It has come to my attention that very often some of my plans, although well thought out beforehand, never come to fruition. This has been another city where my list of possibilities was greater than the list of accomplishments. Yesterday, our first day in Istanbul after disembarking the train, we spent the morning with the pharmacy and recuperation of our energy stockpiles. I had pre-purchased tickets to the Topkapi Palace prior to leaving home for about $60. This way we don't stand in any lines. The plan was to go there, Blue Mosque and the underground Basilica Cistern on that day. Because the Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays, we would do that on Monday prior to boarding the ship. We did see the Blue Mosque and the Cistern Sunday and walked around since the Mosque is closed on Mondays and we had our nice dinner.

Come Monday, we needed to get checked out early and get to the Topkopi Palace or the Bazaar early. That just wasn't happening. It was 11am before everything was downstairs ready to check out. Our buddy at the hotel said he would hold everything there for us and to go site seeing for a while. Mom went to the local bazaar and shopped but she wanted on the boat at 1pm, even though it doesn't sail until tomorrow. OK. Let's go to the Noordam. 20TL gets us there in a taxi driven by an off duty school teacher. Great tour on the way. I did all the jokes to Mom about "I don't see the ship. Maybe it wasn't today. Is this the right port?" Nothing worked since the driver kept interrupting saying "Oh no, I have been there many times today. It is over there. See it?" Thanks, buddy. You don't seem to get how our family works.

We get to the ship and within 40 minutes we our in our stateroom followed by our luggage. The cabin boy could barely lift it on the bed and commented. I say, " Listen, dude, I hauled those things from Paris!"

Showering, unpacking, eating, unpacking, eating and organizing consumed the rest of the day but now our suitcases were empty, our clothes organized in the closets and with one exception, all souvenirs intact. Yes, Nickole, the ball made it. It should be safe until the plane trip.

Mom had prime rib for dinner so she's feeling better. There were a number of days we never ate anything all day but some fruit. I'm ok with it but she needs to eat healthy and regularly. This will be better for her. She has a home now and gone is the vagabond lifestyle given to her for 2 1/2 weeks. She was a trooper and I can't believe all the things we did. Looking around the cruise ship today, I thing most of these people wouldn't have lasted three days with our itinerary. When we return and all the pictures, video and stories are revealed, she can be proud of her accomplishment. I'm just not sure she looks at it as an"accomplishment" yet. She will. She talks about the cats, fish, plants and her home and I know she misses them. No, she doesn't mention Russ, the ticket man.

So now the plan is to leave the ship tomorrow and go to the Grand Bazaar with 4000 stores and the Egyptian Spice Bazaar. I found today that the Topkopi Palace is closed on Tuesdays so my $60 worth of tickets are out. I'm going to have to push Mom to get out early as she is going to push me to get back to the ship early so it doesn't leave without her. This is where I say "What's that sound? Is that the ship horn? It can't be that time already. I thought we had another hour."

Mom makes some exclamation I can't repeat. That always cheers me up. Tomorrow I will load pictures up and send at the first opportunity.