Reunited in London!

We're sitting here this morning in lovely London-- all together again!  All the boys have gone for a long walk and Trey and Grant are scouting out a new American sports bar where they can watch college football later!  Bill, Mary and I have just purchased tickets to see the musical tonight, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which is next door to our hotel.

Grant arrived yesterday morning and spent the afternoon catching a few Z's since he didn't sleep well on the plane.  Then he , Mary and I went out for a very nice dinner not far away..when we came back to the Hotel, Bill and Trey had just arrived!

And so, here is the happy ending of "the rest of the story!"  After going back to the port yesterday morning, and with the help of a wonderful gentleman from Sea Song who was assisting them, they proceeded to discuss their entry situation with the Port Police.  The Port police would not stamp the entry on their passports.  The boys could prove they had been on the ship-- they had their ship cards and Oceania faxed over the official passenger list.  However, they still refused to stamp the passport.  At some point, they thought they could just pay a fine and they would let them transit.  That turned out not to be the case.  They did tell them they could leave if they agreed to go on a list that would never allow them back in the country.  Both guys didn't want to be on that kind of list.  Finally, the Port police wrote them a letter that they said would work with the airport police.  It was a letter saying that they had, in fact, disembarked from the ship, on the 22nd.  WRONG!  When they went back to the airport, the  passport control authorities still said no, the letter didn't work.  The gentleman from Sea Song who was assisting the guys, had a lengthy discussion with the man in charge.  Both of the two police forces were in "opposite corners!"  It looked like the guys were caught in a never ending circle with both police sides telling the other side "no!"  Finally, the Sea Song rep told the airport police that the guys had Mary's luggage and that they had all her medications with them. He told the authorities that she was 87 and needed her medication or she'd die. With that note, the guy said "Ok, go to passport control 14 and have him call me". So off they go.  When they get to number 14, the policeman takes Trey's passport and begins to very slowly thumb through the pages from front to back.  He finally looks at Trey and says: "There's no entry stamp."  Trey says: "Yes, I know.  That's why you are to call this number ". The policeman  calls but looks very unhappy.  He hangs up,the phone and starts thumbing through the passport again- slowly, page by page.  Trey said even the guy from Sea Song who was watching looked apprehensive because if this didn't work I don't think anyone knew what the next step would be!  FINALLY, the guy stamped the exit Page and gave Trey back his passport.  He followed suit with Bill.  Two GIANT sighs of relief!  They proceeded to the waiting area and got on the plane!  YEA!!!!!!!  So many thank you's  to the consummate professionals at Sea Song and Arlene Feen at Pro Travel who had a sleepless night getting the whole situation sorted!

We are now thoroughly enjoying a relaxing day in London.  Tomorrow is the Miami Dolphin/Oakland Raider football game at Wembly Stadium!  It will be packed!  A sold out venue! Home our Dolphins "right their ship" tomorrow.  We will be cheering them on!

Views from our suite at the Savoy. 

Duffy taking a "cat nap!"

Remember the Movie with Tom Hanks, Lost in America? Bill and Trey Have A Turkish version of this event !

First, let me catch you up on our last two days in Istanbul!  I didn't blog on the 24th because we were gone all day and I had to pack!  But, we had a lovely day.  Our first stop was the largest Turkey naval museum where we saw many beautiful boats that carried the  Sultans on the Bosphorus.  We even saw the actual chain which was stretched across the narrow "Golden Horn" on the Bosphorus, to keep the invading Ottomans from sailing into the inlet of the Roman controlled Constantiople in 1453.  The Ottomans defeated the Romans because they invented cannon balls and were knocking holes in the defensive walls around the city.  However, the Romans were quickly repairing the walls so the Ottomans needed to sail down the Golden Horn with their ships.  But the Romans had stretched a chain across this narrow inlet.  Overnight, the Ottomans took their ships up on land and carried them over to the other side of the chain and continued their successful invasion and the eventual fall of Constantinople.

After the museum, we had a visit to the amazing Grand Bazaar.   It is the oldest and largest bazaar in Turkey with over 4000 shops. Found a few things I was looking for, but mostly just enjoyed the sights and sounds of this exotic ancient shopping center.  We met a famous gentleman, called "the Calligrapher" who does the most amazing art and calligraphy on, of all things, dried dieffenbachia leaves.  Many celebrities have samples of his art- including the Clinton's, the Bush's and even Bill Gates!  His shop is the size of a large walk in closet!

Next stop was the amazing Suleymaniye Mosque, built by Sultan Suleiman I (Suleiman the Magnifiecent).  It is an architectural wonder.

After the Mosque, we made our way to the famous Topkapi Palace.  It is now a museum that houses a fabulous treasure trove of precious gifts from foreign heads of state to the Sultans over the years.  There  is also a gallery of the most amazing jewels.  The palace itself was built between 1464-1478 and was the residence of the Sultan, his court and his harem.  Over 4000 people lived in the Palace at one time.  We were able to see the solid gold cradle, two diamond encrusted gold candlesticks that are each about five feet tall and,  the piece de resistance, the 7th largest diamond in the world, the "Spoonmaker's Diamond."

