Adaline and I shared a room and one of the first things I learned about said room was that the overhead light did not work very well. Basically it had a sensor in it and would only turn on if there was another light present, meaning if it was dark it would not turn on. I quickly asked why she had not bought a lamp; she responded that she had not thought of that. I then accused her of being a boy and made us go lamp shopping.
Here is the lighting section at a home department store in the mall. Probably not as exotic as you would have expected.
Here is our new green lamp! It was the cheapest. The lamp did not do such a good job of lighting the entire room; but what it did do is provide enough light that the overhead light would now turn on. Mission accomplished!
Adaline is a bit of a coffee addict so when we walked by 'Willy Wonder's' coffee shop there was no question as to whether to go in or not. I ordered this hot chocolate which was probably the best hot chocolate I have ever had. I think it was closer to drinking fudge than milk.
The mall also had this great Turkish delight shop. With my fond memories of Istanbul I made us go in and buy some more delicious sweets.
Time for Adaline to get to work! Look at her almost breaking a sweat!
Even I got sucked into helping out.
Remember all that flat bread from Kebabistan? Well we spread butter, cinnamon, and sugar on it and then popped it into the oven. Stephanie and Aliah approve- it was delicious.
We also did a big outing to the grocery store. Lexis went to Preschool for half the day, then usually Troy and Stephanie would pick her up and take her out to lunch. This is why most of the pictures just have the baby.
Half this aisle is cooking oil, look at the bottom shelf: you can buy gallon size quantities.
This is all bulgar!
Now it is time for the sad part of the trip- I came down with a cold very soon after I arrived. Cold medication is not sold in grocery stores, you have to go to a specialized pharmacy. (This is just like how it is in Germany.) I was able to go in and charade to the nice man my symptoms and buy some cold medicine. Adaline is posing quite nicely for me after my big purchase. A box of cold medicine that had 20 pills cost me about 1 Euro. Things are very cheap if you are a westerner in Turkey.
We walked by this mosque being built / renovated.
During the height of my cold I was not doing well. After our trip out I promptly took some of my medicine and took a nap. I woke up to discover Adaline had made these cinnamon rolls and a delicious dinner for everyone. She was also delivering me tea and hot chocolate in bed. Adaline to the rescue!
I thought Mr. Muscle was funny. I think they just gave Mr. Clean some hair and
a darker complexion. Mutfak is Turkish for kitchen.
A bit later in the trip, when I had recovered some from my cold, we went to the bigger mall. (Adaline wanted to show me a delicious bakery- are you seeing a trend to our time together? Desserts are an essential part of our time together in Corvallis as well.)
Here is the public tram we took to get to Kent Plaza.
This could be a mall in the USA.
We made it to the dessert shop!
Here are our delicious cookies that did not make it home.
We spent some time playing with the girls outside. Stephanie, Lexis and Aliah are dancing.
While they danced we capitalized on this rare opportunity
to get some quality teeter-tottering in.
A few months before I came to Turkey I was skyping with Adaline and I met Lexis. She was very quiet and didn't say much but Adaline told me she loves Candy Land. I asked her if she would play with me when I came to visit and she ran away from the screen. On day two of my stay she asked me if I remembered telling her I would play Candy Land with her. I played several games with her over the course of my stay.
Whenever she noticed me taking pictures this is what she would do.
Consequently I don't have a good picture of Lexis.
On my last night in Turkey Adaline and I went to this 5 star hotel to eat at their buffet.
It was fun and delicious!
No Allison + Adaline trip is complete without desserts!
The next day I had a long travel itinerary of car, train, bus, plane, subway, train, and a walk home from the train station at 12:30 AM to top it off. The long travel was totally worth it though. I had a great time in Turkey and was only sorry I could not stay longer.
If you too are wishing for more Turkey check out Adaline's blog about her stay in Konya! You will also be able to see a decent picture of Lexis- something I did not manage. Probably a picture of Troy as well- something else I somehow failed to do. http://theturkeytrot.blogspot.com.tr/
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