And They've Passed the Starting Gate!!!!!

Well, we landed in Turkey this afternoon, luckily. When we got up yesterday and looked outside, at the rainy Vancouvver sky, we had no idea what we were going to do f0r the morning, so, we went to Ikea. Always a good choice. We had $1 breakfasts and then looked around, with no luck in our search for a new kitchen table. When we left Ikea we went for a little drive through Vancouver, and into the UBC campus. We went and looked at the pools and visited the student union building. Because it was Canada day, everything was closed, but there were still people wandering around. After that we headed for the airport.

When we checked in, we got our seats all the way to Istanbul. We exchanged some money into Euros and then went through security. Whenever we go on summer holidays, we always seem to leave on Canada day. The airport was a little empty yesterday, partly because it was Canada day, and partly because it was mid-week, not many people travelling.

When we got to our gate, our flight was delayed for about a hour, meaning that we might not make our connection, because we only had an hour and a half between flights. We charged up our computers, and boarded the plane. We have never flown Lufthansa, but it was nice. The flight was about nine and a half hours long. I watched some TV and a movie and then tried to sleep. Eventually I did fall asleep, but kept getting jolted awake because of the turbulance. The washrooms in the plane, were down a set of stairs, and there were five stall-rooms. There was also a drinking fountain.

I woke up just before we were to have breakfast, hashbrowns and an omlete I didn't eat, I couldn't tell if I was nasuous or hungry. When we landed, about 45 minutes late, we basically ran off of the plane, through sewcurity and to our gate, where they were just getting ready to board. The only problem was, that we have emailed our hotel in Istanbul, where we were staying, to tell them that we didn't need to be picked up because we would not be on that flight. We sis make the flight, and then we had no ride.

We called the hotel when we arrived in Istanbul, but they said that their driver wouldn't be able to come and pick us up for a long time. We took a cab. We had arrived right during rush hour traffic, and the roads were packed. It took us about 45 minutes to reach our hotel, costing 30 liras. Our hotel, The Grand Peninsula Hotel, is very nice. We have a fridga, and lots of places to hide things.

We went and eandered around the little streets around our hotel. We ate some almonds, some corn, a wrap thing and a folded peice of naan style bread with feta cheese inside, on a benjch just outside of the Blue Mosque. After that we came back to our hotel, where we are now, just getting ready to go to bed. I have no idea what we are going to do tomorrow, but I know that we are going to have fun.

Love Laura