Mike's Place

A New Home?

2011-04-06T15:59:00.000+09:00

Have been looking for potential income properties, and thinking this might just be a good choice.
Immobel.com

New Years in Chiang Mai

2011-01-01T18:19:00.005+09:00

Now I can imagine that if we were in downtown Chiang Mai last night that this would have been the view, and that does look like the back of my heard. Anyway the view last night was something that I had never seen before. All around the city people were launching these paper lanterns, it was not from just one location, everywhere you looked in the night sky were the lanterns interspersed with fireworks of all variety. We had 11 of them that we set off in the Armstrong's neighborhood earlier in the evening, and so when it hit midnight we were free to to just enjoy the amazing sight.

This has been a great trip and even though I decided to not take the jaunt into Myanmar. And as I look back I'm glad that I didn't go to Myanmar for at least one reason had i gone I would have missed this great light show last night.

Angry Whopper

2010-09-12T12:37:00.002+09:00

So on my way home I stopped in at Burger King and was lured to this new menu item, the Angry Whopper. It comes in mild, spicy, and extra hot. I got the spicy version, it had 3 jalapeno marks by it. And it really was spicy, with a sauce that seemed to be basically just tabasco sauce, very good. There was also a sign for a Crazy Whopper which according to the picture had at least an inch of jalapeno peppers on it.

Boggy Creek

2010-08-01T20:30:00.002+09:00

The teachers took and airboat ride at Boggy Creek yesterday and it was really fun. This was the second one that I have taken, but this one was a private tour with just the three of us on board. We saw this alligator and a couple of its babies, a raccoon, many birds and a bald eagle.

rainbow cloud

2010-07-18T13:30:00.002+09:00

And today it is in the Japanese Yomiuri.

Healthy Chicken

2010-07-13T09:05:00.004+09:00

Kentucy Fried Chicken in Japan is going healthy. Putting on the menu oven grilled chicken. Now why can't America follow suit and give us some healthier options rather than the heart attack waiting to happen, double down sandwich.

No wonder so many people in the states are overweight. I'm going to have to be really careful this summer, because it is so easy to fall for these so unhealthy food options.

Sumo Appology?

2010-07-12T07:58:00.004+09:00

"Following an announcement saying, 'We express our apology to our ancestors and the ring,' some 200 wrestlers, stablemasters and Japan Sumo Association (JSA) officials simultaneously performed deep bows toward the ring as some 1,000 fans looked on."

How typically Japanese. After deciding not to cancel the Nagoya Sumo tournament after the baseball gambling scandle, this is how the Sumo Association desides to show its remorse. Bowing to the ring and their ancestors. Not sure where this comes from but I know it is an attitude that prevails most sports in Japan. When our tennis team is finished practicing the girls always turn to the court and say thank you. I've sen girls bow to the court before the step on it to play a game. But appologizing to the sumo ring, I don't get it.

School Cleaning

2010-07-09T14:30:00.002+09:00

If you are at all familiar with the Japanese school system, you will know that the above illustration is a daily sight at every school in Japan. The students do all the cleaning, at least for the most part. It works for them, but I have always thought that the inside of most schools are not kept up. I guess you might say that it goes to show.

Well recently at my school there has been a big push from the recruitment commitee to really make sure that the school is clean before they have special school explanation meetings to parents or cram school teachers. Something that seems like it is happening everyweek recently. This means that after the kids have left school they are wanting us to stick around and make sure the school is clean. So the teachers go out in the areas that have already supposedly been cleaned my the students, and clean again.

Now the other day the head of that comittee anounced that most parents now find that the schoos are pretty well clean. This cleanliness is a reflection supposedly on how well you are disciplining your students. So you must be doing a good job if your school is clean. But now that it is a norm they are wanting us to make sure that the school is pristine. So we have well behaved students because are school is clean. But the problem it is the teachers that are making it really clean. Isn't this really saying that we aren't doing our job because even though we work with the students and teach them to clean, we still have to do it all over to make the school presentable. In a sense aren't we really lying to the parents?

I really think that they just need to hire a janitorial staff to do the work, this way the students could have more study time, and there wouldn't be extra work piled on to the already busy teachers schedules.

Rakuten to make English official in-house language by end of 2012 › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

2010-07-04T06:47:00.000+09:00

This was in the news yesterday and I thought it was very interesting. Just think if more companies started to do this in Japan peoples English might actually improve.

Rakuten to make English official in-house language by end of 2012 › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

Rakuten, which operates the largest Internet mall in Japan, intends to conduct all executive meetings in English and eventually have all internal documents written in the language, it said, adding that the menus in its staff canteen are already available in English.

Check out this great MSN Video: Top 10 Bizarre Phobias

2010-07-01T12:51:00.001+09:00

Check out this great MSN Video: Top 10 Bizarre Phobias

Although this least mentions the fear of dance and the fear of flutes as the same thing, it is interesting. My favorite, Consecotalephobia, the fear of chopsticks. Yikes could't live in Japan with that.

how a Japanese man should dress

2010-06-26T19:47:00.002+09:00

I was surprised when this guy got on the train, it is very rare when you will see a man dressed in full Kimono and he wasn't with anyone. It looked to be made of linen very dapper to say the least he was very put together. I think I could pull the look off it would be nice to wear at weddings, but don't get invited to lots of those.

scarry

2010-06-26T07:31:00.002+09:00

This is the current add campaign for Winston cigarettes in Japan. I'm still looking for the poster with 3 of these guys lined up holding the same pose. I'm trying to figure out who their target audience is.

do it again

2010-06-01T19:32:00.002+09:00

Latest in the Tokyo Metro poster series. Reminding people to be polite, reminding a fellow passenger that they have forgotten their umbrella.

I think I have 2 ideas for the series.

One would be along this line, waking the sleeping passenger that is still fast asleep as everyone gets off at the last station. I know that I have seen some people that have not gotten off and ended up riding back, who knows how many times.

The second would be entitled, "Do it in Bed" and it would show someone falling asleep on the shoulder of the perfect stranger sitting next to them, in this case the guy with no pupils.

In Perspective: Visualizing the BP Oil Disaster

2010-05-30T07:12:00.002+09:00

Not much news here about the big oil spill in the gulf, but this is what it would look like over Tokyo.

Go here to see what it would look like over your city.

creative uses

2010-05-28T20:53:00.002+09:00

Today the iPad was released here in Japan today, and you know with creative uses like this I think it could catch on quick.

iPad + Velcro from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Corn chocolate?

2010-05-23T15:04:00.002+09:00

Now I think I have seen everything. I know that Japanese love corn on everything, but this takes the cake. Now I know there is not actually corn inside, but I think it must be something to do with the look or the crunch of the product. Go figure.

Festivals and Involvement

2010-05-17T10:29:00.005+09:00

The festival in Japan has always been of intrest to me. People come out in droves to see and participate in these events. I thought it would be a good picture chance so I headed out to fight the crowds, they say over a million people attend this every year. This one started in 1872. And of course the people that are most involved in festivals like this one are men. And I am always amazed that men will come out in droves for these. In doing a little research I found an article by Sarah Elizabeth Freeborn where she said, "They (matsuri or festival) allow community members, both past and present, a time of celebration and fun, and an opportunity to share experiences with one another, maintaining and strengthening bonds of friendship." I have had a friend tell me sort of the same thing that these festivals are really more about the bonding of community more than any religous meaning.
I also ran across something from Michael K. Roemer, in talking about the Gion Festival in Kyoto he states, "participants in this month of rites and festivities gain a sense of belonging and emotional support based on their roles in this historically and culturally significant shrine-related festival. Specifically, highly involved male participants form intimate and exclusive relationships and develop enduring networks that offer feelings of unity and spiritual guidance. With a combination of well-accepted "Western" theories and methods, and an understanding of distinct cultural differences." I guess you could say that these festivals are the ultimate male bonding experience for Japanese men.

Which leads me back to the Japanese church, what our the cultural events that will draw people in make them feel involved and give them a sense of beloning, foster deep relationships, and give them a feeling of unity and spiritual guidance? It is a very open ended question, but one that has plagued me for a long time.

Nature in heart of Tokyo

2010-05-16T15:41:00.002+09:00

Had a drum preformance at Meijijingu kaikan yesterday and on the way back spotted this nice little river flowing through the shrine grounds. Should have pulled out my real camera to get a better shot, but hey.

funniest way to ride train

2010-05-15T16:50:00.002+09:00

So I get on the train and am patiently waiting for the train to leave and this young guy gets on and tries to go through to the next car. He grabs the bar to open the sliding door between cars but doesn't realize that he is pulling on the hand rail. The old lady sitting in front of him motions to show him the handle is on the other side. He stops and angrily tries again at the same hand rail. He angrily gives up then walks over to the door right beside me and gets in this position on the floor in front of the door. The old ladies next to me and the guy standing on the other side of the car giggle and shake their heads, I say, "I think he is drunk." Another strange sighting on the train.

Sky Tree

2010-05-15T15:17:00.002+09:00

View of Sky Tree from Asakusa, the red bull car in the foreground is just an unexpected surprise.

you see all kinds

2010-05-15T14:26:00.002+09:00

Went into Asakusa today, and just happened upon a festival. Now this guy wasn't part of the festival but he was surely dressed for the occasion. Don't know if you can tell but he had little fish bowls hanging from his hat with gold fish and little crabs in them.

2010-05-03T14:31:00.001+09:00

Random sightings

2010-05-02T15:37:00.002+09:00

The front of this shirt said, "How's your boss?"

