• Day Ten: Return to Istanbul

    This morning, we flew from Kayseri back to Istanbul and felt ourselves shift into the final leg of our trip. By early afternoon, we’d checked into our hotel. After a few minutes of gathering our wits and brushing our hairs, we headed out to visit a particularly wonderful little place called the Chora Church/Kariye Kilise […]

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  • Day Nine: Tokat

    It is perhaps a blessing that Kirsten was our Camera Woman today (it ended up being a shopping day, which means my hands got full of bags, and thus I couldn’t be bothered to drag out my camera every time a gorgeous covered woman looking vaguely melancholy walked by). Her camera snapped most of the […]

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  • Day Eight: Amasya into Tokat

    I’m sitting here, typing, and Allah-Allah, do my feet stink. It was a sweaty day wearing shoes that trapped the odors quite ably. You know what I could use, right?   Rather, I need a rousing round of this: The day started with some sweating, when Kirsten and I headed out for our respective runs. […]

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  • Day Seven: Hattusa and Amasya

    I can get into the part of travel that involves standing in a museum and looking at pottery shards. I’m also pretty adept at reading plaques. I can really get into the part of travel that involves interacting with people–both old friends and new natives. We had the best time at our hotel this afternoon […]

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  • Day Six: Leaving Cappadocia. Hittites, Brace Yourselves.

    Nothing highlights what a picky eater I am more than a table full of 800 bowls, from which I eat two things. I do like honey. And cucumbers. And the red pepper paste on the frittata. All the other stuff? Right up Byron and Virginia’s alley. More accurately, “down their gullets.” Indeed, those two share […]

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  • Day Five: Cappadocia

    Someone had a very good morning. How could she not? Virginia and Kirsten loved their balloon ride, made even better by having gotten a discounted rate thanks to Laura’s clout and by the presence of a journalist in their basket celebrating her birthday. What better way to end a balloon ride than with a piece […]

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  • Day Four: Cappadocia

    Travel can be intense, which is why it can be so vivid and memorable. It also, in the worst case scenario, can be why traveling companions begin to chafe as the days tick by. Not so here. I still like her: I still like her, too: And, lawsy, does I still likes him: In the […]

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  • Day Three: Cappadocia

    Graded class work until 2 a.m. Woke up twice before 5 a.m. Got dressed at 5:20 a.m. On shuttle to airport by 5:45 a.m. Haven’t slept since. Tragic sleep update is now officially over, as lack of sleep is only making me feel slightly loony (the main effect of which is that I’ve lost huge […]

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  • Day Two: Istanbul

    Sleep is still an issue. But let me give you highlights from today–a very good day, indeed. We took the tram to Dolmabahce palace, which is where the sultans and their families started living in the 1800s, a place that remained the seat of power for the country until it became a republic. Once Turkey […]

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  • Day One: Istanbul

    After an easy flight to NYC, followed by a long-but-okay (despite the screening of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL, which seemed to last forever) flight to Istanbul, we’re here. I actually, so far, don’t feel one way or another about being back. Another way to put this is that it feels like we never left. And […]

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