We survived the overnight train

And are now in Vienna. 

MadLibs-Inspired blog

Bloggers of the Day: Isaac, Ezra, and Jacob

Tonight’s theme is a MadLibs-themed blog entry. Below you will find the altered text, followed by the original text (changed text is underlined and bolded).

MADLIBS

Today, we decided to kiss past Parthenon Square and head to a slimy part of Venice. The doors played on a underwear for a while – each child mastering a particular area: Isaac enjoyed the beds, Ezra found it entertaining to play with the toilet, and Jacob sank up a rope to a deck only to smooch back down.

We made a lunch of raspberry muffin and spinach sandwiches in the Pennsylvania and walked to the Black Gates of Mordor.  We boarded a car and took a voyage through the main lightbulb. The dominoes on some of the villas can only be eaten from this vantage.

We got off near the fish museum, which we soon learned is closed on Mondays. Dreamily, we changed our plans and split the team up: Peter would take Dear Jacob back toward the hedgehog to play Plants Versus Zombies (the card game) and Elizabeth and the older boys would visit a nearby bottom to see pillows by Titian (and his underground city!).

We all met up back at the hotel, had some killing time (Dear Jacob even took a nap!), and then Elizabeth met our friend, Sandra, for drinks and dinner. The boys and I ate take-away and they watched a Ezra's guts while I packed for tomorrow’s night train to Baba's brain – yikes!

UNALTERED, ORIGINAL VERSION

Today, we decided to walk past San Marco Square and head to a quieter part of Venice. The boys played on a playground for a while – each child mastering a particular area: Isaac enjoyed the swings, Ezra found it entertaining to play with the water fountain, and Jacob climbed up a rope to a deck only to slide back down.

We made a lunch of turkey and cheese sandwiches in the park and walked to the pier.  We boarded a water shuttle and took a voyage through the main canal. The mosaics on some of the villas can only be seen from this vantage.

We got off near the natural history museum, which we soon learned is closed on Mondays. Disappointed, we changed our plans and split the team up: Peter would take Dear Jacob back toward the hotel to play War (the card game) and Elizabeth and the older boys would visit a nearby church to see paintings by Titian (and his grave!).

We all met up back at the hotel, had some resting time (Dear Jacob even took a nap!), and then Elizabeth met our friend, Sandra, for drinks and dinner. The boys and I ate take-away and they watched a movie while I packed for tomorrow’s night train to Vienna – yikes!

We hope you enjoyed this version of the blog – MadLibs themed!

Ciao, Tuscany e bonjourno, Venice!

Blogger of the Day: Peter

Last night we saw Venice. After a very satisfying meal of pizza and pasta, we made our way back to our hotel. We confidently strode through the many alleys and entrance ways until we paused for a moment and thought, "Where the heck are we?!" Even with our map, we found ourselves utterly lost. We'd still be walking from piazza to ponte if it hadn't been for Chang and her cool demeanor. I was ready to give ourselves up for dead. "Let's just sleep in this tethered gondola," I suggested. Chang would have none of it. With a sleeping Jacob in her arms, she led us home. Our hero, that Elizabeth Chang!

So today, we awoke  refreshed and ready for the day. Our family split into two groups. I took the two older boys to the Jewish Ghetto (who knew that the word ghetto actually originated here in Venice? -- it goes with our family's trips to towns of origin - Geyser in Iceland and our upcoming trip to Volcano in Hawaii). The boys had to endure my reminding them of how Jews have been treated throughout history and how in many places (Venice, included), the swastikas on the walls remind us that people are ignorant and hateful. I'm glad I bought them sunglasses on our way to the ghetto because it likely shielded the rolling of their eyes. We headed back to the hotel (first stopping for gelato at Grom -- yum!) and met back up with Jacob and Elizabeth.

After some resting, we caught a gondola taxi across the canal and Elizabeth took the older boys to see Renaissance paintings at the Gallerie dell'Accademia. Jacob and I waited at a cafe right outside the entrance where I had a Spritz (Aperol, prosecco, and seltzer) and Jacob had a croissant.

Last night, we were exhausted by our extensive tour of the city. Tonight, we are resting nicely after a lovely meal and an equally tranquil return to the hotel. While all of this paints a scene of serenity, please know that in the back of my mind, I am biting my fingers and quietly panicking because on Tuesday night, we are taking an overnight train to Vienna. The Stang Family Adventure will attempt a night in a sleeper car. Wish us luck!!

Night.

Photos below:

A view from the Accademia Bridge on the way TO dinner. The long march came afterwards!

Holocaust Memorial in the Jewish Ghetto.

Showing off their new sunglasses and admiring the WWII-inspired sign.

