A Visit From Mom and Dad (Turkey and Italy)

At our school.

In front of the Celcius Library at Ephesus.

My mom and dad arrived in Istanbul on Tuesday, April 5, in the early evening.  The bag they checked for us was lost, but they said it would be on the flight next day.  Anyways, it was good to have visitors again.  We came back to school to relax for the evening before going back to the airport at 5:30 am the next morning to catch a 6:30 am flight to Izmir.  Katie had to teach the rest of this week so she was unable to make the trip south with us.  After arriving in Izmir, we caught the train to Selcuk where we would be staying for the night.  We dropped off our bags at the hotel and the first stop after that was St. John's Basilica.  We only had one day to spend in Selcuk, which is really all you need to see everything.  Next we took a taxi to the top of the mountain to visit the house of the Virgin Mary.  My mom didn't really want to go, but I made her and she was glad I did.  She wasn't expecting an actual cave dwelling so she was pleasantly surprised.  After that we took the taxi back down the mountain and were able to start our trek through Ephesus.  They both thought it was awesome.  The day finished out with a quick stop at the Temple of Artemis and the Ephesus Museum before grabbing a late lunch.  We rested for a couple hours before heading to dinner and then went to bed really early since everyone was exhausted.  The next day we rode the train back to Izmir to fly back to Istanbul.

Katie and me with the Duomo in the background.

When we arrived in Istanbul we had to pick up the bag that finally arrived from Germany and take it with us into the city.  We stayed in the Galata district of Istanbul on Thursday night and headed back to the school on Friday afternoon.  While in Istanbul we did a lot of the tourist stuff....Underground Cistern, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, Grand Bazaar, Spice Market, Archeological Museum, Galata Tower and walked down Istiklal Street.  It wasn't that busy while we were at these places, but I still think it was way too many people for my mom and dad.  On Friday evening we just relaxed back at school since we were leaving for Italy the next day just before lunch.

Outside the train station in Venice.

We flew from Istanbul to Rome and then immediately rode the train to Florence (with a change at Rome Central).  Florence is where we would spend our first four nights, but it is also where my mom became sick on the first day.  There had been a lot going around at school the week before and I was just getting over it, so I'm sure it stemmed from that, but a little worse since she had flu like symptoms.  While in Florence we saw just about everything there.  By far, my favorite was the Statue of David, if we don't include the food.  During our stay in Florence we took a day trip to Venice which was very nice.  We were really lucky to have awesome weather for our entire trip, so that made things much more enjoyable.  Also, it happened to be Cultural Week, so all of the museums were free!

One of the many alleys in Venice.

After Florence we took the train back to Rome to spend our final three nights. After dropping our bags off at the hotel we walked to the Coliseum and walked around all of the ruins outside as well.  There are so many ruins that it took the entire afternoon to see them all.  We finished that first day with a trip to the Mamertime Prison where Peter and Paul were believed to have been held captive.  Over the next two days we visited the Pantheon, the Vatican (seeing the Sistine Chapel was pretty cool), Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and tons of churches.  After the Pantheon we noticed on the map my mom had that it said "World's Best Gelato".  I wanted to get some but no one else wanted any, but when we got there the place was packed and it looking incredible.  Everyone ended up getting a huge cone and it really was the best ice cream ever.  We even went out of our way the next day to go back again.  Over the course of the trip I think I had nine pizzas in seven days...they were amazing!  The food was incredible, but I felt bad that my mom wasn't able to enjoy much of it until almost the last day.  We flew back to Istanbul on Saturday and arrived back at school in the evening.  My mom and dad had to leave Sunday morning to fly home and it was back to normal life for Katie and I.  Katie had parent teacher conferences that afternoon and it was back to retirement for me...

It really was the best gelato in the world!

Trevi Fountain at night.

The Coliseum.