Adventures in Istanbul Part 3

Though all my (few but proud) readers have long since forgotten by now, once upon a time I was writing about our February trip to Istanbul.  The next two posts are the last installments in that series, as I continue to catch up on fun things past!

We started our next day in Istanbul at Dolmabace Palace, for which we have many outside shots but none inside because photos are banned in the building itself.  Which is too bad, because the inside is so ornate and gilded and grand it's hard to describe.  The boys loved it, especially all the enormous chandeliers and the polar bear rugs and the candlesticks taller than the husband.

I think the boys, especially E, will remember the roaming
 flocks of pea hens and chickens most of all.

After the palace, we headed to Istiqal street, a large pedestrian shopping street, where we window-shopped and ate more delicious food.  We also stopped at Galata Tower (but we didn't go up because the line was too long and we had already had a long day of walking).  We then walked across the bridge back to downtown and watched people fishing for their dinner while the sun was setting.  Once again, everyone was very friendly toward the children and let them watch right up close as they hauled in their catches.  Both boys were enthralled, and we all ended the day on a high note.

We're ba-ack!

So far behind, but thinking about that makes me tired, so I will just plunge in again and hope to get caught up along the way!

Big events in little bullets:

•  We successfully moved back across the world!  After the whirlwind of packing and selling and donating, we finally culled all our possessions down to 4 cubic meters to be shipped across the ocean and 16 suitcases to be brought with us on the plane, the fate of which I chronicled in my last post.  Some of those suitcases have made their way to my in-law's storage unit, while the container shipment is scheduled to arrive in NY this week--fingers crossed!
• We enrolled the boys in the elementary school down the street.  Of all the things involved in moving, I was looking forward to this one with the most trepidation but the boys' entrance into and continued success in school has been pretty seamless so far.  The teachers have been welcoming and responsive, the boys have found a few friends to connect with, and everyone has been enjoying their time.  In fact, even though I can hardly believe it, there are only two more weeks of school left!  Craziness!

  

  Have lunch at school with your second grader!

  

  Beach party day at Kindergarten!

  

  Grandma and mommy came to school to help make
  puppets for a class puppet show.

• We jumped into the job search in earnest, with the husband flying off to on-site interviews around the country.  So far, we have had some success with those interviews, including a few offers, but nothing has been decided yet while we wait for the licensing process and salary negotiations to work themselves out.  Which means, as of now, we don't know where we will be in the fall, but we do know we will be somewhere, which is fabulous.  I'm trying to be very zen about the whole process and not focus on the time ticking by and the multiple unknowns that still confront us (housing, schools, cars, climate)...and being only marginally successful with all that!  But really, things have been going very well for the husband, and we would be happy to work and any number of places, so now we just have to iron out all the details and make one of them happen. 
• We have spent more time with family than ever before, living with one set of grandparents, visiting the other, and seeing all sorts of cousins along the way.  The boys get to see at least one set of cousins every week (and they are loving that), and they were also able to meet both of their newest cousins born in December.  We were even able to take a trip to southern Utah with my parents during spring break, which was lots of fun.  So that part of coming back to the States has been a bonus.
  
  

  

  With Grandest at Needles in Canyonlands National Park.

  

  New cousin E with J.

  

  Post Mother's Day breakfast with Grandeur and Grandest.

  

  Dying Easter eggs with Aunt M...

  

  and Uncle J.

  

  Old photos of Daddy with Grandma.

• We've seen more different kinds of weather in a few weeks than we have seen in years: there's been snow, hail, buckets of rain, even a frighteningly terrible "wind event," and temperatures fluctuating wildly from freezing to shorts' weather--it's been very exciting for my Doha transplants!

  

  We were able to resurrect our old cold weather hats!

• We took a quick fact-finding trip to California (for a possible job), just the husband and I, the first time EVER we have traveled alone without the kids.  It was lots of fun (except for the small bout of food poisoning I had on our second day!)--we got to see my brother and his wife and kids as well as our friends who left Doha last year, ate out at a vegan restaurant, a farm-to-table bar, and several food trucks (we think the food poisoning came from the kale at the vegan place, sadly), and we even took an impromptu tour of my alma mater, Pomona College, the first time I have been back since I graduated.  It has been spiffed up since I was last there, but it still smells the same (love those eucalyptus trees!).  And the children thrived while staying with their grandparents!  Huzzahs all around. 

  

  Outdoor installation at LACMA.

  

  Brunch in the Village at Claremont.

  

  My favorite spot on Pomona Campus.

• The husband ran his first half marathon!  We went to see him at mile two and would have seen him cross the finish line, but he ran faster than he has ever run with his friend as a pacer, so we missed the big finish.  He ended up finishing third in his age division, so we were very proud.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Back to the USA!

So we have arrived back in our home country and we are all still jet lagged and overwhelmed and not sleeping and trying to fit into our new lives and feeling a bit out of step!

