Turkey!

This trip, I got to go to Adana, Turkey. This is down near the Syrian border. On the way, I got to stop through Istanbul (Constantinople) and on the way back I got to go through the capital of Ankara. It was a great trip, even though I was a little nervous when I found out I had to go. The Turkish people were very hospitable and I wouldn't hesitate to go back. Enjoy!

Ataturk

The "George Washington" of Turkey was a man named Ataturk. He was a great leader who basically set up modern Turkey. This was a park outside of Tarsus that had statues of all the famous Turkish leaders. He had the spot of prominence.

Tarsus

Adana was pretty near to Tarsus, where St. Paul was from. We were in a cab and Tammy went in to get something and I was chatting with the Taxi driver about how much it would cost to go. For 80 bucks he would take us. Tarsus is still called Tarsus. There are business like "Tarsus Hot Wings" and "Tarsus Car Wash" there. Anyway, he took us into old town where we went in increasingly narrow and winding streets. The Muslim call to prayer was being announced and we were stopping people and asking for directions to St. Paul's house. People were very nice and we finally found it. It is an dig site now but his well is still working. They will let you drink out of it which we did. It is probably not the best idea to drink untreated groundwater in a foreign country at a tourist location, but we didn't get sick. If you want to see a video of us drinking from the well, here is a link to one. It's two minutes long, so be patient.

Large Mosque

In downtown Adana, there was a really large Mosque. These pictures were taken from moving vehicles, in case you can't tell.

Turkish Grub

The food in Turkey was incredible. It was all very fresh, even what you got at the bowling alley. Four of us ate at a restaurant and pigged out and the total bill was less than 20 bucks. There was always a restaurant called the Red Onion that had specials named after people. We had the Tammy special and Tammy Salad.

Plates

Everywhere you look in Turkey, they are selling hand painted pottery. Lisa really digs this pottery even though you can't eat off of it. You just hang it on the wall in places where I'm likely to knock it off and break it. I knew this was a trap.

Rugs

If you go to Turkey, they'll show you lots of rugs. Whenever you go into a shop, they'll serve you a drink (tea, coffee, beer, etc) and talk to you. It is against the rules (Turkish hospitality) to refuse the drink, even if you don't buy anything. I couldn't bring myself to buy a rug without wife-al approval, so I just took a bunch of pictures.

Sweden here we come!

Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm syndrome makes you smile!

Gooh?

I have no idea what they sold here.

Swedish Meatballs

Yes, they do really have them.

Don't let the sun go down on me

Being so far north and that it was like November when we were there, the sun went down early. This is how dark it was at approximately 4:30 pm.

Skum

Use it to put out a fire or scare scumbags away.

Nobel Prize

We got to go to the place where the Nobel prizes are given out. The guy who invented Dynamite (Alfred Nobel) was the same guy who came up with the Nobel prize. There was the tails side of this coin on the other wall.

Lisa coming down the Nobel stairs

Lisa coming down the Nobel stairs





These are the stairs that everyone comes down at the Nobel prize banquet. This is probably the most classic photo in Stockholm.

Ceiling

The ceiling of the place was neat in that it was designed to look like a ship's bottom.

Breakin' the Law

Jason sat in the chair of somebody on the Stockholm parliament. We were specifically forbidden to do this. Which made a lot of people do it. There was a line behind us. We also wrote some fake laws while we were there.

Swedish Urinals

These are urinials in Sweden. They are what you would see if you went into a (men's) restroom. Looks like you can pull in or back in.

Gettin' Fresh!

Wooden dudes gettin' fresh with Lisa.

The Vasa

The Vasa





Here are Lisa and I in front of the Vasa. The Vasa was a ship commissioned in the 1600's was loaded with new technology. Upon her maiden voyage, she sank within one nautical mile of the port. Onlookers were quoted as saying "no way!". They raised the ship in the 1960's and now it is one kickin' museum. I really thought this one would be crappy but it was one of the best I've been to in Europe.

Swedish Karaoke

We went out on the town one of our last nights there and went to have the famous "steak on a plank". It literally is a steak served on a piece of wood. This happened to be served at a karaoke bar where brave Swedes sang songs like "walkaway joe" or "show me the meaning of being lonely". Our noble American girls decided to go together and sing American Pie, the long version. They did pretty good on the chorus but the verses prompted phrases like "I don't remember this part". All in all, the long version of American Pie is 8 minutes, 27 seconds.

Boat Trip

We took a boat tour of the bay which was very nice and relaxing. Apparently it was too relaxing for Lisa. They gave you headphones for your own language and played soft jazz between monotoneous talking spouts. they wouldn't give us our money back.

Olde Tyme Sweden

This was a guy making some old timey pastry with old timey stuff. It was pretty good. This was part of an open air museum sort of like Chucalissa or Cannonsburg, only with Swedish people.

Majestic Reindeer

This was in the museum that I didn't go to as me and Jason were at the token giftshop drinking coffee and eating cake. Looks like a pretty good rack on this thing, but all the "majesty" is lost when they're just laying there.