Address

Hello!

 

We would like to get your updated contact information if you have moved lately or if we don't have it... so we can mail you a letter... If you haven't got a letter from us in the past 6 months it means we don't have your contact info!  You can either just email it to me or go to http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p8fnnp0avRjUEX-x6ykpAeA and submit it there. 

 

On a somewhat related note, Alicia and I just got back from a 12 day adventure in Turkey.  If you'd like to see pictures go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucastheexperience/sets/72157614164950204/

 

Thanks!
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Lucas Simmons

ha

our last day in turkey was interesting to say the least.  in every place you go you will find one or two strange people who can really ruin your day.  we found one such guy who introduced himself as reliable charlie to us and was trying to sell us some turkish tea.  we really wanted to see if he was giving us a good price so we were trying to shop around a bit more but he followed us everytime we tried to get away.  then he got not nice and we walked off and he did not follow.  we bought a lot of cool souvenirs and every once else we dealt with was great.  weird how the one guy can make you eager to leave a place like that even though there are probably a hundred other nice guys for that one guy.  hrmph

 

well also I must say our hotel in istanbul was amazing.  it is called the stone hotel. it wasn't really the rooms but the service and the friendliness of the staff that won me over.  i highly highly recommend it.  selim, i think he is like the manager, is absolutely hilarious!  we stayed there three nights total... the last night we found out they had a cafe and they opened it up and we were the only ones in there.  they jokingly called it the dungeon, but it was really pretty nice and they even gave us some free delicious candy from America too!  when we were leaving selim said "i am quitting, coming to america with you" or something like that haha.

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Lucas

cappadocia in the snow

today was awesome.  we were going to take a bus to explore underground cities but the sun came out and we decided to stay where we were.  the snow seriously did not stop at all yesterday which made for a beautiful day today!  we explored a little more the direction we went yesterday but today we went in a new direction and saw many caves and old paintings in there.  we also found a cave with multıple levels toward the end of our hike which was quite tricky to get to the other levels but ended up being really cool.  i had to stop alicia from going up to the fourth level.  then on our way down the hill we were walking back and alicia hears a guy yell CUT!  and all of the sudden we realize we are on a movie set and they are waving us to go a different directıon so we finally get down the mountain and start talking to them and we found out we were interrupting the filming of a swedish space movie haha.  tonight we head back to istanbul on a twelve hour bus.  and then on thursday home.  that is when i will be able to upload pictures...

cappadoccıa

today we are in our last new city of our adventure called goreme which is in cappadocia we already got up early and went exploring... but there is a lot more to see and do.  we are staying in a cave hotel which is awesome and we are the only people at the hotel because no one comes here during the winter time really.  this is the smallest town we have been in so far so it is the easiest to navigate.  anyways off to explore!

ankara

yesterday we arrived in ankara.  what an adventure to find an apartment on a bunch of streets with numbers that don't make any sense.  we must have asked 10 people and had our first person flat out ignore us and walk by as we asked for directions.  first we looked at google maps to see where our friends lived and then compared that to the map we had in our turkey book and took a bus to the general area and walked from there.  it felt really good when we finally found the house.  we got to do laundry too which was cool.  and we saw a castle and the attaturk mausoleum which is really huge.  really huge.  really really huge.  i must admit after all this walking my feet and myself are very tired.  we are heading out for another ankara adventure today i don't know where... tomorrow afternoon we will head to cappodoccia!  we are also meeting some friends of friends this afternoon so i guess we'd better get going

bergama

we went to bergama today.  that is what used to be known as pergamum back in the Biblical times.  we didnt really know where we were going and didnt have much luck finding a map.  so we started walking in the general direction of where we thought things were.  alicia saw a john deere tractor and wanted to take a picture.  the owner of the store motioned that she should take a picture on it.  then we started communicating with him and he told us to go across the street where a dolmuş which is something in between a bus and a taxi would pıck us up.  we went to the red basilica which was pretty deserted but still a cool site.  then we met a carpet maker who started talking to us on our way to our next site he said this other place, the acropolis was way better and it was a few kilometers away but gave us a short cut because we did not want to pay for a taxi.  it was a few kilometers away but all uphıll! so on our walk up two turkish guys in leather jackets pull up and ask if we are going to acropolis which we were so we hopped in their car.  i guess this means we hitchhiked haha.  they were very friendly, as are most people here.  acropolıs was so amazing... you could see the whole cıty and the ruıns look SO cool and it was very crowded.  winter is definitely the time to be in turkey haha.  so then we headed back (photos of acropolis to come when we return) and on the way a guy yells at us merhaba! hello! and we stood and talked to him for a bit and found out his name was İsa which is what Jesus name is in Arabic.  so that was pretty cool.  now we are at the bus station awaiting our 11 o clock bus

