Turkey Day 3 Bilkent, Ankara Turkey

I woke about 5. Phil and I had boiled eggs and toast from over the propane stove flame. We walked over to the conference venue by going uphill this time. I picked up my registration materials and true to my promise to him, came right back without chatting much. It was a gorgeous walk. But we tried the bus coming back. It was good and we saw a lot of the campus

The Buteras slept late – Gwyneth was the first up. We decided to check out the bus to town. We had to wait nearly 45 minutes – a bit long for Chloe. But the bus was a coach and worth the wait. It left us off at Tunis, but we didn’t know what that was. Turns out it was a street that parallels the main avenue, Ataturk. We got a map from the Midas hotel and found lunch at Simit Sarayı where we all had sandwiches.

We walked up Ataturk Boulevard and through the flower market before heading back to Tunus and the bus. I made grilled cheese sandwiches for our supper. Phil, Rob, Chloe and I went for a walk afterwards.

Turkey Day 2 -- On the rails and Bilkent (Ankara)

We slept to the steady bump, bump of the train headed into the night. Phil and I woke fairly early. The scenery was beautiful – lots of farm land and then rocky hills.




Rob and the girls joined us for breakfast in the dining car. We tried both kinds of tea – Turkish tea (Çay Aroması) and regular tea (Çay). We also got one Turkish breakfast to share – egg, cheese, olives, and bread.



We were greeted at the train station in Ankara by a driver from the ITiCSE conference who took us to our apartment.



A kind gentleman carried my bag up the stairs to the third floor and we settled in. Our refrigerators were stocked with milk, bread, cheese, juice, olives and jams!



As is our usual traveling mode, we explored the area. We are a short downhill walk to a large shopping mall complete with Marks and Spencer as well as a huge grocery (Real), rather like a super Wal-Mart. We ran into Alison Young and Tony Clear who were also shopping, We bought a ton of food and us girls took a cab with the groceries back up the hill, while Phil and Rob walked. We had snacks and then rested a bit. Small catastrophe – I succeeded in opening a bottle of red wine without a corkscrew but sprayed myself and the kitchen with red wine, including the white painted wall and the grout behind the sink!

I walked down to the shopping area and took a cab to the conference venue, the Bilkent Hotel for the meeting of the working group leaders. This allowed me to scope out the area there. One of the Bilkent professors, an American named Lori, dropped me off at the shopping center where I picked up a couple of things, including a corkscrew!


I cooked dinner – tortellini with tomato sauce and salad. Camille had a slight fever, but Tylenol, juice and a nap revived her. We ate, and then turned in for the night.

See pictures

Turkey Trip Day 1 Berkely, California to Istanbul

The plane from Chicago was two hours late landing, so I barely had time to get to my next plane to Istanbul. It took a while to go through security. And then it was way past time to board. I couldn't find a departures board until I went downstairs. Then I say that plane was delayed. I checked my email and then ran into Kate Sanders and Robert McCartney who were headed to Stockholm. We had a good conversation about SIGCSE. When I finally boarded my plane, it was more than an hour late. I sat right behind Monica Gill and Michael Kolling! Michael helped me with my bag at both ends of the trip which was lovely. I ate the lamb casserole and lunch and then slept the whole way.


Immigration was very frustrating. Monica and I needed visas, and didn’t know we had to go get them in a separate line until we had waited 15 minutes in the passport line. Getting the visa was just paying $20 and a person pasted the stamp in my passport. They didn’t even enter any info from my passport so the transaction probably took less than 5 seconds. Once again we had to stand in the long passport line.

Gwyneth, through a series of text message exchanges, convinced me to take the Metro to the tram to the ferry. Everything worked fine. I was able to get money from the ATM, and an attendant helped me get my tokens for the Metro and tram. My only confusion was in getting the correct train when I got off the Metro. But it was fun to ride the tram and see the sites of Istanbul. The train went right past Topkapi and the Blue Mosque. I crossed the bridge on the Golden Horn and got off immediately spying Phil’s robin’s egg blue shirt. I was very happy! Gwyneth had come with him and took my bag to where Rob and the girls were waiting. We just missed the ferry to Haydarpa which was a good thing because we were confused about the tokens for the ferry because they were different from the ones for the metro.

The girls wanted the top level on the ferry to the train station where the view looking back at the Europe side was super. I got my Bosporus cruise!



We ate dinner at the railroad station. The waiter was super nice and we chose a whole bunch of mezes (appetizers). Phil and Rob each had a grill main dish – Rob hat kofta (meatballs) and Phil had kebobs (lamb) but they both got lightly grilled tomatoes, onions and hot green peppers plus macaroni and French fries! Rob tried raki and Phil tasted his.



We found out sleeping car rooms without a hitch> The girls loved the bunks.

Winter Trips

So many trips and so few posts! Catching up -- Christmas Day we converged on my brother in Steamboat Springs, CO.

From Christmas 2009

We were fortunate to house sit in a beautiful place, and then enjoyed tons of family time -- most dinners included about 24 relatives.

Elk (on way to Strawberry Park),geocaching,Chloe sledding,x-country(Jim, Keller, Marty, Rob),more sledding, Suze,Phil

We got home on the night of December 30 and at 5 am on December 31, I began the drive to the Georgia cabin for New Year's Eve with Gwyneth, Rob and the girls.

We had our standard brownie and champagne celebration with very sleepy people and then opened gifts the next day.