Dear Jacob posing for a photo on the way to dinner. He was an absolute delight tonight. A moment to cherish!!

Still in Tuscany

Sorry for the radio silence-- it's family time with grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins right now. Doing our best to avoid being trapped in an Etruscan funerary urn!

Back in Italy

Hey! We're in Tuscany. And if you think there is food on the Alitalia flight from Istanbul to Rome, or that there is time to get food while walking the mile from the airport train to platform 1 Est in the Rome train station, or that there is food or water on the 1 and 1/2 hour regional train from Rome to Chiusi, you would be mistaken. In related news, a lot of people were cranky yesterday. 

Appearances can be deceiving. 

The City Walls

Dear Jacob

We had an amazing day. This is the start off. I woke up and I saw little rain drops coming out from the sky. How many raindrops?!? Then we went on a beautiful walk. We climbed a mountain wall that was a city that had fallen down. [Ed. note-- old city walls of Constantinople]. When we were on top of the wall we saw tons of cities and mountains. I felt very safe but kind of mysterious. I was a little afraid about falling. Baba helped me stay on the stairs. We saw three cats. Count the cats! We saw a lady feeding the cats. The cats did not like the lightbulb she fed them. [Ed. note-- I think the lightbulb was already there before she put down the food]. Then we saw another cat that was so cute. It was a kitten in a graveyard. 

Today is our last day in Turkey. I will remember the man with the store with sharp glass who gave us cookies. I will remember seeing too much dogs. I will remember the hot city that was burning. [Ed. note-- Ephesus]. I remember us getting wet in the beach and caves. I remember riding on two ferries that were big boats. I will remember walking up steep hills. 

Rahmi M Koc Museum of Transportation

Blogger of the Day: Elizabeth

Being the cautious people that we are , we have been giving Taksim Square a generous berth during our time in Istanbul. Maybe this explains why we came to spend a full afternoon at the Rehmi Koc Museum of Transportation. And yet, if you must visit an exercise in self-promotion  by Turkey's wealthiest industrialist, this was not a bad way to do it. The older boys were fascinated and confused by Koc's massive collection of cars, boats, trains, and even planes of all eras, displayed in a huge dockyard on the opposite side of the Golden Horn. (Why would you need so many cars when you couldn't even drive most of them?) Jacob was peeved he could not climb into any of the vintage Fords and Fiats. Once he discovered the roomful of trolley and tram cars open for exploration, however, nothing could stop him, even the two sets of brides and grooms posing for wedding photographs alongside. 

Isaac, Ezra and I also got an excellent tour of a Turkish submarine given by an enthusiastic 30year veteran of the Turkish navy. After seeing the tiny narrow tube where 84 sailors slept and lived, Isaac and I agreed that a life on a submarine was not for us. We did happily accept our certificates of completion for our submarine tour, however. 

Can you spot Jacob?

This model is only a few years older than the one my grandfather drove across country. (Camping in a canvas tent along the way!)

The museums of Istanbul

Blogger of the day: Isaac

Today was an up and a down. What we did was walk for nearly one hour to the palace... and then find out it was closed! So after some grumbling, debating and the playing of Martian Fluxx (a card game) we decided to take a trip to the three museums. Archaeological, tile, and near east museums. The archaeological museum had all the sarcophagi of ancient Mesopotamian people including the great Alexander family. The people had really completely decayed. Their organs were all dried out and many of the bones were missing. It was gross. Luckily as we turned the corner we saw a chain. It was the chain that the Byzantines used to keep out ships. They used it by placing the chain low enough so that when enemy ships came knocking, the chain would destroy the rudder. The other museum, the tile museum, was entered only by my mom and I. There were plates, glasses, cups, jugs, jars all made of white and blue decoration. The coolest was the old fireplace. After the tile museum, my mom and I walked into the near east museum. Not as much interesting stuff in there as in the tile museum though. After the museum it was a long enjoyable walk home. I can wait to leave Istanbul.

[P.S. from Elizabeth: if you wanted to comment before (Mom) and could not, I think I've changed the settings so that you now can.]

Hello from Istanbul

Flew back from the coast to Istanbul today, uneventfully. Needed one gummy peach each to make it up the thirty minutes of steep hill walking back to the apartment. Thank you, Haribo store in the Izmir airport! The neighborhood is quiet and we are happy to do laundry again but we will miss those ocean views!

Dilek National Park (or, Another Day at the Beach)

Blogger of the day: Ezra

The car doors opened and I was ready for the beach. (Yes, I rented a car.). It had been a long drive to the beach but we had finally got there. Me and Isaac complained it was too rocky. There were also a couple of wild boars roaming around looking for food with their babies. (So cute!) Mama and Baba said we could go to a different beach because of the complaining. 

