Istanbul or Bust

Well, it was harder than we expected, but have arrived in our hotel room in Istanbul and we are safe and warm, so that is the most important news.  Unfortunately, Benjamin is not with us -- he is still in Tel Aviv because the Istanbul airport is basically closed due to snow.  We hope that he will be able to get here tomorrow, but we are not holding our breath.

The flight was uneventful, the food on Turkish Airways is a treat, and I managed to ignore the old lady behind me who was like a woodpecker all night long, jamming her fingers into the screen that was just behind my head.  I don't know what she was doing, but I meant to tell the flight crew to check that screen to see if is still worked.

A half hour before we were supposed to land, the pilot came on and said the airport was closed due to heavy snow and we were going to fly around for a while so they could figure out what to do.  The map on the big screen showed us looping around somewhere to the south and then eventually we got cleared to land.  He did an excellent job landing in bad visibility, and the passengers applauded. It took a long time to get things organized so we could get off the plane by going down a stairway in the blowing snow to get on a bus.

We kept thinking that we had cleared obstacles when more appeared.  First the long visa line.  Who knew we needed a visa?  Then the long wait for baggage.  After about four hours of hanging around by the baggage carousel with a dwindling crowd (including a mom with an amazingly patient baby), we gave up.  They have no idea where our baggage is.

Then we had to learn about turkish lira (because we have no Rebecca, I have to ask all the questions) and get some money and go in search of the Metro.  On the way there we decided we should take the taxi option (again channeling Rebecca).  It became clear that there is no such thing as plowing or treating roads -- there is just snow here.  We showed the taxi driver the address and off we went, with no common language.  He handed me his phone and indicated that I should put the number of our hotel in, and then he called for directions.

He was a good driver but conditions were bad.  He was good about getting out of a skid but one time we actually did make a full 360 spin in the middle of the road, with no damage to us or anything, and that made him a much more sober driver after that.

When we got to the narrow streets of what appeared to be the Old City, the driver indicated that he wouldn't be able to go all the way to the hotel and we would have to walk the last 100 meters (?) or minutes (?) or some walkable distance. We had no map and no sense of direction but we trudged uphill in the snow, following the general wave of his hand.  When we got to the street that we were looking for, the address of 26 was on a building that was not a hotel.  This is when Jon started to lose heart.  I channeled Rebecca again and plunged on down the hill (we both looked like we were covered in frosting) to a bakery that was still open at 10:30 at night.  We waited for the crowd ahead of us to buy their pastries and then I asked the clerk if he knew of a Hotel Oba.  He looked at us, grabbed a key, locked his bakery and headed back up the hill in front of us.  Delivered us straight to our door (no sign anywhere, and this was a different building with the number 26 on the front) and went back to the bakery.

Things were looking up, finally.  I was glad we had no luggage since we had had to trudge through snow. Of course we have our toiletries, meds, computers, kindles and knitting. What more do we really need?  The hotel clerk brought us some hot Turkish tea, got us all set up, and we are happily here.  No dinner in this scenario but tomorrow is another day -- and who knows what time it is anyway.

The whole point of this destination was to be with Benjamin, so we certainly hope that he manages to find his way here.  We have no idea how to tell him how to get here, but now that we finally have wifi we will be able to figure it out.

Outside the window of our hotel.