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Lucas

ephesus

i have to say here the overnıght buses in turkey are the way to go.  if there was an overnıght bus to america from turkey i would take it haha.  they come through like 3 times to give you snacks and drinks and its about the same cost as a hotel and it is comfortable, for a bus.  we got to izmir yesterday morning at lıke 5am or so and really didnt know what to do with ourselves.  i am reluctant to take taxis just because of the cost associated with them and the bus or metro is just sooo cool.  so we got to the otogar which is what the bus station is called.  we didnt even know what bus station we were at.  i tried to ask some guys for a map but that didnt work out so alicia asked this lady who spoke very little english to help us out.  she took us to where the buses where and a security guard got us on the bus to basmane, which is where our hotel is.  we chilled at a pastry place and played cards and then searched for our hotel for about an hour... a lot of the streets here are lıke numbers and then they say Sokak.  i still havent fıgured out how it works.  yesterday we just spent exploring izmir and went to this cafe that we took an elevator up four storıes to get to and had a cheeseburger and pizza.  big anniversary date huh?  we were supposed to go to the fancy place across the way but it was closed so we went there.  our server told us we should wonder in turkey and we had no clue what he was saying. i think he just meant explore turkey but i dont know.  today we had an adventure going to the otogar and finding the bus to ephesus... we finally got there after waiting on the wrong side of the street and then the guy said it was goıng to be 70 lira to go to efes.  no way.  then another turkish guy asked where we were going and he found out it was 7 lira... that is like 60 dollars vs 5 dollars haha.  then we met people on the little bus and they told us how to walk to ephesus whıch was a long walk but better than paying the 15 dollar cab fair for about a mile and a half walk lol.  ephesus was really cool and we read ephesians in the coliseum.  on our way back some kids were cutting some plants and gave us whatever it was and it tasted like celery haha.  they were funny and tried to speak turkish to us but we are so bad with it.  i asked them where i could put the chemicals for the toilet because ı wanted to ask them something funny.  i wish i had pictures to put up but that will have to wait a little bit or until we get home..

lucas

istanbul

last night was really cool the mosques here look amazing at night.  ıt stopped raınıng so ıt was so clear and we had a great tıme eatıng out at thıs restaurant called doy doy where ı had some good turkısh pızza and alıcıa had lentıl soup and a salad.  they have thıs really cool lookıng bread that ı have pıctures of.  ıt looked lıke an ınflated balloon

 

then we went to thıs tea garden and had çaı and apple tea and trıed to play backgammon.  we found out we dıdnit know how to play and our server guy rıdıculed us and looked at us ın dıgust for the way we were playıng.  ı found ıt amusıng but am curıous as to the rıght way to play.  we hope to fınd a nıcer person to teach us today.

 

today we have already been to the blue mosque and are just checkıng out of our hotel to go to the grand bazaar rıght now.  the tonıght we head to ızmır on an overnıght bus where we wıll vısıt old bıblıcal towns around there.

 

anyways, that ıs all

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We are here!

we made It to Istanbul.  they have funny keyboardsç weırd çs are where ı thınk the perıod should be and the ıs dont have dots

 

ıt ıs very wındy and raıny but everyone ıs really nıce and our hotel ıs pretty cool and centrally located.  luckıly we have clothes that can handle the raın and cold - somewhat

 

tomorrow wıll be our sıghtseeıng day here and then at nıght we wıll head off to ızmır!

Lucas

we are headed to turkey

keep checking back here or to our flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/lucastheexperience for updates

tomorrow new york
sunday istanbul!