The second beach was still rocky but this time we couldn't change. Luckily the water was very good for swimming. The name of the water is the Aegean Sea. Me and Jacob wanted to go swimming right away but we had to get our bathing suits on. We got in the water. Perfect! Well, it was a little cold but once I got it over with it was fine. There were some sharp rocks -- me, Isaac and Baba all got cut. Then we played a couple of rounds of Mille Bornes and Martian Flux. I kept switching back and forth between swimming and cards all day. Also I munched on cashews too. I felt great about swimming in the ocean even though I got dunked a couple of times. Finally we headed for the hotel in our rented car. We ate dinner on our balcony and watched the big cruise ship leave the harbor and the mother cat nurse her kittens on the roof below us. It was a very perfect day. 

Kusadasi

[sorry for the delay on this post from yesterday! No wifi at the hotel last night or this morning]

Kusadasy

Blogger of the day: Peter

After flying from Kayseri to Istanbul, we quickly boarded new planes and headed down to Kusadasy, a small metropolis of 25,000 on the shores of the Aegean Sea. Other than being a good port for cruise ships, it’s a good jumping off point for people who want to visit the ancient city of Ephesus. That’s why we’re here.

 We arrived late last night in the town and promptly got lost in our Europcar rental. It was midnight, 2/3 of the boys were asleep (Ezra was quite chipper), and the street signs provided little help in terms of offering any clues as to where our hotel might be. I called the hotel (praise the heavens that we had purchased a Turkey SIM card for our phone) and the owner drove out to meet us and guided us safely. Just a quick note, there is NO way we would have found this place. Google Maps doesn’t say things like: You will need to drive through an active bazaar. Enjoy samples of Turkish delight and consider buying a rug while you attempt to arrive unscathed.

 And so today, we got up, had breakfast and headed to Ephesus. I don’t think I really ever comprehended the importance of this city. At one point, there were 250,000 residents living at what amounted to be the center of the world. The fact that more  than 80% is still unearthed makes me excited for a return trip some time in the future. What an amazing experience. If you were to ask Ezra about it,  he was very enthusiastic about a cat giving her newborn kittens a wash in the ancient library that once held one of the more important collections of Greek and Roman scrolls.

Following the visit, we returned to the hotel and went swimming in their frigid pool. The boys were so excited to go swimming, though. It was pretty cute to see them in their goggles.

I’ll end with what might have been one of the best experiences in personal grooming. As I went out to buy dinner for us, I stopped by an out of the way barber shop and asked for a haircut. To fully explain the experience would take a long time, but there was a authentic straight-edge blade for my shave, a massage immediately following my haircut, a flame that was put in both my ears to  eliminate ear hair,  and two apprentices running around the shop fetching me tea and cold water. I got a haircut and a shave plus lemon cologne and some other splash for my forehead for $15. I want to go back tomorrow – I know the two older boys are desperate to go back tomorrow. We’ll see. What I will say, though, was that if 9^th Street Tiger Barbershop did any one of these things, they’d be so incredibly popular!

Night

On the coast

Another travel day and no regular blogger yet--we have adjusted our schedule a bit to take a side trip to the coast and Ephesus. Staying in Kusadasi, a major cruise port. More updates soon.

Around Cappadocia

Dear Jacob:

When we got up we had breakfast that so good I just had to taste it. Then we rode on a bus. Then we went to an underground city that was so cool. We saw one big stone roller blocking the door. There was a trap to trap bad guys from getting in. The leader told us that the stairs were very steep. The stairs led to a very dark tunnel. Everybody was too tall for the tunnel except me. Then we followed the leader to a big tunnel. The tunnel also led to a very light place but it was a little bit dark and light in there. But the goodest thing in the underground city was that it was very interesting except for the stairs. But on the stairs something black was on it. It was bubble gum. Also it had so much bubble gum you didn't want to lick it right now. 

We also went outside but we couldn't believe that. We went in a light forest and saw ducks in the river.  How many ducks were there!?! The ducks said quack quack. There were tables and chairs in the river. The chairs could not sink because they had big wooden legs that the ducks might eat. 

Then we got ice cream. The ice cream was just too cold. The end. 

Goreme, Cappadoccia

Arrived today in beautiful Cappadoccia -- hiking through the canyons at sunset was completely magical and serene. 

