Tour Guides...

This weekend began the beginning of our visitor extravaganza, and we leave in a few days for two weeks in Cappodocia, the Mediterranean and the Aegean, so I'll probably not have computer access very often.

We've had a great time so far showing Chris' parents around on their first trip to Istanbul. We've seen some sights, relaxed and shopped, but the highlight came last night when, after a chance stop into a rug shop, we peered into the proprieter's garden around the corner from the shop. As tends to happen in Turkey, he invited us to join him and his friends for a barbeque dinner. The other guests ended up being a famous Turkish movie star, a Turk who's lived in NY for the past 20 years and just returned for a visit that night, and several beautiful women who worked in Government. It very much seemed like the 'cultured elite' of Istanbul, and they treated us to lively conversation, amazing food, lots of drinks in this gorgeous garden with a view of the minarets of the Blue Mosque, and even paid for our taxi home!

It was an unplanned, magical evening!