`We had a great day trip to North Carolina to the John Campbell Folk School and the Kelischek Musical Instrument Craft Shop.

A beautiful snow storm in the Southeast kept me in Georgia longer than I would have liked, but it was lovely to look at and fun to play in!

I finished my first week of classes at Southwestern and immediately boarded a plane for Atlanta where I was met by Gwyneth and the girls. We took off for a 7 hour drive to Myrtle Beach and a destination belated birthday party for Camille at MagiQuest. We had a beautiful hotel room on the ocean and a great time.

Plus I got to visit with my friends from Peekskill--Bill and Ellie, who now live in North Carolina near Myrtle Beach.

I am now preparing for a three day trip to Marina del Rey, California. Thankfully Phil holds down the fort and cares for the cats!

Tuba Christmas 2009

Today marks the second Tuba Christmas that I participated in after not playing a baritone (well, it was a euphonium this time) for 40 years. I borrowed one from Southwestern and practiced in the breezeway between the garage and the house to minimize the noise for Phil and the neighbors!



I had my debut last Saturday (the Saturday after Thanksgiving) in Blue Ridge, GA where we had spent our 10th Thanksgiving since acquiring our mountain retreat cabin.



The weather was bitterly cold and windy in Texas compared with last week's warm and sunny weather in Georgia. Thanks to Phil, Susannah and Suze's Lhaso Apso, Duncan for coming to both concerts!

I checked my diary and see that we went to a Tuba Christmas on December 21, 1975 at Rockefeller Center. In looking this up I found December 12, 1975 quote from Gwyneth, who was in Montessori school, to Phil:
"On Monday I have dancing; Tuesday is cub scout meeting at Carolyn's; Wednesday I have singing; Thursday I have dancing; Friday Mommy comes; Saturday Emergency is on; and Sunday we take Mommy to the train.
Everybody doesn't have an exciting life like I have."

2009-11-1 Hong Kong to home

We tried looking for the geocache we were unable to find but still couldn’t find the one by the ferry building. We got breakfast at the Starbucks in the cultural center and sat on the steps watching a Tai Chi class.

Then we walked along the Tsim Sha Tsui water front promenade which included a parade of Hong Kong movie star hand prints in the paving stones. We also walked through the 1881 shopping area which was an old marine police headquarter transformed into high end shops and restaurants.

We finished our packing and checked out of the hotel but stored our bags.

We tried to go gift shopping but were overwhelmed by too expensive stuff and men asking Phil if he wanted a tailor made suit. We gave up and took a taxi to the train station and were able to check into the airline at the train station before going to the airport. We didn’t have to lug our bags to the airport.

We spent the rest of our Hong Kong money at the airport and had lunch in the first class lounge. It was very nce.

The Cathay Pacific plane was wonderful. Out first class pods were decorated with fresh flowers. The food was unbelievable. The service was over the top. Phil and I were able to sit side by side in his seat with plenty of room. For dinner I sat in the chair in the front of his pod and they expanded the tray to make a rather large table which they covered with a linen cloth. First course caviar, then Caesar salad. I had veal and Phil had port. He had a cheese course and then dessert.

I let them make up my pod into a bed. Phil stayed in his pod and tried to watch a movie, but kept dozing. When I woke up it was 30 minutes before landing in San Francisco. We had to walk with our luggage a very long way before re-checking it. We had almost 4 hours to sit in the admiral’s club before taking off for LA. I got off the plane but Phil stayed on before it took off for Austin.

Another meal on the plane to Austin and when we landed our luggage was the first off. We got to the Fast Park bus and quickly to our ar. When we got home we discovered that the bus driver ahd given us the wrong bag. We called Fast Park and he said we could get ours right away or in the morning. There was nothing we needed and we were tired so we elected to wait.

Hong Kong

We awoke rather early and asked at the desk for an ATM. There was one just across the street near where we had entered the hotel from the bus. Next to it was another Starbucks where we got coffee and an egg white sandwich for breakfast which we ate in our room.

We went out to find a geocache and figure out the ferries to Hong Kong. After finding the cache, we took the GPS back to our room and set off for Victoria Peak. We could ride the Star Ferry for free because we are senior citizens. On the Hong Kong side we walked around forever trying to find where to buy an “Octopus card” which allowed us to ride all the mass transit in Hong Kong once we loaded it with money. It was hot and we couldn’t understand the people very well, but eventually went to a mall where the train station was, and got our cards. Then back to near the ferry landing to get a bus to the Peak Tram which took us to the top of the mountain where there were tons of shops and a viewing place. I had read about a trail at the top. Our biggest problem was locating the i. It wasn’t marked, and we felt like idiots when we realized it was a tram car sitting in the middle of the plaza.

The nice people in the information tram told us how to find the trail and gave us a map. The paved path took us all around the mountain for fabulous views and interesting signs about the flora, fauna and history. Since it was a Sunday where were lots of people out for a stroll. It was quite hot when we got back to the cable car plaza. We ate lunch at MacDonalds with a fabulous view. Then we found some gourmet groceries at the shopping on the top of the mountain and got our favorite picnic food of bread, cheese and wine to go with the fruit that had been supplied in our hotel room.


After taking the Tram back down to the bus and then the ferry, we dropped our purchases in the room and headed up to yet another park and walked along the shopping street and into the Temple Street night market which was for the locals. We were amazed by all the stores selling expensive watches, purses and electronics.