Welcome to Science Jim on Tour!

Hi folks, welcome to the Science Jim and family travel blog. We're touring Turkey! Why Turkey?!?!? It has housed civilizations for over 6000 years!!! Have you heard of Troy...it's in Turkey! Constantinople...it's in Turkey! The eternal flame of Olympus...it's in Turkey! That's just for starters!

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Friday, September 23, 2011

Turkey Thoughts: Bunch of Nuggets

Here's a bunch of things that don't merit an entire post so I thought I'd just jot them down in one shot.

Smoking- Just about everyone smokes. I remember it used to be that way here too, so it was interesting to see the contrast. It really struck me how few folks still smoke here. Smoking is so rare here compared to Turkey.

Full Service Gas Stations - Really! They still exist! Most of the gas stations we saw were full service. Check oil, do the windows, the whole nine yards!

Can't Look Lost- Several times we stood on street corners looking confused, checking maps, reading books etc. Not for long though. Within a couple of minutes someone would wander over to us and ask us if we needed help. Sometimes the help was helpful, sometimes not so much, and sometimes it came with an invitation to see a carpet shop!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Turkey Thoughts: Games

Turks love games!! You was very common to see men sitting at tables in cafe's or coffee shops playing games. Two of the favorites were backgammon and okey. You are probably familiar with backgammon. Okey is basically the card game rummy but played with tiles instead of cards. If you've ever played RummyKub it's pretty much the same thing. They play all games fast. The dice, cards and tiles fly around the table!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Turkey Thoughts: Napkins

Turkey apparently hates napkins. Not quite sure what the deal is here but a real napkin was almost impossible to find. Even in the fanciest restaurants the only napkins were those tiny little things you find on tables in fast food places. Apparently, Turks are just very careful eaters!