The relaxing day

Blogger of the day: Isaac

Today was a relaxing day for our family. We were playing cards, reading and just hanging around. Even though I said today was a relaxing day that doesn't mean that we just sat around like lazy bugs. We walked to the park near the coastline of the Golden Horn. As we were walking there the person who helped us settle down in the apartment offered us tea, cookies and Turkish Mallomars. After that we walked on to the coastline. There we (Ezra and Jacob) watched jellyfish floating around. We also poked them (Ezra and Jacob again) and tried to bring them out of the water and kill them [Parents ensured this did not suceed --Ed.] After we played with the jellyfish we walked to a playground and played on it (obviously). It wasn't  really a normal park because everything was an exercise equipment to "play" on. After we visited the park we started to walk back home. The walk was pretty uneventful but when we got to our street our dad bought us ice cream (that's the deal - we walk up the steep street and earn ourselves an ice cream)! I bought vanilla again. The more and more I stay here, the more and more I start to like it. Tomorrow Elizabeth will tell you about a very intriguing and interesting experience. [Geez, no pressure! -- Ed.]

Our street

Full Bosphorus Cruise

Blogger of the day: Ezra

Today we went to the continent of Asia. It only took 3 hours (So soon? I thought it would take longer!) we took a ferry boat. We saw a lot of water and the wake looked like soap. There were houses, trees, fishing boats and the Turkish flag along the Bosphorus. Then we got off the ferry at a fishing village in Asia. We walked through the village and came to a steep hill. When we were halfway up we went in a graveyard. At the beginning of the graveyard there were little puppies. So cute! When we went past the puppies there were still more graves. A little too much. The farther we went up, the closer we got to the top. When we were finally at the top, we came to a castle. Mama and Baba wouldn't let us climb it.  But, I guess it was against the rules to climb it. [as evidenced by the plentiful barbed wire and "forbidden" signs --Ed.]. Then we turned around and saw a very beautiful sight. It was the Black Sea. We saw some people climbing the castle. They did a lot of things against the rules. We came back down the hill and this time there was only one puppy to see. Finally we made it to the dock. A man let us fish with a net in his small tank and then drop the fish back in. At last it was time to get back on the boat and return to Istanbul. 

Dancing in Asia in front of our ferry:

Excuse me, Kariye Muzesi? Salam alaikum, Kariye Muzesi? HA-lo. Kariye Muzesi?

Blogger of the day: Peter

First of all, you should know that while there have been a lot of reports about protests in Istanbul, we are fine. Our apartment is on the other side of the river, in the old section of town, and all is peaceful here. Our guidebook does not know that things are a mess in Taksim Gezi Park, but we imagine that editors are scrambling to rewrite EVERY walking tour of the city - they all seem to start there.

So this morning we decided to relax a bit. We played cards together and then participated in other individual activites.  Ezra drew a picture of a dragon with a spiked mace for a tail. The Cardinals beat the Giants in Isaac's stratomatic baseball game (the three-run second inning clinched it for San Francisco). And Dear Jacob collected mulberries from the tree that hangs over our third-story porch and put them in a discarded egg carton using a complicated mulberry management system. The boys also managed to wrestle and engage in fuss arguments. Why? Why?!

We ate lunches of grilled cheese sandwiches on Turkish flatbread and bulgar wheat salad with currants. Fortified, we made way to the Chora Church, a Byzantine church from the 4th Century with some of the more stunning mosaics. The entire museum is decorated with mosaics and frescos that, until recently, had been chronicled, but undisturbed under white wash (the Turks had the church converted into a mosque and the art work was covered over). The museum, according to Google Maps was about 14 minutes away. So we walked out our door and headed out. What you'll see to the left is the correct path to the church (in blue with smiling faces) and what turned out to be the poorly chosen path (the crudely drawn red arrow with crying faces). Yes, I took us down the sad, sad path. And so after about 10 minutes of walking, and with not one street appearing on our map, I asked a newspaper stand owner the way to Kariye Muzesi (the Turkish name for the Chora Church). His shoulders dropped as he thought about how he would communicate that we were hopelessly lost! He settled on motioning in the direction from which we had come and made the same sign they make when you travel in basketball -- it was going to take some time. I will say this, though, the neighborhood was really interesting! We saw so many families out and about - each representing every bit of the religious spectrum. From no obvious religious affiliation to fashionable head scarves to chadors to full burkas. Elizabeth and I both remarked that we were glad (this was after the fact) for the detour.

So after many queries to shop keepers and men drinking tea and friends bidding farewell to each other, we made it to the church. Below, you'll find Jacob and Isaac just outside the entrance as well as an example of the mosaics that made the walking trip very worthwhile. Night!

The Blue Mosque, The Hagia Sofia and the Underground Cistern

Blogger of the Day: Dear Jacob

It was a very hard day for me. I went to an interesting place and I saw a really interesting ceiling. On the ceiling there was a lot of blue and some of it looked like gold. Each tower was so big. This building was the blue mosque. I took off my shoes because they were very dirty. We put them in a bag that was covered with white. We had to be silent and not run. When we left the blue mosque I got excited. It's ok. 

The End.