Hotel Adapalas Bursa

... much, but it was really very nice- great seating, lovely restauant/eating area. Very very comfortable! A welcome surprise! A few hours later, we got of the ferry and found after walking out of dock area found ourselves in the middle of nowhere with one bus ticket office. No signs in english. No one speaks english. The only clue we have is that everyone is buying tickets for the buses. That seems reasonable. We get on ...

... the magnetic, multiple-trip keys for public transport. In Bursa one of these comes in the form of a plastic card with an embedded micro-chip. In Istanbul the object, which name I forget now, is like a little plastic spoon with a metal button on the bottom. You hold it in your fingers with your thumb in the spoon depression and press the metal button into a receptacle on the fare box of the bus, or the turnstile at a metro station.

When I turned around from the kiosk window, the ...

... and have some social interaction. Even being the loner that I am can get tiring, especially in an alien environment. Besides, I figure I never really made it as far as being a fully matured adult anyway.

Now, to the project. There were to be three components: 1) paintings on the exterior walls of the municipal youth center; 2) restoration work on a church/mosque in the neighboring area, converting it to a community center, and 3) a film team documenting the ...

... have given it such attention were it not for the fact that a little over two years ago I was in Georgia, its capital of Tbilisi, and Gori, the town that has just been bombed by the Russians, apparently. I guess that's about as close to war as I have been. (I went to Gori because that was the birthplace of Joseph Stalin. I just went there to go there. Tbilisi I rather liked. I went there because of the name, to be honest. In traveling in ...

... You just hit a pole. We were looking for an accident, maybe even people hurt. What is this? You can't even get insured for this. You can't leave the scene of a single car accident and still get me to write a report for you. I'll tell you what you should do. Take these pieces," he signaled to the broken pieces of the tail light, "back to Istanbul, place them around a pole there, call the police, and tell them you hit it." Such was the ...

... freaked out by that. It reminds me of the F-89 Scorpion planes that briefly were assigned to the base in my home town back in the 50s or 60s. I've always wondered if the planes were specifically designed to mimic the insect, or was the name given after the resemblance was noticed.

A last item for today is to show my supposedly Ottoman mug that I bought at a local antique shop shortly after arriving here. I needed a tea mug anyway. Since, the handle just broke off! Clay ...

... hands. So I resolved to resort to my youthful self (the 1968 College All-Star/Pro Football Game in Chicago, and Dylan and Beatles concerts being amongst the chevrons on my gate-crashing sleve). I said, "I'm going in. You guys follow if I make it." I walked past one of the two ticket guy like I didn't see him. I heard him say behind me something about a "bilet." I didn't have to, but I turned and said in English, "Ticket? It was free last night." He just waved me on. There was ...

... politicians) are floating about uncontrollably, unable to firmly grasp a remedy for the eventual crash.

U.N. Warns of Rapid Decay of Environment

By JAMES KANTER
Published: Octob** 26, 2007

PARIS, Oct. 25 - The human population is living far beyond its means and inflicting damage to the environment that could pass points of no return, according to a major report issued Thursday by the United Nations.

Climate change, the rate of extinction of ...

... therein, and perhaps bear. But I heard or saw nary a thing. Except for a couple of, I must say, pretty big scat leavings. Wild pig rootings can be seen everywhere. But I heard absolutely no sounds in the large quantities of dry leaves. And, the really large wild pigs I had seen in Australia ran away from human contact, so I wasn't very concerned.

The only other thing almost worthy of remarking upon for this hike was that in the early stages, as I was trying to find ...

... breeze from the sea was as enlivening as Friday's heat in town was oppressive.

On the way to the metro for the first leg of the outward journey I passed an old woman and a very young child. Their contrast so impressed me that after walking on a bit I decided to go back and seek a photograph. The lady basically acquiesced to my seeking permission. When I showed her the picture in the camera screen she softly smiled and sweetly patted me ...