decided to walk around on some of the back/side roads. We walked by a "men's game room." One table saw us and invited us to come and sit with them. We went in and sat down in a room full of Muslim men to watch them play cards and other games.

The call to prayer has just ended and Barbara is in the bathroom shooting the hair dryer down her jammies to get warm.

Barbara is writing now . . .I have 1 1/2 hours before lights out - you all must know Nancy goes to bed exactly at 10:00pm. We have laughed at certain things until Nancy has to stop and bend over and be still cuz otherwise she will wee wee - that happened yesterday after she fell down and her jeans got sll wet from the rainy sidewalk - a bus was ready to run her over but she couldn't move because of the wee wee issue. I just read this to her and it's happening all over again!!

We only get a couple of TV channels in English - AlJazeera is one of them - surprisingly, it's more neutral than those in the USA.

We are so happy our last room here is smell free. They promised us this same room when we return from touring the south and central parts of Turkey. We leave for Izmir tomorrow morning. That is the area of Ephesus. We will be going to the calcium pools in that area - the pictures of this area are amazing. Nancy will write now -

bye,bye