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