Our trip home was a mixture of the ridiculous and the sublime.  On the sublime side, our last long haul trip in business class (in perhaps ever!) was fabulous, of course.  We began with a leisurely breakfast in the business lounge and then we headed to the game room to while away some time before our flight.  After that, we used the last of our riyals in the airport toy store and bought the boys some little presents for the flight, something that is so unheard of, they almost couldn't make up their minds when give this unexpected opportunity.  Then we headed off to the flight itself, where the boys took advantage of every amenity the plane had to offer and charmed the flight attendants so they didn't mind helping them with whatever they needed.  J at salmon three times in 16 and a half hours, E took multiple naps in the lie-flat seat, and both boys drank as many mocktails as they could.  The husband and I watched some movies and relaxed which, after our harrowingly busy last few weeks in Doha, felt like a mini-vacation in the skies.  We crossed the North Pole and got to see the sunset turn into the sunrise and the plane seemingly change direction in the blink of an eye, which was more impressive than I thought it would be.  So we all arrived at LAX rested and refreshed and in good spirits.

In the first class lounge for breakfast, enjoying pineapple, eggs, and cheese! 

Look what some lovely business class fairies left for us!
It pays to have friends in high places! 

About to take off--notice the husband is already changed
into the complimentary pajamas!

Which was lucky, since the ridiculousness was about to start!  See, we were allotted 9 pieces of checked luggage for our flight, but, of course, since we were moving home, we had more than that, so the husband had purchased 7 extra pieces with his many, many frequent flier miles we had with Qatar Airways.  We had been told that the miles would work to get all our luggage to LA, but then we would need to pay additional fees with our domestic airline to get the 7 extra pieces on to Salt Lake.  And we were happy to do that, but the folks in Doha couldn't figure out how to make the charge, so they said we could work it all out with the people in LA when we arrived after we cleared customs.  So first, we waited for our bags...and waited...and waited...and waited.  Our 7 extra bags (actually, 4 boxes and 3 rubbermaid bin) were the LAST pieces off the very large plane, so the wait was long.  Fortunately, the switch to recheck those bags was simple, so our airline representative quickly shepherded us off to ticketing so we could work out the payment.  We first went to Qatar Airways ticketing, where they wanted to charge us more than $1700 to have brought all our bags to the US.  But no, we paid for over half those bags with miles, we have the receipts to prove it!  So there was much calling and computer checking and wringing of hands until we were told we should instead go to the American Airlines counter and work out the payment.  Fine.  So off, we went, waltzing around LAX with our many carry on bags in tow.  And then we repeated our story for now the 4th time (once in Doha, once with the QA person who met us at the plane, and then again with the QA ticket person).  Unfortunately, the American Airlines person couldn't do anything for us either, since our bags had already been checked through to SLC and put back into the baggage system, so she sent us on our way and said she didn't think we needed to pay anything additional.  We knew this was wrong but we had been trying to pay this fee for hours now and weren't going to argue.

After security, we headed to the American Airlines lounge (a perk of the husband's status and our business class tickets) for a little more sublime (they had manapua, Hawaii friends!  It was so onolicious!) and a rest before our next flight, which was a shuttle ride away.  Once we arrived there, we heard our name called and an American Airlines rep came to tell us we needed to resolve the payment issue and  could one of us please come with her.  Of course we could!  The husband went off to pay...and was gone a very long time.  Eventually, I looked all over and tracked him down, only to see him yelling into a phone.  After even more time, he returned, very upset, since now the One World Alliance rep was asking for more than $2000 for having flown the bags to LA and once again he had to explain that those bags were already paid for, at which point he got a little, umm, heated!  In the end, the lovely American Airlines woman who was there with us talked it all through with everyone involved, and came up a few minutes later to say we owed a grand total of $250, exactly what we had anticipated.  She was also profusely apologetic about everything on behalf of all the airlines involved, but I told her she shouldn't apologize; she was the only one who was able to make anything happen and actually take the correct amount for the correct bags from us!  Gold star for her!

As for the flight from LAX to SLC, I couldn't tell you much about it, beyond the fact that we had a trainee flight attendant with a passive aggressive trainer who was so annoying I tuned her out during pre-flight check and went promptly to sleep, only to wake up when we had landed in SLC.  Apparently, the husband and E did exactly the same thing, while J played on the iPad for the entire flight.  We then found our relatives and all our bags and ferried them to the curb, loaded the various vehicles that were there for us, and settled in for the last leg, the car trip home.  By the time we arrived, we had been traveling for more than 29 hours.

Here's E, moments after we took off on our final leg, curled up on the husband's lap.

I don't think I have ever been so tired.

Getting ready to be ready

The accelerated purge continues briskly.  We had an online sale of furniture and big items, then a yard sale, then a "come by my house and take what you want for free" day and now we're into the next to last phase, where I call specific people I know who might want X and ask them to take it off my hands.  The last phase begins tomorrow, where I donate big boxes to people from church and put what's left outside by my trash after sending a curb alert to my compound Facebook group.  STUFF!  Why do I have so much stuff?!  So much for living lighter, huh?