Oh for a simpler way.

2010-04-21T18:54:00.003+09:00

So today I went to get my license renewed, which I thought would be an easy process. On the card they sent me they said I had two options; go to the test center, or go to the ward police station. I decided to go to the police station because it is much closer and I thought would be a much simpler process. I should have know things were not going to go well when I arrived to find that from the first of April they had moved locations. The map to the new station was behind a fence and not very legible. Luckily there was a man nearby that I asked and got directions. One problem down. Got to the new place and went in and asked what I had to do. The lady said that I could apply today but I would have to take an hour lecture also, ok I knew I would have to do that. The only problem was that she said the next lectured would be June 11th. I was like, "What?", and asked wasn't there a different day that I could go on. Well she couldn't answer that question and had to ask another lady. That later eventually came over to another counter, not directly to me and proceeded to say that if I applied today the license wouldn't be done till May 26th. I asked if there was a lecture in May, but she said that since the license wouldn't be processed and back to them I couldn't take the lecture. She also told me they only offer it once a month. So I asked about June. Her answer to that was, well that date is not decided, it will probably be on July 15th but she couldn't say for sure, so I didn't even have the option to ask for that day. No the problem with both the days and the times is that for either one I would have to take off work to do it. Then she said I can go directly to the testing center and get it all done in one day. So now I have to go to the test center and get it done. Well at least she said they are open on Sunday. Still that doesn't make me to thrilled because since they are only open during business hours during the week and closed on Sat. I'm sure the lines will be horrendous.

All this to say, why can't they make the process easier? In this land where everyone is tied up with their work, why not open the test center on Saturdays or in the evenings. Same for the lecture at the police station. Given the amount of people that have to go through this process you think they would offer the lectures more than once a month and not just during the weekdays during the middle of the day. Wish someone would think these things through.

So any way this is what I have to look forward to, but actually this picture looks fairly uncrowded.

Divorce Ceremony?

2010-04-20T09:45:00.002+09:00

As I was watching the news this morning I was surprised to hear that divorce ceremonies are becoming popular in Japan. So when I got to school and tried to find something on it in the the Japanese newspaper I didn't really find anything but I ran across an article from 2008 on CNN.

If just discussing divorce in public seemed taboo a few years ago, the growing trend of divorce celebrations is helping lessen the stigma surrounding the end of marriage.

"Yes, it's sad and it's painful, but it's not failure," says Christine Gallagher, the owner of Los Angeles event company The Divorce Party Planner and the author of a book by the same name. "It's part of life, and yet it's the only major event for which we have no ritual.

Full article here.
Yes it may be the only major event for which we have no ritual, but do we need one? One of the commentators on the news today said basically, if they can get along well enough to throw a party, is there need for a divorce. I think the major difference with the celebrations here was that they may involve both parties. They mentioned a part of the ceremony where they take imitation wedding rings and the couple destroys them with a hammer. I think it might be something that is actually helpful but the most disturbing fact from the article was this, "A celebration communicates that divorce is OK -- life-affirming, even.". I so don't agree with that statement.

Proof read?

2010-03-26T21:10:00.002+09:00

Thanks to Sayaka for alerting me of McDonalds failure to do some checking before they print out their advertising.

Dissapointment in a California Burger

2010-03-13T15:19:00.003+09:00

This is the advertised product.

And this is reality.

My motto at McDonalds has always been, "Never try the new stuff." Today with the 4th in this new series my thinking has been further reinforced. Dry, bland, the only thing that differentiated it from the New York Burger was the sauce, which you couldn't even taste. They are billing the sauce as a California wine sauce, but like I said you barely knew that anything was on it. I thought that they might throw on maybe some avocado, I mean it is popular, it wouldn't be hard to come by or anything. But I assume that it would be a bit of a job for them to cut up fresh avocado, so why not guacamole, then in place of the tomato salsa. Everyone knows this is the new condiment of choice. And if they really wanted to give it some zing, throw on some jalapenos. Anyway to the exec's at McDonalds in Japan, any new ideas run them by me first.

Shocking News in Japan

2010-03-05T16:37:00.002+09:00

This has been in the news the last couple of days, and the details were rather shocking as I listened to it on the news this morning.

Nara couple held after son starves to death
The Yomiuri Shimbun

NARA--A husband and wife were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of starving their 5-year-old son to death.

Hiroshi Yoshida, 35, a company employee of Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, and his wife, Mami, 26, a part-time worker, reportedly admitted the allegations to the Nara prefectural police. They also were quoted by the police as saying they had no affection for the boy.

The mother said she abused the boy because he looked like her husband, whom she did not get along with, the police said. Meanwhile, Yoshida was quoted by police as saying that he knew the boy was not being fed, but did not do anything about it.

According to the police, Tomoki Yoshida weighed only 6.2 kilograms, about one-third of the average weight of a 5-year-old child, and less than the average 1-year-old. He was 85 centimeters tall, which is the average height of a 2-year-old and 25 centimeters shorter than an average 5-year-old.
full story here

I know that this is terrible news and I wonder what could have been done. One of the things that stood out in this news was that this family of 4 were living in a one room apartment. For those of you who are not familiar with what that works out to a room measuring roughly 8'x11'. Now they probably had a small kitchen to go with that, but I'm sure it wasn't even half the size the main room. Not a very big space to do all of your living in. And I started to wonder why in Japan do people live in such conditions. I'm sure that cost was one big reason. Cost of housing is outrageous in Japan. I know that Japan is limited when it comes to space but I think there needs to be some serious reform in housing. I remember when I moved into Tokyo and was shocked when I had to pay the equivalent of 5 months of rent just to get into my apartment. Then add the first months rent and I was staring at about $8,000. Luckily I had the funds to do this, but if by chance you are just starting out or have a family to take care of, it probably is not that easy. There are public housing projects in Japan that are very nice, and you can get escape paying some of the start up fees by getting into one of these developments, but at the same time the new ones that I have seen have not been cheap at all. One of the reasons for this is that there is this thing called "Amakudari" where gov't officials retire and get put in charge of such projets and these projects pay out huge salaries to these officials. They are taken care of for life, but it drives the housing costs out of this world. I think it is about time for some change. Who know maybe if this family of 4 had had a decent living condition this tradegy possibly could have been avoided. I know there are som many more details, but for Japan one of the richest nations in the world this is pretty sad.

Just love The Tunnels

2010-03-02T13:27:00.001+09:00

Festival Entrance.

2010-02-22T19:37:00.000+09:00

Saidaiji Hadaka Matsuri climax

2010-02-22T19:23:00.001+09:00

I got better video that I did pictures, hopefully you can see how wild this whole event is.

Saidaiji Hadaka Matsuri

2010-02-21T07:47:00.002+09:00

On the spur of the moment I decided to go to the Saidaiji Naked Festival on Saturday. This year marked the 500th anniversary of this event. I arrived at 8:00 in the evening and I thought that would be plenty of time, but I wish I would have gone a little earlier. People were up on the platform of the shrine and just as I got into the grounds they announced that they were clearing the area except for the participants. Shortly after I arrived they started slowly heading to the platform waiting for the drop of the sacred sticks, "shingi".

It wasn't too long before the stage was full.

And they still kept coming!

And coming!

Just a bit crowded and pretty dangerous.

As you can see from the picture there were people on the outside and I think their main job was to do their best to make sure everyone stayed on the stage. There are very step steps all around the stage that are put up for just this event. As the crowd got larger there were numerous times when you would hear a rumble from the crowd and the stage and a group of the men would fall like a giant wave of bodies down the steps. I have some great video where you should be able to see it and I hope to get it up shortly.

If you are interested in the festival here is a little blurb that I found.

One of the three most eccentric festivals of Japan. Nine thousand men wearing only loincloths struggle fiercely with one another over a pair of lucky sacred sticks measuring 4 cm in diameter and 20 cm in length, thrown into the crowd by the priest from a window 4 m up. Anyone who luckily gets hold of the shingi and thrusts them upright in a wooden measuring box known as a masu which is heaped with rice is called the lucky man, and is blessed with a year of happiness. The other lucky items are bundles of willow strips, and although 100 of these are thrown into the crowd, it is not an easy task to catch them.

Read the rest of the story here.

Hadaka Maturi

2010-02-20T15:47:00.002+09:00

With lack of anything better to do I decided to jump on a train and head to Okayama to see check out the Hadaka Matsuri. At least this year they have moved up the time when they drop the lucky charm (for lack of better words).

Olympic Fashion Faux Pax

2010-02-15T06:32:00.004+09:00

Not surprised at all that something like this happened. Now I don't think this guy looks too bad, but his, not wearing his suit correctly, got him banned from attending the opening ceremony. Now given all the dress code rules that we have at school I understand this but at the same time wonder if it really matters. Well it must to some, it seems the actions were taken after people complained to the Japan Olympic Committee.

Shoichi Yamashita / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

VANCOUVER--Japanese Olympic snowboarder Kazuhiro Kokubo was barred from attending the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics by the head of Japan's Olympic delegation after he flouted the dress code by wearing the Japanese Olympic uniform in a manner deemed inappropriate.

Kokubo, 21, who will compete in the halfpipe event, departed for Vancouver on Tuesday from Narita Airport with the Japanese delegation, but had his official team trousers hitched below his waist, shirt untucked and tie loosened.

