Return to Chicago, saying goodbye to a beautiful city

Saturday, May 14 - Goodbye to Turkey            

Early morning coffee at Sultanahmet Square looking at the Blue Mosque

The municipal symbol of Istanbul - reminds me of a welcoming hand

Michael's always happiest after his morning espresso

We awoke to a beautiful, sunny morning; the shipping traffic on the Sea of Marmara was already busy. We walked to Dervish café across from the Blue Mosque for breakfast coffee – cappuccino and espresso – and bought some Kek (cake – cinnamon roll) for 3TL.  

We returned to the hotel to relax and get ready for our trip back.  I had a last cup of tea in the courtyard while waiting for Muammer, who would drive us to the airport at 11for our 2:20 PM flight.  Muammer arrived as  expected and he joined me for our last tea in Istanbul, and off we went.  He dropped us at the departure area and we checked in with 4 bags – including 10 packages of Turkish delights, 6 Izmir tiles to become a table, 8 towels and a dozen new books.

Roses and capitals in the garden of the Great Palace Mosaic museum

Cell phone and coffee - the perfect accessories for my guy.

A final Turkish tea with Muammer - we are so thankful that he helped arrange such a beautiful vacation

My last goodbye to the city walls of Istanbul

Heading to Ataturk airport for our departure to home

Once we checked in for the flight, we went to wait in the TKA business class lounge.  The Turkish Airlines gate attendant told us it is the best in Europe, and I believe it.  It has two floors, a pool table and a library, a cinema, innumerable food stations, including a to-your-order chef.  Impressive marble and mirrored bathrooms.  The hour we had to wait before boarding passed quickly indeed.

Turkish Airlines most amazing lounge in Ataturk airport

A pool table and a library

An olive bar, among the many food and drink stations

Even the bathrooms are fancy!

Getting ready to board for Sikago

 Right after departure, they served a lunch of appetizers, roasted pumpkin soup (yum) spinach ravioli (overcooked) and desserts, tea. Ironically, right after the meal they then turned off all lights and asked that all windows blinds be closed.  I didn’t understand why everyone would want to go to sleep – it was only 4 PM in Turkey and 8 AM in Chicago. They kept the plane  dark for 6 or 7 hours of the 10 hour flight. We were flying over interesting places:  Bulgaria, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, northern Canada and finally Michigan (hello John!). 

I spent the flight reading and writing.  One nice aspect of the flight was the ability to connect with the internet, without charge, in business class.  We had a second meal about 2 hours before the flight was over; cold meze and Turkish dolma (meat stuffed eggplant and zucchini.  We were treated to a panoramic view of the downtown Chicago skyline on our approach into O'Hare.

One of our two chefs on board the flight

Ice fields and tundra over northern Canada

Hello Chicago - good to be home!

We landed by 6 PM, were home by 7 and unpacked by 8.  I was ready for bed – Mike did a load of laundry to be ready to travel to Madison tomorrow to see Charlie and Caleb!  Can’t wait.