Homeward Bound

I woke up this morning humming “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and  “Homeward Bound”, so I guess you can tell what this post is about!!!

As we waited for the breakfast buffet to open, we had to take  a few photos of the lobby

and this wonderful Sultan’s chair…..

We said Good-bye to our favorite waiter who grew to know exactly how we liked our tea and coffee and exactly how many we would drink of each.  He would also run to get bottles of water anytime he saw us leaving to go out walking!!!!

With Turkish coffee, there is always a bit of sludge in the bottom of the cup and the trick is to learn to stop ONE sip before you hit bottom…….

Alternately, you have a glass of water at the ready for clearing the sludge taste from your mouth!!!!! 

Before we leave Istanbul, let me mention a couple of other observations that haven’t made it into previous posts…..

When the Imam’s are doing the call to prayer there are normally no pauses between the lines, but at the Blue Mosque, they pause after each line to allow the other nearby Mosques to “answer”.   We likened this to the “GEORGIA”… …  “BULLDOG” chant that is heard on football Saturdays in Athens!!!!

Also, I mentioned earlier that we had been enjoying watching several baby seagulls.  The older “child” was located on a roof across from our room and we loved watching the movements of “Samantha” (we decided that she was a girl) and her “Parentals”.   On one of our Terrace Times, we were watching as she started flapping her wings and leaping higher and higher into the air.  Then, as we watched, she took off and flew to a neighboring roof.  Immediately she was followed by both of her parents and they kept watch and protected her as she rested and prepared for the next flight.

We wondered the next morning if we would see her again, but sure enough, she arrived on the roof, demanding food and attention (typical teen-age girl)!!!!  We enjoyed watching as she continued to grow and find her wings and especially enjoyed seeing how the Mom and Dad Seagulls responded!!

We  took a taxi to the Airport, checked in with our THREE bags (two at 50 pounds and one at 52 pounds), and boarded our plane. 

We had a comfortable flight into JFK, enjoying the extra legroom with the Emergency Exit seats, and arrived almost an hour early.  We were concerned that we would have to sit on the plane while waiting for a gate to open up, but instead they brought busses out and took us straight to the Passport control area.

We cleared customs, found our gate and grabbed a bite to eat before the next, very short, flight into Atlanta.  That flight also landed very early!!!  We were met, in our car, by Brian and Amber, dropped them off at their apartment and then made the one hour trip home.

We both slept well.  However we both woke up in the middle of the night and, after much thinking, were happy to realize that we were in our own bed, in our own house!!!

This trip has been a wonderful mix of rural and urban, work and play,  spicy and sweet (food that is), and  friends, both real and Facebook!!!

We hope to return!!!!!