Due to numerous complaints to the Japanese Olympic Committee and other entities, Kokubo voluntary refrained from attending Wednesday's ceremony for athletes entering the Olympic Village. At a press conference shortly after the ceremony, Kokubo said he was very sorry for his attire, but prolonged his syllables in a manner that was perceived to be flippant, which fueled even more protests.

I think this sort of reinforces the idea that I have always had about Tamasei and their rules. It seems that they have all these rules, but there really is no penalty for breaking them. I have always thought that the school has always been too soft on the kids. I say this in knowing that sometimes the consequences in doing something as small as not wearing you uniform right, can be rather stiff in Japanese society.

Jeanne Moos talks about "Pant's on the Ground"

2010-02-08T12:09:00.003+09:00

Chocolate Soda

2010-02-07T15:51:00.003+09:00

Just about when you thought you have seen it all you get another surprise. Stopped at the convenience store on the way home thinking I might pick up something to drink and this drink jumped out at me. What will they think of next? Well I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, I mean it was just a couple of weeks ago I saw that there was chocolate beer in the stores so why not. When I looked it up I saw someone had actually blogged about it and said that it tasted like a cross between cream soda and a totsie roll. Well I wasn't up for it today but maybe I will try one before Valentines day.

New York Burger

2010-02-06T13:51:00.002+09:00

So McDonalds is running a promotional hamburger series. It started off with Texas and is moving its way through the 4 burgers pictured above. Yesterday New York debuted so I decided to go out and try it today for lunch. Here it is pictured below.

I have made it a point to not eat these creative products but I thought hey I should at least try, I mean they look good. Texas, too much bread, bbq sauce that tasted more like teriyaki sauce. A disappointment. The New York; bacon, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. No it wouldn't have been bad if it wasn't for the horseradish mustard that was slathered on the bottom. Another disappointment. If it had been juicy it may have worked; add mayo, relish, ketchup, and mustard, and I would be back for more.

Funky Phone

2010-02-03T09:40:00.004+09:00

So on the way home from the immigration office I changed trains at Oimachi and I realized there was a new electronics store where Marui used to be. I wanted to look for a digital picture frame and ran across this. Seeing as I also need to replace my phone I'm thinking this may just be the thing I need. Check it out at Sharp.

Train Mail

2010-02-02T11:59:00.002+09:00

On my way to the immigration office yesterday I ran across this very unusual mail box inside of Shinagawa station.

Actually over the years Shinagawa station has been transformed into a really nice area. In the station building there is a nice Starbucks shere you can sit on a terrace overlooking the justle and bustle of the station and also enjoy free wifi.

iPad parody

2010-02-01T10:21:00.001+09:00

This is too funny! And to think that it was done 5 years ago.

Spheres of Influence

2010-01-31T19:11:00.008+09:00

Went to a wedding party last night and I was fascinated by the different circles of friends my friend had made. During the party representatives from each group of friends was asked to give a short speech. It was a very interesting mix of people and I was somewhat surprised at the number of friends that my friend had built around him. Actually I was impressed by how many people this guy really had made a lasting impression on. I was also struck by the diversity of his circles of influence. There were work friends, college friends, manga friends, baseball friends, chorus friends, drinking friends, and us his church friends. Lots of circles, lots of friends, and a network of people rivaling facebook.

Also just a few weeks my good friend Susan left on her final journey. Over and over the thing that was said about her was how many lives she touched. She had an amazing network of friends, from all around the world. From what I hear the funeral was a celebration of over 400 people in attendance, and spoke of the influence that she had on so many people.

So where am I going with this, well it started me thinking, "How big is my circle of friends, and how expansive are my spheres of influence?" Let's see, what is a good measure, my facebook friends perhaps? Well I don't think I have a great number of these, 266, but compared to the average which is 130, maybe I don't fair too bad. If I had a wedding party (this is just imaginary of course) how many people could I get to come. I probably would be pleasantly surprised by the numbers but I think most people would come more out of utter surprise. And what about a funeral, how many people would show up for that? As I get older I find that building friendships and relationships is very different from 30 years ago. But just because it is different from years ago, I still feel that developing friendships and nurturing relationships is one of the most important things I can be doing. As people reflected on my friend Susan's life, the overwhelming response was that she was a friend to almost any and all. She was interested in peoples lives remembered things about people, shared in their interests and was genuine with them.

I do have a good circle of friends but what am I doing to expand that? How many people are going to be influenced by mine? How broad and far reaching are my circles of influence going to be? What should I be doing to make more of a difference, or is what I'm doing enough? I think I have a lot of questions and maybe not a lot of answers, but I hope that I can be a genuine friend to as many people as God puts in my path. When I boil it all down I think that this should probably be one of our main goals. We are called to share God's love, what better way than to be a genuine friend.

iPad, It's Here! Well almost.

2010-01-29T05:47:00.003+09:00

Been waiting to see if the rumors would come true and it was verified last night when I got to e-mails from Apple verifying the release of the iPad. An old from college Nick Gerlich had this to say about it on his blog.

The iPad is basically an iPhone on steroids. It is combination e-reader, netbook and iPod, all with the touchscreen usability we have all come to love (or loathe) as iPhone users. It will be available in 3 storage configurations, as well as with or without AT&T 3G wireless connectivity. With an entry level price of $499, it is decidedly a lot pricier than simple netbooks on the PC platform (starting at $300), but its coolness quotient is up in the stars.

Go ahead and read the rest of what he says at GNU/Medialab. He has a better way of putting it down in words than me.

Tai Yaki

2010-01-24T16:45:00.003+09:00

On the way home from church today I made a stop in Shibuya. On the way back to the station I saw this interesting store selling taiyaki, which is a traditional Japanese bean paste filled pastry. Well this store has gone "international" you might say. Instead of the traditional bean paste they have substituted:

Cheese Curry dog (India)
German Potato
Italian (have no idea of the contents but it looked pretty good)
Sweet Potato (America not sure what the connection is)
Caramel & Almond (France)
Chocolate & Custard (Belgium)

Had I not just eaten and there hadn't been a huge line I would have loved to try one of them.

If your interested check out their web site, Tai Yaki.

Pant's on the Ground ballad

2010-01-21T06:40:00.003+09:00

Like Simon said I think someone is going to make a hit out of this song. I don't think this is it but it is pretty funny. Love the ending.

And now I see that "'Pants on the Ground' Singer Larry Platt Offered Record Deal"

And if your looking for a t-shirt, try this on for size.

Pant's on the Ground

2010-01-16T08:58:00.002+09:00

I hope someone makes this song into a hit.

12 things that became obsolete this decade.

2009-12-30T22:09:00.004+09:00

Oh how things have changed.
Look to see all the things that we don't need anymore.

Calling
Landlines
Wires
Classified adds
Dial up internet
Encylopedias
CD music
Film
Film camers
Hand written letters
Catalogs
Fax

NYT: Decade End Chart

2009-12-30T21:49:00.003+09:00

Not sure if I understand what all of these are about but interesting. It also shows how behind the times I am on some things.

Off with the pants!

2009-12-30T21:24:00.002+09:00

For those following on FB I mentioned that flying the day after the attempted attack I did get frisked at the airport, and camera crews were there filming it. The funny thing was that I don't think the people that were doing the security checks actually knew what they were doing. Since I have been back it is all over the news about new measures on flights, but it all seems to be rather reactionary. No getting up during the last hour on flights coming into the states and no blankets, pillows or coats on you laps at that time. The reason for this is that was the time frame that this guy used, and the explosives were sewn into his underwear.

Here is what Obama has to say on the subject.

Now since the last foiled attempt with the shoes, taking shoes off at the check points has been standard procedure. Now with the underwear mishap, are we going to have to take off our pants.

Susan

2009-12-28T08:14:00.002+09:00

Eunice, Judith and Britta, all encouraged me to make the trip to see Susan and I am so glad that did. She is in a lot of pain, and is dizzy and nauseous. This has been a long hard journey for her and she is ready to be done with it. Please keep her in your prayers.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T07:25:00.001+09:00

I think Linus says it best.

Merry Christmas!

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

2009-12-23T22:59:00.002+09:00

We sang this hymn tonight in our candle service and it is one that I really like. Not heard it so much here in Japan but the Japanese is very nice also.

Appreciated for what?

2009-12-23T21:35:00.001+09:00

I have no idea why there was no attempt to translate the rest of the sign.

White Christmas

2009-12-21T09:08:00.002+09:00

Is it really Christmas if you don't see "Holiday Inn" and hear Bing sing this wonderful song.

Or maybe you are more familiar with this version of the song from the movie of the same title and with Romary Clooney when she was hot and before all the toilet paper comercials.

Starbucks Christmas

2009-12-21T08:18:00.002+09:00

Had some extra time this morning so I stopped by Starbucks in hopes of getting a Gingerbread Latte. Sad to say it was sold out, seems they have run out of the syrup, I told the guy there I thought they needed to make a special order. I mean we still have 4 more days till Christmas.

A Classic Made New

2009-12-18T06:47:00.002+09:00

I've always enjoyed this duet, especially having it done as a duet with Steven Curtis Chapman. His harmonization rocks.

Welcome to Our World

2009-12-15T14:19:00.002+09:00

Another great song from Michael W Smith. Full of meaning and truth. Great imagery also. Please enjoy.

Christmas Everyday

2009-12-13T19:43:00.002+09:00

Another interesting Christmas album that I actually picked up in Taiwan, was by Kenny Rogers. Actually it is really nice there are a couple of very interesting songs. This one, I think, is appropriate for the times with the "Happy Holidays", "Merry Christmas" debate. Actually it takes it one further by saying we need to remember Christ and Christmas everyday.

