Hi all,

Yesterday morning Ryan and Nellie took off early to the airport to meet Henry and Megan in Romania! They'll have to fill in their adventures after that.

I made my way to Aya Sophia and then Topkapi Palace. Both were extremely crowded--mostly with gigantic groups of Turkish schoolchildren? But still amazing. Anyone still planning to visit might want to try either first thing or later in the afternoon. I took my time and walked around with the Lonely Planet (thank you Sonya!) glued to my hand, and spent about an hour at Aya Sophia and a little more than 2 hours at Topkapi. Aya Sophia was truly spectacular, and such a cool example of all the history and transformations Istanbul/Constantinople underwent over the past 1500 years! At Topkapi, the harem was definitely the highlight. Although there were also some gigantic jewels.

It was interesting being a girl traveling by myself again. I think I've improved my Turkish "hello" and could walk confidently around our tiny neighborhood to the point where people actually thought I was Turkish. That was cool until they started speaking to me and I couldn't respond at all. I bought a camera! I hope it was a somewhat prudent purchase--without my comrades to rely on I figured it was stupid to be in Turkey and not be able to document it with anything other than my IPhone!

Around 3 pm I made my way to the extremely crowded tram, to the metro, the airport, to the plane, to the bus, to my hotel in Cappadocia! On the plane, I ended up sitting next to a girl and her friends from Baltimore! Tiny world. They were cool, although they ended up losing 2 of their friends on the tram...because some guy ejaculated on one of them and they had to go to the police station to file a report!!! So disgusting. Once we got to the Kayseri airport and all boarded the same shuttle bus to our various hostels, there was further drama because one American woman was convinced it was the wrong bus and refused to get on. The poor drivers, and then eventually every person working at the hotel, tried to convince her, but she kept repeating "show me my surname, and I'll get on the bus!" I think we waited there for an hour before she was finally convinced. But not apologetic. When she was finally dropped off at her hotel (the airport to Cappadocia was about 1.5 hours, by the way), everyone started laughing and clapping and the drivers called her a "very problem." Good description.

Anyway, by the time I got to the hotel it was pretty late, but this morning I enjoyed a delicious Turkish breakfast and am sitting in the little cafe looking over a sunny landscape of crazy rock formations! Later today I'm going to walk around the open air museum and then go for a guided hike. Still steeling myself to drop 110 euros on a balloon flight...maybe tomorrow morning.

I hope the Romania crew is enjoying themselves and making Radu proud!

Lots of love,

Hiked the rock chimneys Ancient Christianity Many Koreans

So many Koreans! I think I missed the memo.

Had a chill morning doing some planning for boards, wards, and life! Then ventured into town and bought myself a Turkish mini backpack and a gigantic bottle of water. Things are even cheaper here! It was 2 TL. The backpack I bought from a really cute old man in a shop overflowing with things and a sewing machine. It was 15 TL, which I was also very happy about, and he safety pinned a small charm on my jacket that he said was good luck! Unfortunately he was not the most dextrous anymore so it involved a bit of fumbling around my chest area.

This afternoon I took a hiking tour of Rose Valley, which took longer than expected but was amazing. It was me, our Turkish guide who weirdly spoke a lot of Korean, and 4 Korean girls! It all turned out really fun, though--they told me they loved my American accent and that it sounded like I was talking with gum in my mouth. Apparently that was appealing? The rock houses and pigeon houses and churches are incredible--I loved thinking about ancient communities living in these dwellings and running around all the formations. And the churches were incredible as well--really beautiful even though they had to dig out these pillars of volcanic ash to make them. Very simple, and in the middle of nowhere. It felt like true devotion. I did have to sneak away from the group and pee while hoping no other tourists saw me from above, since I drank so much of my giant jug before I left.

Had an incredible dinner at the #1 rated restaurant on TripAdvisor, that also happens to be down a winding alley like a block away from where I'm staying. Top Deck Cave Restaurant--amazing huge vegetarian meal (they change their offerings every day), really warm people, wonderful environment, 16.5 TL total. A little den of love.

Hi all,

yesterday i tried to go on the balloon tour (or as they say-"BALL-on"), but after waking up at 5:15 and getting warmly dressed i was told it was too windy:( after my second wake up around 9:30 i decided to have my own adventure...so i first walked to the goreme open air museum and trouped around with hordes of asian and european tourists to see some more rock churches. i then decided that i could walk to uchisar castle...a huge rock fortress in a neighboring town that's the highest point in cappadocia. i had heard i could either take the bus or walk, and i felt like some exercise...it turned out to be both far, and uphill the entire way. and VERY windy! maybe not the smartest plan...after going to the open air museum, all the way to uchisar and back, i probably spent about 5 hours walking. i also had some misguided plans to try to find my way back through the rocks instead of on the road, which added some considerable getting lost time. i did stop for a bit of a yoga break on a grassy spot before i finally started back.

i had a large lunch/dinner when i got back to town, and spoke to the iranian waiter who insisted on me naming the best city in the US for him to move to in a year. i tried to explain it was a big country, and that it depended on his priorities...but he was not convinced. i came back to my hotel and rested for like 3 hours, and finally rallied to see a whirling dervishes ceremony at a caravanserai (hotel for the silk road) outside of town. it was interesting--very solemn. i wished i could understand more of what was happening. it is definitely impressive how they don't seem to get dizzy...a lot of people in the audience fell asleep and some were audibly snoring.

today i did make the balloon! we got started a bit late because of the wind, but it cleared and we had a beautiful flight over the amazing rock formations. i realized i've gotten more squeamish since the last time i took a hot air balloon flight...i did have some brief contemplations of my own mortality staring down. after the balloon i bolted down a quick breakfast and then headed out for an all day "green tour" which included a lot more things than i realized! my main motivation for going, however, was the underground city of derinkuyu. hard to take pictures of, but really amazing--apparently the one we visited goes 18 stories underground! we also walked in "turkey's grand canyon" (ilhara valley) by a river, and ended the day at this amazing rock structure, selime monastery, that was at different times a monastery, a caravanserai, and a fortress. there was another american girl on my tour, and an indian guy who was working in london, and the 3 of us had a good time chatting. it was a bit of a change of pace to have constant companions again...

tomorrow i head back to istanbul! it's been wonderful here--my hotel has been so comfortable and i love my room. it was almost sad to pack up. i've enjoyed being alone for a bit, actually--i've realized you meet people and have conversations you never would if you were with friends. and i've had time to reflect, and relax.