Our flight from Dulles to Frankfurt was very nice. I had a glass of champagne even before I got settled in my “room.” Very cosy with all the bells and whistles. I ordered a special vegan meal with the airline with no problem and my wine glass was never empty until I said enough. I never sleep on planes but the cubicle was so private that I slept right through breakfast and woke up when we made our descent into Frankfurt.

Interesting thing happened on the taxi ride from the airport to our hotel in Istanbul. Motorcycle drivers are crazy people zipping between cars and driving on the shoulder of the road. We were on a 3 lane expressway when a motorcycle came flying by us. Several minutes later we see the motorcycle on the right side of the road, the helmet on the left side and the guy laying in the middle of the road! It is a miracle that he did not get run over. He was definitely moving around but I am sure he must have been seriously hurt.

We arrived in Istanbul a day before the tour. An interesting thing about Istanbul is that half of it is in Europe and the other half is in Asia divided by the Bosporus Strait. Our hotel is about a block from the Bosporus. We paid for the first night ourselves. A little flirting resulted in us being able to stay in the upgraded room for the additional 3 nights when we are here with the tour.

Peggy and I decided to eat at the roof top deck at our hotel. It was just easier than getting dressed up to go out. Fabulous meal we had and we were the only people in the restaurant.

Tomorrow Peggy and I will begin exploring Istanbul on our own. Expect pictures of what I bought. Driving here in the taxi there were at least 6 blocks of stores selling tools! Mikita, Dewalt, Bosch, etc. 100’s of them. All I wanted to do was to beg the taxi driver to let me out so I could wander. I know I can be a little strange.