Istanbul, so beautiful...and showers too.

We dropped off the rental car in Izmir this morning--it was a little filthy after transporting the picnic, etc. but we didn't feel too badly as the owner charged us a really high fee for picking up the car, saying that's how much it would cost to send someone to pick it up, and then he showed up himself to pick up the car.
We also barely made our plane as the airline mysteriously changed the takeoff time from 11am to 10:20. Aside from that, Turkish Airlines is great--lots of space between seats, delicious snacks and drinks even if the flight is only an hour and very friendly flight attendants. We are so used to mediocrity we don't even know what we are missing.
Another interesting data point about Turkey--in the us when you get on a plane with a baby, people generally look annoyed or look away, hoping you won't sit near them. We got on the plane late and everyone looked ecstatic to see Mina, people were cooing and making funny faces and engaging her all around us. The flight attendants grabbed her and walked up and down the aisle, chatting and playing with her. Turkish people love the babies. Of course she was almost attacked by a big group of Japanese ladies in Istanbul--only the arrival of our luggage saved her from being carried off, so maybe it's just Americans who aren't as enthused with babies.
We had a third breakfast of the day after we arrived at Olga and Mustafa's apartment in Istanbul. All three were different and Turkish breakfast is delicious enough to eat 3 times a day.
Mina tested out sucking directly on the bottled water spout which I thought was a little disgusting but luckily our hosts have a great sense of humor and thought she was hilarious. Mina was highly entertained by both if them.
We did some walking around Istanbul, had coffee in the beautiful garden of the archeological museum and finished off with su buregi and olive oil baklava, 2 of my favorites. Olive oil baklava doesn't sound like it will taste better than butter baklava but it is truly amazing. Su buregi is available in new york but all the versions I've had just make me want the real thing more. It's kind if like lasagna with only a little cheese in it, and not stretchy cheese but more of a not-so-salty feta type, and then a layer of pastry on top. I warned K that we may have to eat burek every day since we're only here for 3 days.