Day 3. Wise got a “Whiskey” 11 April 2010

Sorry there are no photos! I typed these all out, and now the internet is just too slow. I Will add photos as soon as possible!


Omelets for breakfast. I LOVE OMELETS.

Most of the day was rainy. Aktay was a little more comfortable today, and Daniel asked him to slow down a few times, but other than that, he did great. Everytime I felt he was too quiet up there, I’d nudge Daniel and he’d ask a random question about Turkey to make sure he was awake. He was every time!

Our trips—downtown Antalya, a new modern mall, I think the newest in Antalya. Not allowed to take photos there. BIG and very clean and nice.

Then we went to the “Old Town” where the van kissed brick walls at least twice. Aye yi yi. Aktay’s cousin owns a carpet shop there. This part of Antalya has Tiny streets and lots of big dogs. We heard a man with one arm playing the accordion and singing, sounding very sweet. We saw leftover Roman watchtowers from 2nd century AD. Statue of the founder of Antalya. Statue of the first “president” of Antalya—Constantine?

Marina

Outside of old town, Aktay took us to get the “best baklava” here. Found out the store owner died, and they relocated, but we got there and we bought a whole kilo of it because they said that was normal. Do you know how big a kilo is? We’ll be working on that for a few days!! It truly is DELICIOUS! We also got a small ice cream cone full of the creamiest ice cream we’ve ever had. You seriously had to chew it.

Waterfall. Beautiful. Flowing under the city from the Taurus mountains. It stopped raining as soon as we started walking to it. Talk about perfect timing! We were hoping to see a rainbow, but it was beautiful enough without it. {videos to come, it’s gorgeous}

Jewelry store. This is where I got my golden Whiskey. Actually I got lots of apple juice for free, and I picked out a gold “W” with 4 small diamonds in it. (Whiskey is “w” in the military Alpha Bravo Charlie alphabet) Daniel says now we have to have 4 kids so the necklace can be more sentimental. I don’t think our parents will oppose to that idea. He also got me a chain so I can wear my new treasure. I love it! It is dainty and beautiful and just perfect!

Leather store. I expected to see nothing more than slick black leather jackets with a gold zipper and maybe a few Harley Davidson tags. We walked into a big store with an electric “baby grand” and huge pictures of beautiful models in leathers and furs. There were probably 1000 jackets/coats and that was just on the first floor. We didn’t even go up to the second floor where they sell their fur-only coats. How many cows died to make this store so beautiful? We saw a coat that 50-cent bought recently up in Istanbul, but we forgot the camera, so look out for a commentary in People Magazine about a coat Fiddy is wearing from Punta Leather Store in Turkey. Imagine if Daniel and 50cent had the same leather coat with a fur collar.

Daniel found an AWESOME leather jacket moderately priced at 1200 euros. After saying it was a little too short, and a little too big in the waist, the seller brought the price down to 900 euro. It is brown leather with lots of secret compartments and zipper pockets, but also has patch-like designs in a checkered pattern. Since we forgot the camera, I’d like to describe it to you with a celebrity in mind. I could see Ashton Kutcher wearing this leather jacket. In other words, I really do like it, and I realllllly like it on Mister Wise (he’s buffer than AK anyday). The price was then lowered to 600, then I played the piano, and at the end of my first song the man said “420, no 400! That’s my final offer, I can’t go any cheaper”. I got an ovation from an already standing crowd (they are salespeople so they were not sitting), and then played a few more diddlies. Parker helped. We went back to see Daniel, still looking at the jacket with the salesman. I really liked it but its just too short. So, while I never said no but secretly hoped Daniel would find one that was NOT 1200 euro ( I didn’t know it was so drastically reduced—I was at the instrument, remember), he decided not to spend a large chunk of hard-earned money on the best looking hamburger we’ve ever seen.

The hotel staff here is fabulous. They are all so nice and friendly, even though only a few speak English. One non-english girl loves on Parker at each meal, calling him Sugar, making all the Germans laugh. They think its funny to call someone Sugar. One older gent in particular thinks I’m “beautiful, very nice” and tells me what food to get, so I end up getting Tons of food because he says all of it is “very nice”. It is. Tonight we needed something to store our baklava from downtown because the honey started leaking from the carton... The friendly German family beside us spoke English and the father tried to ask Parker’s love for a plastic box because she knows German. Well, here’s the series of events chaining from our need for a box.

1. She thought he wanted to box Daniel, like have a fist fight! I was pretty sleepy at this point and found her shocked reactions hilarious.

2. Later, I asked her for the plastic box and explained that our baklava is leaking. She called a guy over who Said he knew English (he said it in Turkish) and actually he had no clue what I was saying, and our audience of 6ish tables didn’t know either!

3. Finally Martin, a hotel worker who is very fluent in Anglais rushed over to save the day. After his translation, the girl brought me a bowl with a saucer to cover the top and led me to the dessert table, telling me to take whatever dessert I’d like to my room, and that there will be fresh baklava so we can eat it in the morning …. We were getting closer! A German lady yelled from her table to Martin “You are Perfect!” Why didn’t she translate for me?! I guess she enjoyed seeing this stupid American try to save her baklava.

4. Another explanation to Martin.

5. Martin brought us a big plate with forks.. And he said “ALL THIS WORK FOR A PLATE!”. And that was fine except we needed to store it, not eat the whole kilo of it tonight!

6. A more specific explanation of our need.

7. Finally he went to the kitchen and brought us some slightly used aluminum foil because they don’t have plastic…

Whew, that was exhausting. I think we are going to experience culture shock next week in the states, understanding everyone for the first time in over a year.

Until then, we are having a blast being sore thumbs in Turkey. And my W necklace is beautiful. Who cares if it was slightly overpriced, I can always say “this is the necklace your Daddy got me on our vacation to Turkey”. Tomorrow we head to Alanya for a week on the beach. I’m going to miss the staff here, they are so great! If you’re planning a trip to Turkey, I highly recommend Royal Atlantis beach hotel!!!