Please Refrain from Drunken Behavior.

2009-12-13T14:57:00.002+09:00

No Eye Had Seen

2009-12-11T08:57:00.002+09:00

One of my favorite Christmas albums has been Michael W. Smith's "Christmas". He first Christmas album and a great one at that. Seems like I can never get tired of the music, and it was on this album that we first heard Agnus Dei which has become a poplular praise song recently. Today's song from that album is "No Eye Had Seen", I just listened to it and it brought a tear to my eye. Michael and Amy Grant did a great colaboration on this song.

No eye had seen
No ear had heard
'Til hosts on high
Proclaimed the
birth
And heav'n brough down
(Quietly with no one watching)
Its only
child
(From the womb of perfect peace)
The son of man
(Wellspring of
our joy delivered)
The world reconciled
(Into earthly destiny)
And
song broke forth
Angelic strain
And none could help
But sing the
name
Emmanuel
(Kyrie eleison we sing)
Emmanuel
(Glory to the
newborn King)
Emmanuel
(Mortal and immortal voices)
Emmanuel
(Endless praises echoing)

Unusual Christmas Music

2009-12-09T15:21:00.005+09:00

Something that I have found interesting over the years is how many different people put out Christmas albums. Seems like everyone is willing to jump onto the Christmas band wagon so to say. A couple I have never really understood are Barbra Steisand, and the Mormon Tabrenacle Choir. We all know that Barbra is Jewish, so why has she released 2 Christmas albums.

The one that I have, "A Christmas Album" includes the following songs:

"Jingle Bells"
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
"The Christmas
Song"
"White Christmas"
"My Favorite Things"
"The Best Gift"
"Sleep in Heavenly Peace (Silent Night)"
"Gounod's Ave Maria"
"O Little Town of Bethlehem"
"I Wonder as I Wander"
"The Lord's Prayer"

I do love her rendition of Jingle bells.

She starts out with the classic non-religous songs, but ends strong with the Christian classics. Why would she want to sing aobut the birth of Jesus, or praise Mary with Ave Maria, and The Lord's Prayer? What was she thinking. I mean I do thik it is cool that she would do it and I hope the songs made her think but still how can she sing the songs with any kind of meaning?

And speaking of singing without feeling or meaning, how about the Mormon Tabrancle's version of The Messiah? It's actually a good redition but how much life it would have if the people singing it really believed what they were singing.

Reflections on Christmas' Past

2009-12-09T10:06:00.006+09:00

During college my Christmas music of choice was "The Messiah". It most have been my room mate Brian that got me started listening to it, but it seems like that as Christmas rolled around that was the only music playing in our dorm room. After graduating from college I was really happy to sing in Shelby's community chorus it one of their preformances of this great work. I think the director (our high school choir director) was surprised at how well I could sing given that I never sang in High School. I remember him saying how happy that I had joined the preformance.
I have also liked some of the modern re-arrangements of some of the pieces like, "The New Young Messiah". At Tamasei the tradition continues, at the PTA Christmas the Halleluja chorus is sang and for the high school Christmas worship 3 songs from the Messiah are sung.

One of my favorite songs from "The New Young Messiah" is "Surely He has born our Grief" sung by Michael English, Steve Green, and Larnelle Harris. Really it is from the Easter section, but Chirstmas is all about the coming of Christ and he came to do just that bear our grieves.

And of course we have the soulful version of the Messiah.
This one done by the Broklyn Tabernacle Choir.

Johnny Mathis

2009-12-09T06:59:00.003+09:00

As mentioned in my previous post I believe this is that album that I picked up in the drug store and here is Johhny singing, "It's the Most Wonderful time of the Year"
And how true that is.

The Christmas Song

2009-12-09T06:43:00.003+09:00

Facebook has been one of the reasons I haven't been posting much of late. So I thought I'd change that and I thought I would bring you some of my favorite Christmas music. I actually was thinking of starting this series off with one of my favorites Johnny Mathis, but this Nat King Cole version of "The Christmas Song" beat him out. I remember buying an LP of Johnny's Christmas album in of all places a drug store that I really loved. I'll try to find one of his songs for tomorrow.

Expensive Apples

2009-11-09T06:07:00.005+09:00

Just saw this on the news, a box of apples from Iwate Japan can be yours for only ¥800,000. Roughly around $8,900! It is a 10 kilo box of apples with 28 apples inside. Making the cost of one ¥28,500, or $317.

What is wrong with Japan? Who would pay that for one let alone buy a whole box. And what about the guy grew these, I'm sure there is some elaborate story about how he went to great lengths to grow the perfect apple. Why not just grow a bunch of real good apples and share them with those in the world can't afford to buy a regular apple. There is something twisted in this. I have no idea what the Japanese obsession with expensive food is all about.

Check out the full story in Japanese at Asahi Shinbun.

Delay

2009-11-03T11:25:00.001+09:00

My flight out of Naha is delayed by only 5 minutes and the gate staff made an announcement and then they all bowed in unison. This is service, how nice it would be if American air carries could learn to be as much service oriented.

2009-11-03T10:17:00.001+09:00

funny Japanese

2009-11-02T15:18:00.002+09:00

Control is more important than speed.

This was a sign in the bathroom of the reastaurant that I ate at today. I guess they have too many men splashing all over the place. The funniest thing about it is that I think it was hand written. Did the owner think this up or what?

2009-10-29T15:14:00.001+09:00

Kagetsu

2009-10-29T12:08:00.001+09:00

Famous Japanese restaurant bosting a 360 year history. Originally a brothel, and still near the entertainment district.

Huis Ten Bosch

2009-10-28T11:27:00.001+09:00

This morning is Huis Ten Bosch, alot of money has gone into this place but it is one of lease intererting places I have ever been. The only thing you can really do is shop and eat, why we bring the girlrs here I will never know.

Toilet English

2009-10-28T06:31:00.001+09:00

Kyushu School Trip

2009-10-27T19:44:00.003+09:00

Today is the first day of our school trip to Kyushu. We flew into Fukuoka and then went to Yoshinogari, an old settelment, there is really not alot to do there just see the replicated buildings of that area. From there we headed to Okachiyama, a very small pottery village near Imari. I guess this is one of the birth places of pottery in Japan and it was a very nice visit, I would have loved to spent a lot more time there but we only had just a little over an hour. The only good thing about it was that it limited my spending.

Fall

2009-10-24T06:10:00.001+09:00

After an all night drive we are almost to Morioka, and we get a glimpse of the beautiful fall colors at a rest area.

2009-10-24T05:59:00.001+09:00

Pretty(scary) in Pink

2009-10-19T16:53:00.003+09:00

While I was waiting at the station I saw this man, now the picture isn't that great but if you embiggen you can see the pink and white design in the jacket, and he had a pink shirt on and was talking on a vivid pink cell phone. Gotta say he must be pretty self confident.

Narita

2009-10-12T15:37:00.001+09:00

Long Weekend

2009-10-11T12:06:00.001+09:00

It really is amazing what a typhoon & a 3 day weekend will do for the skies of Tokyo. Too bad I have to be home this afternoon to wait for NTT to come and hook tp my new phone line. The benefit is that I will have a faster interdmdt connection, and best of all I'll get some better TV, looking forward to Fox and CNN.

2009-10-08T22:55:00.001+09:00

Tourists

2009-10-01T14:48:00.001+09:00

Today I saw one of the most interesting t-shirts. There was a group of Australian HS students and the back of their t-shirts read,"私たちはオーストラリアから来ました。どうぞよろしく。"We're from Australia, thanks for being kind to us. I think only in Japan would this be an effective cultural ice breaker. Can you imagine what would happen if it were the other way around?

It's here!

2009-09-26T14:32:00.003+09:00

The new TV arrived today, I think I am going to be very happy with it!

New TV

2009-09-22T19:25:00.002+09:00

I have been with out a working TV for about 3 months now, so after contemplating the options I narrowed down what I wanted and decided on the Regza Z8000 the 37 inch model. And today was the day to go out and buy. Surprisingly enough I didn't have to room all over Tokyo looking for a good deal I hit the jackpot at Kojima in Hiyoshi. I thought that I might have to pay as much as ¥188,000. I certainly didn't want to but that was the last quoted price that I had seen. Well they had it for ¥138,000 and the best part was that they said that I could get a ¥30,000 discount if I signed up for Hikari fiber. Now I had already signed up, but they said they would cancel that for me and sign me up with a new plan, so I agreed. Now I had already made arrangements for NTT to come to my house on the 26th to install the cable. So I told the staff I want you to see if I can't keep that date. They called and said they couldn't. But Mike was very persistent, and didn't want to take no for an answer. After a long back and forth wit the clerk, I asked him to call NTT again, and tell them he had an unhappy customer on their hands and wanted to have the installation on the day that I desired. They still wouldn't budge for him, so instead of setting a date for installation with him I said I would rather talk to NTT personally and see what I can do. Actually it was quite stressful and I figured that since it seems like NTT is putting such a big rush on getting everyone to sign up with them, I would try and get my way. I tried to tell the guy that the workers are to come anyway on that day if I cancel then they have an opening and why can't they just come then. I makes sense to me, and the argument isn't over, I figure they just may get tired of dealing with the noisy foreigner that they may give in, we'll see.

Even in the day time!!

