Surprises and the joys of jet lag

Well I decided to pull a surprise...and it has been my best one so far.

Last Monday my professor had a family emergency back in the States while we were in Turkey.

Initially, because we thought things were ok, we decided to stay for the remaining 3.5 weeks of our trip.

By Tuesday evening she decided her family needed her and we all decided to come home a little early.

I had already told my family on Monday that we had decided to stay so I decided not to tell them we had changed our mind to come home and I would surprise them.

So we drove for 2 days, stopping at Iznik, and taking the ferry back to Istanbul.

It was a bit cold and super windy that day - hence the kaffia.

We left Friday morning for the airport, flew to New York City and then flew back home to SLC.

16 hours on a plane baby.

One of my best friends Laurie picked me up at the airport at 11pm and took me home to Provo.

On the way back we discussed how we were going to surprise my mom.

Laurie and called Stephie and said she needed to drop something off (so Steph had no idea I was coming).

Steph informed Laurie that my mom was asleep on the living room floor so we decided to sneak in and wake her up.

When Steph saw me she fell on the floor.

When I woke up my mom (very nicely of course) it took her a second to register my face and realize she wasn't dreaming.

It was kind of cool because you could see her pupils widen and then shrink.

When she realized it was me she gasped and we had some fun.

My baby sister Bug was the funniest though because she woke, saw my face, and didn't think I was real so she reached out and grabbed my face.  She said hi and then fell asleep again.

A minute or two later she shot up and asked me why I was in the U.S. because I was in Turkey.

It was funny.

My dad was similar, he grabbed me to make sure I was real and then asked if he was dreaming.

It was a good surprise.

So I am home now, 3 weeks early, and super, super jet lagged.

I am not allowing myself to sleep during the day and my body is refusing to sleep at night.

Also I am having a lot of nausea and headaches which is no fun.

Oh well, each day gets better and in a few more, hopefully, my internal alarm will have reset.

Yay for surprises!

Glorious Ephesus and ashtray theaters

Yesterday was very long, hot, and wonderful.

We started the day going to one of the wonders of the ancient world:

The Artemision.

Other than foundations and a few ducks there is not much left of it.

Which is unfortunate because it would have been absolutely unbelievable.

Here is Bruce ticking of the ducks.

They hissed at him and then turned their backs and ignored him.

After that we went to the theater at Ephesus.

This theater is theorized to be the closest in size to the Great Theater in Apamea, Syria that I wored on 2 years ago.

It was pretty fantastic and I had a lot of fun surveying this theater.

The site of Ephesus is MASSIVE.

We went to the Church of St. Mary there as well.

Bruce liked the walk-in, dunk, and walk-out baptismal font.

The famed Library of Celsus is also on this site.

Seriously folks, I am seeing just about every classical piece I have ever seen in my textbooks on this trip.

That also includes Hadrian's Temple at Ephesus.

I include it here because it was on my Roman Archaeology midterm.

Basically I am letting Cyndy know that I still remember it.

Finally the famous Nike from Ephesus.

We did a little shopping as we were leaving.

Bruce bought me a miniature theater.

In an effort to avoid sentimentality he reminded me that I could use if for an ashtray...if I ever picked up smoking. 

Not likely.

Other than that episode, Bruce wasn't to entertained by our shopping so he endeavored to entertain himself.

By trying on hats.

Women's hats.

It was a good day overall.

Today we are heading to Iznik to see the theater there as well as see where the famed Iznik tiles were made.

More shopping may be in order here.

:)

The Pergamum Acropolis

This morning we went visited the Pergamum acropolis.

You have to take a tram to the top of the hill.

Which, in my opinion, is so much sweeter than the hike because you get an aerial view of all the ruins on your way to the top.

Awesome.

Here are Bruce and Cyndy on our way up.

While the theater wasn't super groundbreaking for my research, the view was unbelievable.

This theater is a bit odd because of its placement and...well...its slope. 

No, a slope like that on a theater is not normal.

My legs got quite the workout hiking up and down that thing a few times.

And yes, I did, from top to bottom and to the top again.

These are some of the ruins of the acropolis.

Really neat site.

We had some fun and then drove to Ephesus.

More to come.

Cocoa Puffs and Pergamum

This morning we left Assos.

Now, the following pics were not from this morning (obviously) but they were from dinner the other night at our hotel.

Forgive the poor quality, they were taken from my ipod.

It was absolutely beautiful there.  

I want to go back someday.

I also seem to post random things of what I eat.

This was breakfast this morning.

I had 2 helpings of the cocoa cereal.

What can I say?  

I love cereal - especially if it is chocolate.

We left Assos this morning and headed for Pergamum.

Pergamum is an absolutely amazing site.

So much has come from this site and so much is left.

The theater we went to today wasn't all that exciting for me but it does help round out my data set.

And really what is more important in my life right now than a rounded out data set?

