Thank you for NOT smoking

So, today ends our time in Turkey. Tomorrow we fly to Israel for a week to "Follow in the footsteps of Jesus." Turkey has been interesting, to say the least. Last night, Ben and I tuned to the MGM channel on TV and watched a Tom Selleck movie. At a crucial part of the movie he lights a cigarette and takes a long drag. Imagine my surprise when he lifts up a blurred out oval to his lips. Apparently, Turkey being a muslim country, they are not allowed to show a cigarette on television. Not that there is a lack of smokers in this country...

However, I must apologize. I have fallen a liiiiiiittle behind on this blog. Let's just say it is a combination of spotty internet access and a BAD case of allergies/cold. Fortunately, the allergies seem to be on the way out, and my head/nose are only slightly stuffed now. Hopefully after 1 to 2 more good nights of sleep I will feel back to 100% again. Which would be good, since we will be running everywhere to film in Israel.

My last blog post was about Kavala, which was on the seventh. Since then, a lot has happened. On the seventh, we entered Turkey. Or as they say here "Turkiye." We drove almost the full day of the seventh to get to the border, and we spent the night in Istanbul. Istanbul has a population of approximately 13 million...yeah...that's right. Phew, I've never been in a city that large. They have hills of high rise apartments surrounding the city center. We got caught in a 2+ hour traffic jam entering Istanbul and had a laaaaaate dinner. The Turkish and Greek definitely eat a late dinner, normally around 7:30-9:30. I'm going to have to readjust when I get back :)

The Turkish are very proud of their flag, reminds me of America. You see jumbo sized Turkish flags all over the place almost everywhere. On the eighth, we spent the full day in Istanbul, which was beautiful. We visited several museums, and ended the day on with a boatride on Golden Horn. It was beautiful. Over the last six days we have visited a number of ruins in Turkey, including Ephesus. Ephesus was probably the largest ruin we visited during the two weeks we spent driving around. It was very impressive, with a large stadium that was well preserved.

Well, tomorrow is my birthday :) 25 years old. Now I can rent a car without a daily surcharge...w00t! I should probably end this post though. The next week is going to be a long one heh.

Later!

P.S. Check this out, this is how the hotels in Greece/Turkey work their power in the rooms. You need to put a card in a slot in order to get lights or AC (if the AC works). Very efficient. Here's an example.