2009-09-13T14:13:00.001+09:00

Casey this is for you, walked right past this guy 2 o'clock Sunday, wondered why he was standing so close to the tree, sure enough he was marking his territory. And public restroom no more than 100 feet away.

Turkey Last Day

2009-08-28T12:41:00.002+09:00

Our stuff is all ready to go we had breadfast and a last mad dash for souveigners. Shin wanted a shirt, we ended up walking all the way to the Spice Bazaar but didn't find anything. Took the tram back up to the Bazaar district and found a small store near the hamam where we picked up a shirt for himself and his dad. Back to hotel, thought I wouldn't make it because something is giving me Montezuma's revenge, hope I can hold it off, got a long day ahead. Took a taxi to the airport only 30TL. Had lunch in food court after checking in.

Wandered around the airport then went to Gloria Jeans for coffee. While we were sitting there we saw probably thie funniest thing I've seen in an airport. Suddenly from out of no where a little motorized mini bicycle with training wheels came zipping by. And I mean zipping it went by so fast we almost missed it, and it was making the funiest sound with the trainging clicking onf the tiled floor. Nest to the gate we got here so early but I'd rather be early than late. While sitting at the gate we saw another strange thing there was a group of men dressed in what looked like 2 bath towels one on top and one on the bottom. figured they must be on a pilgrimage because there flight was going to Mecca/Jeddah.

All in all this was a very good trip. Could have shaved off a day or two. If I were to do it agbain I would leave out Konya, and maybe one less night in Istanbul. The other change then would be to fly from Izmir to Cappadocia. I don't have much reflection but I really enjoyed the trip and would love to go again.

Turkey Day 16

2009-08-28T10:43:00.002+09:00

We decided we should go see what was written up as one of the most important mosques in Istanbul, Suleymaniye Mosque. After making a few wrong turns we came on an entrance but it didn't seem like many people were here. We entered into a small transcept and we asked the guy how we could get to the main hall and he proceeded to tell us that it was closed for a year for renovations. We weren't really sure that could be true so we walked around looking for the main entrance. We thought we had come in the back. We ended up coming to a place that we thought was the main entrance, we walked in and realized when the same guy came out and asked us to donate money again that we had just walked completly around and had come to the same place.

From there we walked to the Spice Market.

I really think this is a much better place for shoppingthan the Grand Bazaar. More compact, not as crowded and better prices. We even found a few stores that had posted prices, 2 of these had people that had lived in Japan and the owner of one was married to a Japanese lady. I was surprised at how much Shin bought, I'm sure part of which was the fact that he could speak Japanese, and he even paid at the 2 stores in yen.

Back to the store aching from walking, rested a little then off to the little restaurant that served Ayvalik tost. Basically it has meat, cheese, french fries, and a kind of potato sald, tomato, on a hot pressed grilled sandwich. Very good.

Took the tram and headed to Taksim next. Today as we walked down the street we got to go into 2 of the large old churches that remain in this area. The first one that you can see from the square was I believe a Greek Orthodox church. Didn't think we were going to be able to get in, but 3 other tourists also happened along and the gatekeeper came and eventually let us in. It was really beautiful. The next one was St. Marys Church. It was wide openwith signs that said this is a place of prayer. It was good that we came back, on Sunday the doors were closed and we were told we could not go in. The main street through this are was much busier than it had been on Sunday which I thought was a little unusual. Caught the second cable car thing down the hill, walked across the bridge and then back to the hotel on our way back we stopped into a Turkish Delights shop that had been around since 1777. I bought another box of goodies. Back to the hotel and rested till about 7 and then out for dinner. Shin seemed to be tired of the food he said he wanted to eat Curry Rice and I said I don't think that is going to happen. Then he said pasta sounds good, so off we went in search of pasta. So we found 2 places with pasta and one with fish, so we opted for the one with both pasta and fish. They asked us if we wanted to go on the roof terrace, which we did, but which was maybe a mistake. Tll the prices were about 10TL more than the smaae menu they had shown us downstairs. The one good point was that the view of the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia was spectacular, and the night that I had been looking for of Aya Sofia. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, but I borrowed Shin's and got one good shot.

Bought some tea on the way back and picked up one of the candle lamps. This is our last night. It has been a good trip.

Turkey Day 15

2009-08-28T09:40:00.003+09:00

Headed to Eminonu to take a Bosphorus cruise. We almost got a private tour but we ran into the girls we had met in Cappadocia, they said they were taking the public cruise so I told Shin even though that one was longer let's just do it.

We we relaxed looking at the beautiful buildings. At Yenikoy there were a row of beautiful old wooden houses many with restaurants, very beautiful. Arrived around 12:00 at the last stop before the Black Sea. Grabbeda mackrel sandwich which was much more delicious than the one in Istanbul. Hiked up an old castle with great views of the Black Sea. Hiked bacfk down got something to drink and waited to board the boat back which leaves at 3.

Got good seats on the right side of the upper deck sowe were able to get good pictures with unubstructed views right from our seats.

After getting back we visited the New Mosque and then the Spice Bazaar. I think the Spice Bazaar may be the better shopping place. Need to go again and pick up some more stuff. By the time we got back to the hotel it was after 6, Long but relaxing day.

Wanted to go to the sandwich place we had eaten at the other day but they had closed for the evening. I guess it is just a lunch time thing.

Bought a small watercolor painting on the way back to the hotel, I have had my eye on it for a few days. I think this will probably be my last purchase for me. Shin bought 2 candle holder lamps, 25TL each. I think thses light that we have seen all over the city are beautiful, but at the same time their beauty may be in the sheer number of them, so I'm wondering if just having one is really worth it.

Turkey Day 14

2009-08-27T08:00:00.004+09:00

Day 14 took us to Topkapi Palace. Got there early which was great because by the time we were finished the lines were incredible.

It was very interesting, we did pay the extra to go into the Harem or Private Quarters, which was worth it because it again kept the numbers down and also it was very nicely maintained. The kitchens were closed so we didn't get to see the porcelain collection. There is a very impressive jewel collection. One was the 86 carat spoonmakers diamond. It is said to have been found in a rubbish heap and bought from a scrap merchant for 3 spoons.

Back to Sultanahmet for a cheap lunch, we found a place that had toasted sandwiches, then back to the hotel for a quick rest. Around 3 we headed out to the Grand Bazaar which is very interesting but at the same time for shopping I wasn't that impressed. Lots of the same stuff. And I couldn't find the t-shirt that I was looking for.

We ended up buying t-shirts along the tram line at a place that was selling things with prices marked. All very good deals, just not too sure about the quality. Went back to the shops along side the Blue Mosque, Shin bought some bracelets and I looked at some pillows that I thought I might go back and purchase, but definitely not at 40TL each.

Around 6 we headed out to Cemberlitas Bath. This one dates back to 1584. After paying for the traditional experience, 55Tl, we went to the 2nd floor where we were shown to a room to change or should a say strip down and through a towel around us. Once wrapped you head back downstairs through the lobby so you better have your wrap secure. They gave us bath mitts and a bar of soap to give to the attendant to use. You lay on the marble slab and wait your turn as they wash people all around you. Got a good scrub and thorough washing. I have to admit the technique at the hotel in Cappadocia was better, but this was a very cool experience. The building was very nice and it felt more just like a working bath, maybe except for all the foreign guests. Totally relaxed and ready for bed, on the way out I bought one of the bath wraps just for the memory, don't think it will be to handy at the baths in Japan.

Turkey Day 13

2009-08-26T08:27:00.005+09:00

Awake at 6 to breakfast at 7:15. Ate leisurely and since it was a little overcast we went to the roof for breakfast. Took some time to write and just enjoy the view.

Left hotel a little after 9 headed to Church in Taksim. Taksim and the road that leads there was all the rage in its hey day. This was the place to be seen when the Orient Express was at its peak. Beautiful old buildings line the street with passages that branch off into the neighborhood. We were headed to Istanbul Union Church, located in the old chapel of the Dutch Embassy. It was a nice service a contemporary blend. They didn't have a piano of organ but had keyboard, flute, trumpet and guitar.On the way there we passed 2 other old Churches. One a beautiful Catholic church that looked like it was Franciscan, and another off a side street that was now a restaurant.

Church was at 11, and our directions were a little off but we found it anyway. The pastor, who was originally from South Africa, spoke from Jeremiah. Where both Israel and Judah are called on for turning away from God. Israel is unrepentant, but Judah is, although not whole heartedly. Israel ends up being praised. Basically he said that God calls us to obey him, and to love him but if we don't do it completely, with all our heart, we are no better than the people of Judah. We might go through the paces week by week, but if what we do doesn't change our heart, what good is it.

We walked back up the street to get lunch at a place that we had seen that had sandwiches. the neat thing was that it was inside one of the old buildings and in the 2nd floor seating area you could clearly see the old architecture, it was beautiful. then we went to look for the Avrupa Passage on of the most beautifully preserved and architecturally interesting passages, or so says LP. Being sunday there seemed to be few people out and about in this area. From there we walked to Galata Tower, went to the top and enjoyed wonderful views of the city.
Then we set off to find Saints Peter & Paul Church, but ended up finding the Jewish Synagogue instead. this area of the city seems to be very trendy, maybe artsy and popular with young musicians. On the way to the tower we bought fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, it was very good but there was a lot of pulp and seeds, that you had to spit out as you drank it.

Eventually found the church that we were looking for but it was closed. Walked down the hill and back across the Galata Bridge. Lots of people were out fishing. When we got across the bridge the people were swarming around the boats selling the fish sandwiches, and in the underground tunnel to cross the street it was wall to wall people. Walked all the way back to the hotel and ended up taking a long nap.