In the meantime, we are packing sporadically. We are in a fight with the airlines regarding the husband's many frequent flier miles that they are now not letting him use to purchase extra baggage, even though in theory that's exactly what they should be for.  If they don't acquiesce, our shipment home will be a bit bigger than planned and I have to repack everything I have already packed as I reduce our checked luggage by half.  I love packing but I do not enjoy repacking!  So this has been a challenge for me to accept, making me move very...slowly...through these tasks as I try to convince myself I should just wait until it's all resolved.

And there is so much else to do that's so much more fun!  Like going away parties: we had one by the pool this weekend and another at a fabulous restaurant where we had more sushi than I could eat.  I've gotten so many unexpected gifts from my friends, both tangible and intangible, and lots of farewell emails, so I am starting to feel like perhaps we accomplished more than I thought we had here!  They boys have been able to see many of their friends, which has made them happy, and we've squeezed in visits to their favorite roller coaster in a mall, a UNESCO world heritage site fort we never got around to visiting, and a new park with a mini-zoo and a giant playground.  The husband even got to ride a camel finally, which is something I have avoided because camels (and MERS) give me the willies just a bit!

Ready for the roller coaster!

Glass from the Qatari archeological site.

Al Zubarah Fort, a UNESCO world heritage site.

Camel love. 

Camel riding.

You can't hear me telling E to avoid getting kicked in this picture.

3D sculpture wall.

Zebras!

Awesome climbing structure!

Amphitheater on one side, skateboard park on the other, mini-golf in the
distance, zip-line at the plaground, aviary...this place is awesome!
Too bad we're leaving....

So much history...and also Legos: Adventures in Istanbul Part 2

 Day 2 was a doozy for us.  We began the day at Topkapi Palace, where the kids were underwhelmed by the pavilions dedicated to various campaigns and leaders, impressed by the tiles, and most in love with the roosters and peacocks they had running all over one of the yards.  Then we went to see the Blue Mosque, which was very impressive (though perhaps not as blue as I had thought it would be).  They actually invited the boys, alone, to run around on the carpet in the prayer area, which we thought was a horrible idea, but they were happy to have them and the boys loved the soft carpets and all the space to twirl and look up at the chandeliers and tiles.  Next, we were off to the Basilica Cistern, which was eerie and cold and just as impressive as the buildings above ground.  The children loved the ambiance and the medusas and the fish (they are always on the lookout for animals, can you tell?).

Eating their morning rewards for making it up the steep hill
where we lived, bread from the bread vendors, both with and
without nutella!  E said that he would come back to Istanbul just to
land, buy some of this bread, and get back on the plane!

Tile in Topkapi Palace.

The view of the Bosphorous from Topkapi.

The Blue Mosque in the background.

On the floor at the Blue Mosque, admiring the view.

The husband is calling this look mosque-chic!

E got very, very comfortable!

Getting some good luck at the Basilica Cistern.

Day 3 we went a bit outside the city and the usual tourist spots to head to Legoland Istanbul!  Getting there was a bit of an adventure in public transportation using the kindness of people who wanted to be very helpful but spoke very little English.  One older man actually got off with us at the right stop and then walked us two thirds of the way there to make sure we arrived!  The boys were in heaven and enjoyed every minute of their visit, showing us that perhaps it's time to take them to some much bigger theme parks in the future!  This was only a Discovery Centre, so it's a compact take on a Legoland, but the boys didn't know any better and were happy with our time there.  Afterwards, we debated about whether to go to an Aquarium or Jurassic Land, both of which were in the same mall, but Jurassic Land won out, and I'm glad it did, because that place was a kind of Euro-weird I had never experienced before.  By the final big show, which was sort of Cirque d'Soleil meets 80s music video meets low budget movie set, I was laughing out loud.  Honestly, words cannot express adequately how bizarre this place was, but I think the boys enjoyed the animatronic dinosaurs and the Juracopter simulator ride.  Remind me to tell you the whole story the next time you see me!

How happy do they look? 

More smiles!

In front of the sites of Istanbul made out of Legos. 

Ready for the 4D movie! 

The husband made a pharmacist minifig.

Leaving Jurassic Land, tired but happy (and mommy was hysterical!)

A word about food in Istanbul: my boys were in HEAVEN wherever we ate there.  We didn't take pictures of all our meals, of course, but every time we ate, they were all smiles.  Grilled meat, yummy bread, saucy bean dishes, all kinds of rice, what's not to love?

This is not a trick of perspective, that potato really was as big as his head! 

So was this one!

Here we are enjoying pide, kind of like Turkish pizza, but with no cheese!  Yay for me! 

And of course, the entertaining Turkish ice cream stands!

I couldn't get them to stop eating long enough to smile!