On our last morning before we headed to the airport , we walked around the corner from our hotel,to visit the St.  Sophia.  This was a Byzantine church that was originally built  in the 6th century.  It was built by Constantine and it was said that under the foundation of the church there are religious relics of part of the crucifixion cross of Jesus and the Crown of Thorns.  When the church was destroyed, first by an earthquake and another time by fire, it was rebuilt in exactly the same spot because of the Holy ground beneath it.  It was a Christian church for over a thousand years.  After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, the church was converted to a Mosque and remained a Mosque for the next 500 years.  In the 1930's, the Sultan of Turkey dedicated the site as a Museum saying it was such an historic place it should not belong to any one  religion.  They began to remove the plaster that had been put over the Christian images when it became a Mosque, but they realized they were destroying much of what was under the plaster so they stopped.  The Museum is still under renovation.

But now begins the REAL story of the day!  The four of us arrived at the airport with our 10 pieces of luggage and proceeded straight to passport control and security.  Duffy and Trey were in one passport line, I was in another and Bill in a third.  I whizzed through and was waiting on the other side of security ...and I waited....and waited...  No one else came through.  I finally saw Duffy wandering around on the other side of security and waved her through the security line. When I asked her where Trey was, she said they took him away!  Heart stopping!  I kept waiting for Bill to show up but he never came through either. Now I'm thinking that Bill saw what happened to Trey and stayed on the other side to try to help.  I am running everywhere trying to find someone who could speak English that would help me find out what happened.  No one admitted to English except the man at the Information desk. He paged Trey and Bill but that was all.  I finally was sent to a policewoman who let me go back through security to talk to the passport officers.  I went back to the line Trey had been in but that officer was gone and the guy next to him had no idea what I was saying or talking about.  Finally, I spotted Bill on the other side so now we're yelling across the airport.  Bill tells me they won't let he or Trey through because their passports didn't have an entry stamp!  The police  kept saying they had to go back to the Port and get their entry stamp!  Thus began the nightmare!  Bill yells to me that Trey is on the other side of security with an escort to give us Duffy's passport and boarding pass, so I go running back to find Trey.  There are a LOT of people on the other side  and it took quite a while to locate Trey. But, I retrieved Duffy's passport and boarding card and kissed him goodbye as he was escorted back!  

The MAGNIFICENT Arlene Feen with Pro Travel and Karen from Sea Song Tours are now working on the problem.  At first, Oceania was going to fax a letter saying the guys were indeed passengers that had been on the ship and disembarked.  That was going to be enough to get their entry stamp.  Turns out that couldn't be accomplished right away.  The police were still insisting they had to go back to the port, but the ship had sailed 3 days earlier!  The boys missed our flight and spent the night at the airport hotel where, I'm told, every time a plane took off, their room shook!  The plan was a wonderful person from Sea Song was to take the boys back to the port this morning  for their stamp.  It seems they thought the police could look at video of the disembarking passengers and that after they would see Bill and Trey, they would stamp their entry.  Turns out the video was erased!  After that didn't didn't work, I'm not sure what took place except for a LOT of paperwork and negotiations!  Also, Bill was the only one who had his bag!  They just pulled the last four bags we had checked off the plane!  Duffy was ok because she had two of her suitcases and I had her medications.  Poor Trey had no suitcases and I had a suitcase with all the summer things and  dressy things from the ship, but no makeup, hair brush, warm clothes or any of my electronics to charge my phone or iPad!  But Duffy and I arrived safely and are lodged in a magnificent suite at the Savoy!  Grant arrived this morning and is napping and Arlene has purchased two new air tickets to get Bill and Trey out of Istanbul  and onto London.  As I type this they should be (I hope!) on board the plane!  This really had the feel of the Tom Hanks movie "Lost in America".  It was about a man who spoke no English and came to New York and couldn't get out of the airport because of a clerical paperwork error.  He ended up living  at the airport for a couple of months while he waited for the government to fix his paperwork issue!  I'm sure I will learn more when the guys get here, but oh my goodness.... A family story for the ages!  My new heroines are Arlene Feen and Karen, the owner of Sea Song tours who stayed up all night trying to get this issue resolved!  We are so grateful to these two VERY accomplished professionals.

PS. I almost forgot!  After Duffy and I finally fell into bed around midnight last night, the fire alarm went off TWICE!  All I could was laugh!  A perfect ending to the craziest of days. Fortunately, the alarms were false and we did NOT have to evacuate!

In the Naval Museum.

Some of the Sultans' boats.  

Inside the Suleymaniye Mosque.