I can't think of anything.

Except maybe cocoa puff cereal.

;)

Tomorrow morning we will visit the Pergamum acropolis, see another theater there and then head for Ephesus.

I am amazed at all I am seeing and what the next few weeks hold.

♥ ♥ ♥

Alice in Assos

Assos is one of my favorite places on Earth at the moment.

I have LOVED it here.

The theater was amazing and sooo very strange.

At least for what I am looking for.

Very helpful though and I'm excited to see what it will do for my study.

Assos also has a pretty interesting gate.

But lets face it, Holly and I were more interested in the few dozen sarcophagi in front of the gate.

Yes, I am in the sarcophagus.

This is the view from the Temple of Athena at the top of the hill.

Very faintly in the background you can see Lesbos where the poet Sappho resided.

GORGEOUS location.

And a picture of my chacos.

I accidentally dropped my sunglasses off a cliff.

:(

Sacrifice to Athena I guess.

Except I don't believe in the goddess Athena.

Guess I'm just a klutz then.

Pillars at the Temple of Athena.

Holly and I took silly pictures but they are to silly to be included here.

Also, I do not have them - Cyndy does.

Overall an absolutely beautiful day.

I finished it off by swimming in the hotel pool which was about a dozen feet from the Aegean Sea.

It was pretty marvelous.

I fell asleep and had a dream about Alice and Wonderland.

I was Alice.

I'm not sure who Holly was but her dress was big, yellow, had green dots, a bright pink sash and puffed sleeves.

Bruce was the Mad Hatter - Johnny Depp style but no makeup.

I woke up to the sound of Cyndy grabbing her sweater from the chair next to me.

It was a bit random but hey, I was asleep next to the Aegean, does it really matter how random it was?

Overall an absolutely lovely day.

We are leaving in the morning for Pergamum.

I'm not sure when I will have internet again but I will post as soon as I can.

TROY!!! - Check off one for the bucket list

Today I went to Troy.

Yes, I did the touristy Trojan Horse thing.

No, I am not ashamed at all. 

:)

Water channels!

The famous walls of Troy.

A pose-worthy piece of fallen ceiling. 

Overlooking the location where Schliemann "supposedly" found his treasure trove of goods. 

Hiking through the edges of the site.

There were a lot of sea-shells here.

What remains of the large theater.

The prayer bubble was in full force here.

The large snake we were warned about didn't make an appearance.

I thank God for that, quite literally.

Bruce, or his backside anyway.

;)

Bruce lounging and smoking...

...notice the no smoking sign.

After we left Troy we went to Assos and found a hotel

This is the view from our table at lunch.

Unbelievable right?

This is what I had for lunch.

Also quite unbelievable.

So, very, very, very good day.

Hope for many more to come!

♥ ♥ ♥

On to conquer Troy.

This will be short and sweet because yesterday was mostly driving.

Yesterday we left Istanbul 

(which was sad because I LOVED Istanbul)

and headed for Troy

(after a small detour to the north to see a very famous and beautiful mosque).

We crossed the Sea of Marmara (I think) on a ferry in order to cut a few hours of driving time off our trip.

The ferry from Italy to Sicily last year was a bit bumpy.

This ferry cut through the water like a hot knife on butter.

I loved thinking about the ships throughout history that would have crossed this water.

(usually to fight come to think of it)

It was absolutely lovely and I had a "Tilley" experience imagining myself on a Greek ship, gliding across to spend 10 years fighting the Trojans.

Although, they would have been a little farther south than we were...

...and they would not have been wearing chacos.

Oh well.

We spent the night in a village off of Troy, had dinner with a view of the ocean, and are going to Troy in the morning.

There will be pics.

♥ ♥ ♥

A little of Istanbul and a little of Constantinople

Well we arrived in Turkey!

We've spent the last 2 days in Istanbul and I have had an absolute blast!

Here goes.

Day 1:

First things first - I saw my first Egyptian obelisk!

We went to the Blue Mosque.

and the Byzantine Cisterns.

(these were my favorite)

Day 2:

Started with an absolutely delightful breakfast on the roof terrace watching the ships in the bay.

Then we went to the wonderful Haggia Sophia.

This is the view from Haggia Sophia towards the Blue Mosque.

Next we went to the Archaeological Museum and I saw the Alexander sarcophagus!

Just in case you were wondering it is not Alexander the Great's sarcophagus but it is called the Alexander sarcophagus.

One of my favorite pieces in the museum was a sarcophagus covered by mourning women.

It was so beautiful.

Next we went to the Tokapi Ottoman Palace, 

saw the ground (beautiful), 

the Harem (a depressing gilded cage), 

and had a delightful lunch overlooking the sea.

All in all an absolutely wonderful day.

Tomorrow we are driving around and eventually taking a ferry towards Troy.

Yep, Troy.

Yay!!!

♥ ♥ ♥