Around 6 went out in search of dinner. Ended up eating at Pasha a small restaurant near Shultanahmet tram station. We decided on this place because they served the pot stew dish that we missed out on in Cappadocia.

Crashed back at the hotel very tired but ended up watching a little bit of 24.

Turkey Day 12

2009-08-25T15:37:00.005+09:00

Arrived in Istanbul around 7:10 at Haydarpasa Station, a beautiful old train station on the Asian side of the city. We exited this building and immediately to the left was the ferry to the european side of the city.

It is a very beautiful ride to the other side of the city.

This is a view of Suleymaniye Mosque what is supposed to be the most important mosque in the city.

We got off at Eminonu at the end of Galata Bridge. We decided to walk along the tram way to Sultanahmet and back to the hotel, probably about 30 minutes walk. We left our bags at the hotel, we had a message that Eunice had tried to call us so we got ahold of her and decided on our mtg. place. We ended up arriving almost exactly at 10 where we thought we were supposed to be but no Eunice. Bought a phone card and then tried to call, took about 4 attempts before I had to ask how to dial the number. She wanted us to be at the metro station, but we had gone to the train station, because that was the only one that was on our map. She figured out what had happened and headed to the train station and we finally met and headed to Starbucks and talked for about an hour.

We ended up walking back past the train station then to the ferry dock and caught a ferry to Kadikoy, and from there we got another ferry that stopped at Haydarapasa, then back to Eminou. We were back in Eminonu just in time for lunch so we stopped and had one of the famous fish sandwiches.

We walked back to the hotel with a brief stop at Sirkeci station to ask about the Dervish show there. the man at the information booth said that it was that night and not Sunday and that it was 35 TL, or at a Hamam for 40TL, and since we had already seen it and weren't sure if we would be able to take pictures we passed.

We ended up crashing at the hotel and slept for a little over an hour. shin turned on the TV and Desperate Housewives was on in English. After I pulled myself away from the TV we headed out for dinner, and we ended up stopping at a small restaurant along the street up to the Blue Mosque. Had a variety of mezes and mixed grill it was way more than we really needed to eat but it was really good and came to 60 TL not a bad price. We ended up0 just heading back to the hotel and I was asleep by 9, I couldn't keep my eyes open.

Turkey Day 11

2009-08-24T09:42:00.004+09:00

Didn't sleep well and up early, the only plus to that is I was able to to see the hot air balloons again, they are a beautiful sight as the sun comes up though it was hard to get any good pictures because you had to look into the sun rise to see them.
Had breakfast and got ready to leave, I talked to the hotel staff and they told us to just wait out by our rooms and someone would be by to pick us up. I asked if they could come by 9:40, we had a 10:00 bus to catch and that would give us plenty of time. Well by 9:50 no one had showed up so I ran down to the other part of the hotel and the staff was outside, and when they saw me they were like, "No one has come?". They scrambled around and about 9:55 someone came to get us. Well it didn't make that much difference because we got there and they said that the bus would be about 20 minutes late. After it arrived we were told this was not our bus to Ankara but a shuttle bus to Nevisher. We arrived in Nevisher and had to wait again the bus was not there yet. When it finally arrived we got our stuff on and the bus left the station headed up the road and turned around heading us in the right direction but stopped when it got in front of the bus station again where we waited for another 10 minutes. After 10 minutes we left again only to drive just a little ways and stop again. We were assuming that we would be in Ankara by 2, but it was well after 3 when we finally did arrive.

When we got there we hopped on the metro to Maltepe station and from there walked about 10 minutes to the train station. We got our train tickets, put our stuff in a locker, which was an ordeal in itself, and caught a taxi to the Museum.

The Museum was very interesting, but I'm not to into museums, I'm sure if we would have had a guide it would have been more interesting. There were a lot of beautiful displays and the interesting thing most of it you could touch if you wanted to. I thought I should have stood on the pedestal next to this statue and put my arm around this statue, but I thought maybe better not.
From the museum we walked to the Citadel of the city, the oldest part of the city. It was still walled and the shops and house looked like they had been there forever. This is not the best shot but maybe you can get some idea of the feel of the area.

The narrow main street was lined with shops, some touristy some just everyday shops. We headed down the hill and the area was again lined with quaint shops, it looked very touristy but at the same time some of the stores were like hardware stores, fabric stores, spice stores, and bulk wool stores, very interesting. We searched for a restaurant, and ended up going into a place that the entranced was almost blocked by the staff sitting outside, we went in and upstairs, it was a very nice restaurant, but we were the only customers.

Walked to the train station where we sat and waited for our 10:30 pm sleeper train to Istanbul.

Turkey Day 10

2009-08-23T15:52:00.006+09:00

After breakfast we walked to the Goreme Open Air Museum just a little over a kilometer from the heart of the city. Goreme is a quaint village with lots of interesting little shops and restaurants, more about those later. We walked for a good 2 hours through this old cave city that has many churches with some of the most well preserved Christian Frescoes in Turkey. There were too many people so at times it was difficult to get into some of the rooms. The best church was The Dark Church. It was an extra 8 TL to get in but it was well worth it. The most well preserved frescoes were here, and the extra charge kept the number of people down, so we were able to take our time.

After we finished we headed back into town, Shin said he wanted a hamburger so we stopped in a little cafe just across from the bus station that had a sign outside saying they had a hamburger and FF lunch set. Not sure exactly what kind of meat it was but I don't think it was beef, but it was doable. Went back to the hotel rested and got a few pictures uploaded, but when I tried to do more I kept getting cut off in the middle, you could only log on the computer for 25 minutes at a time.

Back into town for some shopping and supper. There is a store that is in the oldest Building in Goreme, it is one of the Caravanseri, or stations on the silk road, but you really cant see the building for all the carpets.

A guy who said we could call him Serge, and his helper, who he called Road Runner, followed us around. Road Runner's job was to pull the carpets off the the piles for us to see, and then to put them back when we were done. He was too funny, his boss would tell jokes about him and he seemed to understand the English but couldn't speak. I think I would call him "macho shy", he would get embarrassed cover his mouth and laugh. He seemed very interesting and very happy.

By the time we were ready to head out they brought out some food and insisted we eat something. It was the kind of Turkish pizza we had eaten the night before but so much better. This store was nice and there were a couple of things that caught my interest but they were all old and I wasn't convinced yet that was what I wanted to buy.

Our next stop was the Sultan Carpet Shop, which is run by the same family that owns our hotel, they had a lot of really nice things, old and new, but even the old things were really nice. I found 2 of the big seating cushions that I really liked, mostly because they were soft and not really scratchy. Told them I would think about it and come back after dinner.

We ate at A'laturk. Shin said he wanted fish, so we chose this place. It was fancy and probably over priced, we had soup a chef salad and sea bream. Bill came to 78TL, way too much.

Anyway I decided I would buy one of the cushions, I ended up paying 120 euros, probably too much, but hey I may never get back here so why not. Back to the hotel where I tried to upload more pics with no luck.

Here are 2 of the interesting restaurant names we ran across.

Turkey Day 9

2009-08-23T07:32:00.005+09:00

Breakfast buffet at hotel, it is down a flight of stairs across the street and up another makeshift staircase past a mosque to get there, luckily it was worth it. Then we were picked up at the same place at 9:30 to go on the Southern Cappadocia tour.

We drove about an hour away to Ihlara and from there westarted our 7km hike along the valley floor stopping occasionally to see a cave church.

It took us about 2 hours to do the hike and we arrived at Belisirma and had lunch. They had the unprepared food on dishes covered with saran wrap which they brought to the table and you chose what you wanted to eat. On the tour there were 3 talkative Australian girls, a Japanese couple living in Shanghai, 2 Italians, and 2 more Europeans. Our guide was a young girl named Gocan, or Rosebud.
After lunch we drove to Selime and saw a church that was converted into a mosque. Next we stopped at a small underground city in Derinkuyu I believe. We went into 2 levels, this city, we were told, is the only underground city where you can see the toilet.
We got back around 6:30 and went toeat dinner at a pita place, they are calling it Turkish pizza. On the way back I stopped and bought a long sleeve shirt because it has been so cold in the evenings

At 9:30 we went to the Hamam at the hotel for our first Turkish bath experience. they sell pkg plans so we got the 70 min one which was in hind sight a mistake. I was so satisfied with the sauna, scrub and wash that I could have been finished gone back to the room and went right to bed, but we had a 30 minute oil massage that was just so so that I had to endure. I would like to check the difference at a real Hamam. The other surprise that we got was that this one was mixed, which I was not really happy with, but at least we were covered with a towel. Shin had a woman wash him, which I thought was very interesting, because I thought they wouldn't do that. The oil massages were also given by women. It was good to go here to understand how it all works, but know that I know better I would be much more specific on what I wanted. The most interesting part about the was was when they put the warm soup bubbles on you. They get a big bunch of bubbles and they dribble them on your stomach. It felt like this warm thing was warming up my inside, at first I didn't realize that it was the bubbles but figured out that was what the sensation was from, it was so interesting.

