Time flies (pardon the pun)

Another airport blog. We are leaving Rome and heading to Paris shortly. Craig is a couple of days behind on his blog which is indicative of all we have seen and his detail orientation! He has also discovered a new phone app for photos which may be delaying the upload?! I can't imagine how many pictures we've taken but it must be close to 10,000. Will be a lot for (Craig) us to wade through when we are home. 

First of all, let me document the Turkish bath experience. Not as luxurious as Craig describes when you have two nervous pre-teen/teens with you. We chose the bath primarily due to the female attendants and the fact that in the brochure, the women are wearing bottoms and tops. Turns out that was only for the brochure. Imagine the horror when, despite my multiple assurances, the girls opened up their little package and found bikini BOTTOMS. Where are the tops??? Clearly MY fault as is pretty much everything with daughters. Lol. Robin got over it quickly but Abby looked horrified. No problem I said, and rigged up a towel into a nice top. I'm laughing thinking about their faces when we entered a very busy bath...was very humid and there were about 8 women lying half naked on marble, or being rubbed down by "grandmas" (they were probably in their fifties) in black bikinis. We were able to communicate well enough with gestures to allow the girls to maintain privacy while being scrubbed and order was restored. Patted myself on the back as we avoided a full scale melt down. Was an interesting cultural experience but not something the 3 Tyndall girls are racing back to do! 

So we said good bye to Turkey and really, with only the fondest memories. While the election on our last day and the bombing in Ankara on October 10th had been on my mind while we were in Istanbul, I was able to completely relax outside the city and enjoy all that Turkey has to offer. The Turkish hospitality was amazing...which brings me to Rome...

We've just completed four days in Rome and seeing the looks on the girls faces while in the taxi from the airport, made me want to cry. They were so excited! Robin said that I shouldn't think she wasn't grateful because she was quiet, but that she was speechless as she had been waiting for this part of the trip for so long. We all love cities. There's an energy about a big, walkable city and all four of us love it. The time went by quickly and I think we made the most of our time there. We didn't take in every historical site, but we are also a bit tired I think although Craig would never admit it.  The purpose of this leg was to give the kids a sample of these 3 beautiful cities which we have been fortunate enough to re-visit. No doubt they will be back on their own someday.  

With the help of a little shopping, the kids have transformed their look into something more 'European'...beanies and infinity scarves. Their words, not mine. 

In my opinion, and in general only, the Italian hospitality paled in comparison to Turkish, Nepalese, Indian, Sri Lankan and pretty much every other country we've been to. We met nice people of course, but the shopping experience was a little snooty for my taste. Didn't stop me from buying though. 

I'm excited to see the girls reactions when they see the Eiffel Tower. We have 4 nights in Paris, then 3 nights in London with only 2.5 days to explore London, we will likely have very long days to get in as many experiences as we can. We will just have to come back! A beintot!