Blog 7.5.14

Greetings from Yorkshire
What a wonderful couple of weeks it has been travelling to the UK. We arrived last night from Brussels and we gave spent the day setting up bank accounts, phones etc. Spring is in full blossom and it's all good.

Sydney turned on a day with 30 degrees and we swam at one of the harbour beaches. The rest of the time we caught up with what is going on in the lives of our nieces and nephews, went on some of the great walks around Manly and explored some yummy restaurants. We were wonderfully looked after by Colin's sister.

Istanbul was everything we remembered with a type of energy that is hard to describe. We met up with our guide from 2 years ago and spent the day together. Ali is guiding around Istanbul now that he  and his wife have a baby and he wanted to refresh his memory of some of the museums so that was great for us.  A high light was seeing the oldest recorded peace treaty, Kaddesh, between the Egyptians and the Hittites in 1200s BC. The same language could be used today. Colin wanted to buy a cymbal for his drum set and Ali was a great help in finding the area on the Galata side where all the music shops were and doing the negotiation. We indulged in a Turkish bath at one of the oldest hamams, Cagaloglu. It was different from our one on the last trip and the surroundings were amazing. There were separate areas for men and women and apparently in the 1700s a man could be put to death if he entered the women's baths. The marble slab you lie on could take 20 people and you look up into a huge dome. Takes your mind off the fact that you are naked with all these strangers!

Sarah met us at Brussels airport and as we had not seen her for over a year we had a great few days catching up. She and boyfriend Matty are sharing this large apartment fairly close to the centre of Brussels. The other flatmates are from Morocco, Italy and Belgium. It was not uncommon to hear people talking in French, Italian and English all in the same conversation. Fascinating. We got to see a rehearsal of a dance that Sarah is in and then they asked us for our feedback! So we did not expect to be experts on dance. Of course we explored the chocolate, beer and frites the city is famous for.

Soon serious campervan shopping will begin and the adventure continues.