Turkey Day 8

2009-08-22T15:31:00.004+09:00

Woke up to diarrhea, not a fun way to start off the day, but definitely this was my gift from Konya. Had breakfast, it is supposed to start from 7:00 and again we were the first ones there a little after 7 and it wasn't until 8 before they had everything ready. Ready to leave I decided to get on the Internet and Shin said he was going out to get some money from an ATM. After an hour he still wasn't back and I was starting to get concerned. About a quarter past 9 I decided to walk down the street to see if I could find him. I knew he had wanted to stop at the information center, so I walked there and they said he hadn't been there. I was having visions of him being mugger or something. Went back to the hotel and at about 9:40 he came sauntering back. We had agreed that we would check out and leave by 9:30, thus my concern. He had decided to go for a walk and got a little lost. We had at least a 45 minute trip to the bus station, fortunately it was ok and we got there in plenty of time.

The 3 and a half hour bus ride wasn't so bad except we didn't have a break until almost 2 hours in and by that time my intestines were grumbling. I was glad I was able to hold out, just the Swedish bitters medicine wasn't doing the trick so I took the other medicine I had.

We arrived got checked into our hotel in Goreme, The Sultan Cave Suites, part of the Kelebek Hotel.

They explained the different tours that they offer at the hotel, and the Hamam pkg they offer. We decided to do the 9:00pm Whirling Dervishes tour. We first walked into the village and came back to the hotel for an early dinner, then off to the show.

The show was in an old caravan stopping point along the silk road, a Caravanseri. It wasn't all that exciting but it was good that we went. I think I was more excited about being in this great old building along the Silk Road. No pictures were aloud so the hope is that in Istanbul we may have that chance. Back to the hotel and into bed my 11.

Turkey Day 7

2009-08-22T08:31:00.007+09:00

Monday, today we visited the Aladdin Tepsi Mosque. As you can see from the picture below the pillars are from the Roman period. No doubt at some point in time the lined some Roman road in the area, and they were recycled and used in this building. We stopped in a couple of other mosques on our way to the Mevlana Museum.

The Mevlana Museum is home to the Whirling Dervishes. Unfortunately we were not able to see a performance, they are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we are leaving Tuesday morning. The museum was really nothing that really exciting. There was a display case with some hair from the beard of the prophet Mohammed, that is said that still put off a rose scent. There were holes in the bottom of the display case for people to smell, I tried, no smell.

A man praying at a mosque in Konya

After a short rest we headed off to Silla, an old village on the outskirts of the city with a church that was dedicated to the mother of Constantine. There were also cave dwellings and we saw what would have been a church carved in the mountain. Panaghia Church.

Then on a hill over a graveyard was the remains of still another church, The Tepe Church. They say this church has healing powers.

On the bus to the city an old man just started talking to us. We figureed he wanted to know where we were from when he looked and Shin and said, "Japon". He also offered us an apple, I refused but Shin took one.

We decided to go to Konya Mutfagi for dinner. They brought us menus, then a guy come over and said basically what he recommended we eat. Over and over he said, "this is ....., this is...., this is ..... We just nodded and said ok not knowing really what we were getting ourselves into. Although we knew that we would be getting our favorite Cherry drink.

First was an Okra soup, tomato based with lemon that you squeeze on. the required basket of bread and some yogurt were also brought to the table. Next a cucumber and tomato salad, which also seems to be standard fare. Stuffed grape leaves with yogurt sauce. The main course consisted of 3 different Kebap's, lamb kebap, Tereet/ terete kebap in a yogurt sauce, and sebzeli kebap with an eggplant sauce.

Finally 2 deserts, one was like a Japanese bean paste and the other a type of baklava, that was round and much bigger than what I expected. It all came to 21 TL a good bargain compared to the fast food meal that was 23 the night before.

Turkey Day 6

2009-08-22T07:56:00.004+09:00

On day 6 we left the hotel around 10 and took a bus to Denizli, about 40 minutes away from Heiropolis. This was one of the portions of the trip that I was really concerned about but Ozcan (John) helped us secure tickets, and even called ahead to the bus station in Denizli to tell them to be on the look out for a couple of people looking for the bus to Konya. We found the ticket office, had to wait for just a little bit while the guy at the window finished his breakfast, then it was off to secure a cup of coffee, or should I say "Nescafe". I know you hear Turkey you think Turkish Coffee, but we found out that the Turk's don't drink that much coffee. We did have Turkish coffee, but as we found out earlier that if you want regular coffee you have to ask for Nescafe and get instant coffee.

We had the last 2 seats on the bus I felt a little bit like they put us there on purpose, but I think it was really because we just got the last 2 tickets. We set off and after only 30 minutes on the road we stopped and waited for 40 minutes while they washed the bus and I am assuming allowed the bus driver and people to have lunch and they also washed the bus. Back on the road the male bus attendant came around and served us water, and coke or our favorite cherry drink. Unfortunately we didn't realize that if you got the coke they didn't offer you the cherry drink.

The scenery along the way was basically the same lots of wheat fields. We did come over a mountain and had a beautiful view of a lake, I think it was Egirdir lake. We arrived an hour later than we had expected about 6:30, so all in all it was a 7 hour journey. The first thing we did when we arrived was to book tickets for our trip to Goreme in Capaddocia on the 11th.

We headed out to the tram into the city. Lonely Planet said that it was 2.20 for 2 people which didn't make sense. As we waited and as the next tram was approaching a man standing in line showed us a card and indicated to us that we needed to buy one. I rushed down to a little store and recognized the word "billet", ticket from looking through Shin's book. I was able to buy a card that was for 2 rides on the tram. They have cards with 2 rides for 2.50 TL or 5 rides for 5.50 TL.

After arriving in the center of the city we got off and walked to our hotel. So far it is the nicest hotel that we have been in, I mean the first thing we commented on was the fact that we didn't have to push the elevator door open by ourselves. After we checked in we ventured out to a little fast food kebap place for dinner. They sell the meat by gram in 50 gram incements, with a choice of as the waiter said, "meat or chicken", we assumed the meat was lamb. The young boy did a good job speaking to us in English and at the end of the meal asked us if we wanted chya, which was brought in from somewhere else by an even younger boy. The meal was 23 TL in all. Lonely planet warns of food poisoning in Konya, so far so good, but more on that subject latter.

Turkey Day 5

2009-08-11T14:13:00.003+09:00

Today we had breakfast at the hotel and then started out at 9:00, our fırst stop Laodecia. Actually I thınk thıs ıs the most ınterestıng stop we have made. Fırst off we were the only ones there, so we had the whole place to ourselves, and dıdn't have to fıght the crowds lıke ın Ephesus. Thıs cıty was avery rıch cıty that was noted for eye medıcıne and theır dyıng of cloth. Thıs ıs one of the only cıtıes that refused help from the Romans ın rebuıldıng theır cıty after the earthquake ın 62 BC. A very clear ındıcator at just how wealthy they were. Thıs ıs a new excavatıon only 6 years ın the makıng. They have made a lot of progress and the best thıng ıs that they have so much area to work wıth beıng there ıs no modern cıty ın thıs area and have all the room they want to dıg. Rıght now they have uncovered the maın street, and 2 cross streets. Along the maın street was a large water basın wıth fountaıns. Thıs cıty had 2 theaters, another ındıcatıon of theır wealth. Probably there were 100,000 people lıvıng ın thıs area. They had water sent from the nearby hot sprıngs of Pamukkle, they had to have a dual pıpe system because the pıpes would clog up from the calcıum deposıts from the sprıngs. The eye medıcıne and the hot sprıng water are the ımıgaes that John used ın hıs letter to thıs church.

Revelation 3:14-18

14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

These words would have drove home John's meanıng to them.

Nex to Pamukkle Hot sprıng, Hıeropolıs, and the Necropolıs.
The maın pools were open so we had good vıews of the water formatıons. They have dıvıde the area ınto three parts and open the water to the dıfferent areas at dıfferent tımes, gıvıng the calcıum tıme to harden and form the ınterestıng pools that the area ıs famous for. There ıs an Ancıent pool whıch I thınk John saıd was the source of the water. The bath here was destroyed ın an earthquake and the fallen roman pıllars from the maın road are stıll ın the pool and ıt ıs open to the publıc for swımmıng. The cıty has a very nıcely preserved theater probably the best that we have seen so far. There ıs also a church ın the area and above the church ıs a tomb that some belıeve to be that of Phıllıp, but ıt ıs really dıffıcult to say and there has not been any excavatıon on the tomb. They say the church was buılt on thıs place because they thought that thıs was where Phıllıp was martyred.

We walked back down the maın road through the Necropolıs or cıty of the dead. There were at least 2 tombs rıght on top of the waters and the calcıum deposıts. There was a small park and we found a few kıds that had come up from the vıllage and were swımmıng ın the pools there. They wanted theır pıctures taken and want to know our names. They would say, "My name ıs Ozman.", poınt to us and say, "My name ıs?". Thıs ıs real barefoot language learnıng, hey ıt wasn' the rıght thıng to say, but they got the ınformatıon that they wanted and there way of communıcatıng was very clear.

We got back to the hotel by one hungry and parched. We took a quıck pıcture wıth Ozcan, exchanged e-maıls, and then he was on hıs way back to Izmir. We decıded to have lunch at a small place that has only been open 3 months rıght across from our hotel. We had Adana Kebap. It came wıth french frıes and onıons and tomatoes, and of course they brought bread. We learned that the average Turk eats 107 kılos of bread a year. I thınk I have already started on my faır share of that. We had a coke and a cherry soft drınk that I have come to enjoy, hopefully I can stuff a sıx pack ın my suıtcase for the flıght back. Interestıng asıde about the restaurant. every tıme somethıng was brough to our table, ıt seemed that a new person would appear out of no where. I don' t thınk the same person came to our table twıce. It was rather strange.

