We saw a lot of exciting things this year.

In and Out of Istanbul

Our fall adventure was taking us to France, but HZK found a great opportunity. We flew Turkish Airlines, which supplemented our trip with a long (3 day) layover in Istanbul on the way out and another night on the way back. We went to the Basilica Cistern, the Hage Sofia, the Blue Mosque, Topaki Palace, and the Spice Bazaar. Food vendors set up on every plaza, most selling roasted chestnuts and corn on the cob. The food was all delicious. One crazy incident. A rug salesman (they are everywhere) latched onto us when we were heading to our walking tour. He offered to “help” us find our tour group if we would promise to meet him after so we could go to his family’s rug store to buy a rug- best in town! Heather said yes, not at all planning to see him again. He was actually waiting when we came out of the Basilica! We ducked him and continued our day. Hours later, on the other side of town, as we headed to the Bazaar, we saw him again! He came right over and asked why we hadn’t met him. We said we missed him and were done for the day, but he kept trying to get us to go to the rug store. We finally broke free and escaped. Beautiful city.

France in the Fall

So we bumped through Turkey and backtracked to Bordeaux. Our itinerary would take us from Bordeaux to La Rochelle, Pointiers, Nantes, and Rennes before ending in Paris for a day. You could not ask for a better trip. The weather was perfect. The food was amazing. The hotels were luxurious. An interesting note: the morning we were in Paris, walking around the Louvre, is the morning of a brazen daylight heist at the museum. There were camera crews all around the building and police taping off sections of the grounds as they began the investigation. (I think I have the pictures sorted correctly, but after a while it all started to look the same.)

Paris and Rennes

Nantes and Pointiers

La Rochelle and Bordeaux