Five hundred year old Armenian Bible we saw in the Calligrapher's shop!

The tree was planted when the Mosque was  built.

Shopping in the Grand Bazaar.

Entrance to Topkapi Palace.

Entrance to the Palace..

Now THIS is a big sycamore tree!

They say this May be the oldest door in the world..

Blue Mosque is behind me.

Famous shopping street!

We ducked into this old Hotel where Agatha Christie stayed for four months when she wrote Murder On The Orient Express.  It is quite close to the Orient Express Train Station which is currently being renovated.

View from our suite at the Savoy which the boys will soon be able to see!

More tomorrow when I get further "juicy details"!

A VERY WINDY and overcast day in Istanbul - tour of Museum of Chora

The weather today was a bit off and on  -- threat of rain and then sun!  Sort of like Florida! :). Temperatures remained mild, but it is supposed to be 10 degrees cooler tomorrow, but lots of sun.

We had a lazy morning and didn't meet our expert guide, Evren Bozan, guide until 1:00 pm.  We decided to leave Mary behind today.  She wanted to wash her hair and she a bit of a bad tummy earlier.  She is absolutely fine now, so I suspect her system was not used to something she ate.  She seems 100% now.  

We actually met Karen from Sea Song, our local tourist company.  We told her how much we are enjoying everything she has put together for us!  Her guide choices have been the best!  All of our guides have been outstanding!  Each one is so knowledgeable and explains history to us so well!  Thank you to ALL our excellent guides!

Bill, Trey and I then had a quick round trip journey from Europe to Asia and back!  We drove over the very long bridge from the European side to,the Asian side where we could view the wider streets, newer residences and much lusher vegetation.  We did take a photo of a Sultans Palce  (the Giragan Palace)  which is now part of the Kapinski Hotel chain.  This was interesting to us, because in 1910, there was a fire at the Palace.  Bill's grandfather was stationed here at the time and his ship and men helped fight the fire at the Sultan's Palace. The Sultan awarded Captain Isaac Dortch (Mary's father) a medal for helping put out the fire!  It is the building with the green roof on the left side in the photo below. 

After this, we made our way to the Museum of Chora.  The original church existed from the 4th or 6th century (there is a disagreement among historians which century is correct).  However, inside this small church, there are amazing mosaics that were done in the 1300's. The mosaics are in marvelous shape and detail the story of the Virgin Mary's parents and the story of her life.  

Mary's father was named Joachim and her mother was Ann.  Joachim was not allowed in the Temple because he had no child with his wife, Ann.  He went into the  mountains and prayed to God for a child.  His wife then becomes pregnant with the Virgin Mary.  Joachim promised that he would leave his child in the temple if he had one.  Thus, when Mary was very young, he presented her to the high priest, Zachariah, at the Temple.  Mary was a good and faithful servant, as well as a beautiful young woman.  Zachariah was in charge of deciding who her husband would be.  He put out a call for the bachelors and many applied to be Mary's husband.  There were so many that he collected the staffs of the men, placed them on an alter and prayed to God to give him a sign of who he should chose to be Mary's husband.  The next day, one of the staffs had green leaves growing from it - a sign from God.  Zachariah held up the staff and asked who owned that staff, and of course it was Joseph.  

Mary's family tree surrounds her on the mosaic dome of this ceiling in the church.

Joachim praying for a child in the bushes. 

Celebrating with his wife, Ann, who is pregnant with Mary.

Ann giving birth to the Virgin Mary.

Mary is born..

Ann and Joachim celebrating the birth of their child.

Presenting the very young Mary to Zachariah at the Temple.

Joseph claiming his staff that was the miracle of leaves springing from it as a sign God has chosen him to be Mary's husband.

Joseph leaves his wife to go conduct business. He is gone 6 months.  When he returns, Mary is pregnant with the Son of God.  He is angry and confused at first, but an Angel comes to Joseph and says yes, truly Mary will have a child who is the son of God.

Mary and Joseph must travel to Bethlehem for the census.

The birth of Jesus.

The three Magi who followed the star to the birthplace of the Son of God.

There are many mosaics of the miracles performed by Christ.  

This church fell under Muslim control for a short while and because no images are allowed in a Mosque, they covered the Mosaics with wood or tapestries.  The Church was later restored by Theodore Metochites who accumulated great wealth as the Treasurer of the City during the Byzantine period.  When he eventually ran out of money for the Mosaics, he used plaster, that when wet, would have the different colors infused into it so that the paint was deeply absorbed by the plaster which has allowed it be so well preserved.

This is one of the well preserved frescoes showing Christ after his resurrection pulling Adam and Eve from hell.

A few additional photos from Cappadocia

The Hotel. 

Trey and their great guide.

Inside the home of a gentleman who still lives in Cappadocia.

Overlooking Pigeon Valley.  There are hundreds of pigeon roostes here because they harvest the pigeon poop for fertilizer!