Turkey Day 4

2009-08-11T02:53:00.003+09:00

Day 4 took us to Ephesus, Sardıs, and Phıledelphıa.

Fırst we saw the Basıllıca of Saınt John. Thıs ıs ın the place of the fırst cıty of Ephesus. Hıs tomb was guessed to be here and thıs church was erected to honor hım. It ıs ınterestıng that at the Senate ın Ephesus ıs where he was sentenced to exıle on Patmos for hıs refusal to pay trıbute to the emperor.

On to the 3rd cıty of Ephesus where we see the remaıns that compromıse basıcally the largest excavated Roman cıty ın the World. They had a covered theater, whıch was rıght next to the Senate that I just mentıoned before ın reference to John.

As we moved on to the maın street we start to se some of the remaıng statuary. Fırst of note was Nıke the goddess of vıctory. It was togh gettıng a pıcture because there was a Polısh faıy that was busy touchg her breasts. The next was the god Mercury wıth wınged feet.

Along the road was a bath house that had been turned ınto a brothel. Next to that were toılets. These had water that ran ın a trough ınfront of the toılets. There was a hole also under the seat so the people would take a sea sponge on a stıck, dıp ıt ın the water ın front of them and then reach ın through the bottom hole and clean up.

the road leads down to the lıbrary that was rebuılt ın 1970. Of course sınce thıs was the capıtal of the regıon ıt was for sure that they would have the most extensıve lıbrary. The statues that are now ın the wall are replıcas, the orıgınals are ın Venıce.
I mentıoned ın an earıer post about recyclıng of the cıtıes. One cıty would be destroyed ın an earth quake and the people would just use these pıeces to rebuıld. We have seen thıs ın so many places. So matter how hard archeologıst work to preserve and rebuıld these cıtıes they can never get the job done to completıon.

Next to the lıbrary ıs the gate that leads to the Agora, or market place. Thıs would have been a gate that Paul would have walked through many tımes. The Agora ıs the place where the rıot ın Ephesus that ıs mentıone ın Acts 19 took place. And the theater that ıs mentıoned where they took hıs frıends was just just a lıttle bıt away, and a very ımpressıve structure.

Next stop Sardıs. Know for the Temple of Artemıs. The temple and a small church dırectly behınd the temple are excavated but the remaıng part of the cıty ıs stıll burıed. There ıs stıll extensıve work goıng on here now, John stopped to say hı to one of the archeologısts that he know and he showed us the head of a statue of a Roman Emperor, they have recently uncovered but nothıng about tıs ıs publıshed yet. I was able to get a good shoot even though ıt was pretty far away and ın theır compound.

The remaıns of the Temple are very ımpressıve, It was many years later when the Temple was ın demıse that the small church was buılt behınd ıt. Also ın Sardıs there ıs the remaıns of an old Jewısh Synagog that has been rebuılt, ıt ıs near the roman gymnasıum and near the old Roman road that basıcally ıs under the the current road and was buılt on top of a Bızantıne road.

Our last stop of the day was ın Phıladelphıa, where the only thıng that ıs uncovered ıs the remaıns of a church. The rest ıs all stıll burıed under the modern cıty.

Day 3 contınued

2009-08-11T02:33:00.003+09:00

Second stop on our journey was Bergama (Pergamum), ın thıs cıty there was a temple dedıcated to Trajan, and a theater that ıs the steepest ın the area and would have seated about 10,000. Thus archeologısts would put the populatıon at about 100,000. There was also an alter to Zeus here, thıs ıs the probably what John refered to ın hıs letter to thıs church as Satan's throne. And thus the reference to eatıng food sacrıfıced to ıdols. The maın temple was of whıte marble as well as most all of the buıldıngs and monuments. To hoor people they would buıld a monument and engrave the name of the person on the stone. John also uses thıs ın hıs ımagery when he says I wıll wrıte your name on a whıte stone. Thıs area ıs also famous for Onyx so thıs combıned wıth the names on the monuments ın the cıty gave the people of the church very clear messages.

Down ın the modern cıty ther was also a Red Basıllıca that was orıgınally a worshıp place for an Egyptıan god. Later a church was buılt on the ınsıde of what was once a pagan temple.

We stopped for lunch at a small carpet factory were they showed us how they are tryıng to preserve the orıgınal technıques of carpet weavıng. Everythıng here was hand made. They showed us around and then served us lunch whıle they showed us carpets. We dıdn' buy anythıng.

Next stop Thyataıra, thıs was a cıty that had a mılıtary garrıson, there ıs very lıttle left of old Roman cıty, part of the old Roman Road and a church. The rest of the area ıs surronded by a modern cıty.

We arrıved ın Selçuk by 7 and checked ınto The Wallabıes Hotel. Our room had a vıew of part of the ancıent aquaduct that brought water to Ephesus, that ıs now a nestıng place for local storks.

Turkey Day 3

2009-08-10T03:36:00.005+09:00

Aug 6th

We got up and went out and pıcked up some bread for breakfast, back to the hotel where we ate ıt and then waıted ın the lobby for our guıde for the next three days of our 7 churches tour. Our guıde was a lıttle late and just as the hotel staf brought us coffee our guıde showed up and we had to gulp down the hot coffee, whıch they refer to as nestcafe.

Ozcan ıs our guıde, ın Turkısh the c ıs pronounced as a j, and thus he saıd most of hıs frıends call hım John. He saıd he would stop and treat us to Turkısh coffee after our fırst stop, whıch would be the Agora of Smyrna, Agora refers to the market place of the cıty. He saıd that to share a cup of coffee wıth a frıend ıs to have a frıendshıp for 40 years.

The Roman cıtıes were buılt all ın pretty much the same fashıon. The Acropolıs, or upper cıty whıch was where all the offıcıal gov't dealıngs took place. The Agora that we see ın Smyrna ıs the offıcıal Agora, there would have been another one more geared for the daıly lıfe of the people. From the Agora ıf you look on the mountaın above ıt you wıll see a small rıng of trees that ıs where the castle of the cıty buılt by Alexander the great was. Thıs was the crown of the cıty. And so when John wrıtes to the church at Smyrna and says, "Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life." They would have an ımage that they could clearly relate to. Next to the Agora ıs the Basıllıca. We have come to understand thıs word as referıng to a church, but orıgınally ıt's meanıng would have be "court". The market place and the Basıllıca were common everday places to gather, places of communıty. When Chrıstıanıty became the maın relıgıon and people wanted to actually have a place of worshıp they choose to turn the Basıllıca ınto the church. It ıs ınterestıng how that thıs kınd of practıce has contınued ın Turkey over the centurıes. That ıs why we see the great Chrıstıan Church of Aya Sofıa turned ınto a Mosque today.

day 2 contınued

2009-08-10T03:20:00.003+09:00

Caught an 11:40 bus to the aırport, ıt was actually a lıttle early and we started out but ıt took us 40 mınutes just to drıve around the Sultamet area and pıck people up. We got to the aırport just before one and had to walk underground to the domestıc termınal, whıch I thınk very few people use, the passage that ıs. Got checked ın wıth no problem and had too much tıme to kıll and nothıng to do.

We had a lıght meal on the plane whıch was unusual I thought gıven that we had just a lıttle over an hour flıght. It was a small sandwıch and a small salad.

On arrıvıng ın Izmır we took a bus ınto the cıty, whıch ıs a very beautıful cıty that sıts on a cırcular bay and the vıew of the cıty comıng ın was just gorgeous. Fırst ımpressıon that I get of the cıty ıs that ıt ıs a modern busıness cıty. Had dınner at Denız, ıt was good maybey a lıttle prıcey but we had a spectacular vıew of the sunset over the bay. Our compıned meal came to 90 lıra, actually not too bad, but we really ordered conservatıvely.We had a varıety appetızer whıch we got to choose from a bunch of thıngs that they brought to the table. Vegıtables wıth olıve oıl and lemon, a squıd dısh whıch was oh so tender, and a yougurt dısh wıth a green vegtıble ın ıt. Thıs yogurt dısh was fantastıc.

Forgot to mentıon that when we got off the bus ınto the cıty we needed to take a taxı, but no one seemed to know where the hotel was. Our drıver went to the general area and he kept sayıng are you sure you have the name rıght, well at least I'm pretty sure that was what he was sayıng he spoke no Englısh, but when we fınally got to the hotel he gave us hıs card and I thınk was offerıng hıs servıces to us, probably a prıvate tour of the area, whıch I'm sure would have been a dısaster.

Turkey Day 2

2009-08-08T23:43:00.004+09:00

Breakfast from 7:30, the restaurant has a beautiful terrace wıth a vıew of the Maramar Sea and the Blue Mosque. Buffet breakfast, met a Japanese couple that have been traveling around Turkey Hungary, and Greece. The breakfast was cheeses meats scrambled eggs lamb sausage yogurt cereals bread and cake. Sorry no commas, that key is in a strange place.
The hotel ıs on a back street that ıs beıng renovated but small hotels dot the area, but thıs is also an area were people still live. There is a park rıght outside the hotel that whe we walked by the previous nıght a boy called out, Michael Jackson. After breakfast we walked to the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia. The Blue Mosque ıis beautıful but all the wıres from the hangıng chandellers dıstract from the beauty. Aya Sofia is amazing. The most ınteresting thing is that this great church would be turned into a mosque. But what I'm learning is this kind of transformatıon is not unusual when you look back in history especially in this area.