29 October

Another day with a difference – I awoke at 0515 with prayers amplified through the town and my room – after a noisy night with traffic just outside and sirens going just as I dropped off to sleep. SO I got up finally and after preparations was down ready for breakfast at 0630. I had collected some of my breakfast and was sitting opposite Phyllis (an early riser, who had nearly finished hers) and had gone back for the main course when there was a drama. Pat, a lady from England and Ray, her husband, had just walked into the restaurant when Pat collapsed at the breakfast buffet. Fortunately Ray was able to soften her fall and then he and I got her up into a chair. In another fortunate coincidence, another bystander was a Californian doctor (on another tour). She checked her to make sure there was nothing life-threatening and then Pat was taken to the Medical Park (just opposite) by wheelchair. There was nothing we could do, so we all continued to have breakfast and await the results of whatever was happening.
I rang Aran but he had already been told and was aware of what was happening. I was back to my room by 0720, checked email for one last time and found that Scott had emailed me a picture of a carpet I had bought in Istanbul and was waiting to be sent to Australia. That was correct, so that was one more thing off my mind.
At 0750 I was down at the bus and no-one was certain what was happening. Apparently the test results were due back by 0800 and at that time the decision would be made. A delay of an hour was acceptable, but beyond that other arrangements would have to be made. As it turned out, Pat was back on the bus before 0830 and we left then, not too late because we missed the early morning traffic rush (and missed the traffic in Istanbul later because of the holiday).
We had a smooth run until we stopped for morning tea and one of our number discovered that the plastic waiter in our stop was wearing an Essendon Bombers cap! Talk about cheek!
Very soon after we caught a ferry to cut off about 120 kilometres of driving and that was a pleasant experience. It was a little brisk on deck but not bad. A Turkish student tried to engage some of us in conversation but it wasn’t very successful. About forty minutes after we got on, we were driving off and on the past leg of our driving, entering Istanbul.
We drove in over the Bosphorus Bridge and went around some sights before we stopped just outside the Hippodrome. Here we had a short session before breaking for lunch.
We were back together at 1330 and went for a short walk around the Hippodrome before we went into the Blue Mosque. After a talk and a look around, we then got back onto the bus and arrived at the hotel (after some very close calls in the narrow streets) about 1445. We unloaded and got our leys, settled into our rooms and then at 1515 the group for the Bosphorus cruise headed out. I went to the lobby to process my photos, post them and burn some DVDs for the other tour members (and our guide and driver).
My laptop remembered the password and there was another person down there also using a Mac. During the evening I burned quite a few, sent out emails to other members and chatted to people who had not gone on the cruise, then later to people who were gong out for the evening activity. After some animated conversations, I went off to bed (and realised after going to bed I had left the DVDs down in the lobby, but another member had taken them for safekeeping – whew!) and slept well after doing the washing (but not the shirts, as I had run out of hangers).