January 27th, 2009
Turkiye
Prologue: The Turks are a fascinating people with their own very original take on the world. They are a pragmatic and indomitable people who often think in very unexpected ways. Our view of them from the United States has been colored by anti-Turkish propaganda that has intentionally clouded our view.
This is actually being written a few days into the trip on the way in to Troy. My initial impression of the Turks was based on films like Yol, Lawrence of Arabia and Midnight Express. The author of the Lonely Planet book on Turkey believes that we see a lot of anti-Turkish propaganda.
January 27th, 2009
Turkiye
They are only pre-boarding but everybody is lining up. They want to be among the first to board. I am not sure the advantage unless it is to grab overhead compartment space. In any case the boarding procedure is snafued.
The problem seems to be that they had automatic ticket-taking machines like the ones that work well in Japan. These don’t work quite so well since they required a human to show people how to feed the ticket in and then remind the user to pick up the stub.
January 27th, 2009
Turkiye
I slept all night long very soundly. Breakfast was a tiny buffet in the basement with hardboiled eggs, Dried apricots, olives, sliced bread, very good tomatoes, some sliced fruit, and jellies (which is more like a cherry sauce). There were dried apricots, each with individual toothpicks. Not a lot of choice, but sufficient.
Rain today. I expect it will rain most of our days in Istanbul. We cannot let that stop us. Our first stop is the Archeological Museum. As it suggests, it is art from the various civilizations that have lived in what is now Turkey. Now most of us would expect to find the name of Heinrich Schliemann around the museum. Nope. Not even a reference that I could see. That actually makes sense for multiple reasons.
January 27th, 2009
Turkiye
We slept in until about 8:15, which is late for us when we travel. It is my tradition to give Evelyn breakfast in bed on the 27th of each month. When we travel it is often difficult, but usually there is a cookie or something of even a little substance. Today the choice was bottled water or a stick of gum. We each took a sip of water. Well, I guess we must have our traditions.
January 27th, 2009
Turkiye
Note: I will call the city Canakkale, but it is pronounced chan-i-KAH-le. The first “c” has a cedilla. If you don’t know what a cedilla is, it is a caterpillar-like monster killed by Rodan.
