[Don Carlos]

Wife and I spent two great years in Turkey (1972-74). We were always amazed by the sights and ruins that abound there. It seems everywhere we went, there were archaeological ruins, castles, ancient churches(!) and beautiful cities and towns to explore.

The airports at both Ankara and Istanbul seemed to be back in that same time period also. Both had 'bomb sight' toilets and water buckets instead of stools and paper. Some things never change!

[blam]

"The airports at both Ankara and Istanbul seemed to be back in that same time period also. "

I saw a program the other night that showed a large part of ancient Istanbul is still accessable through old underground tunnels, etc. There are miles & miles of tunnels that have never been examined from the time of Constantine.

[CobaltBlue]

The other day we ate at Kebob Palace, in Crystal City, VA.

You can always tell a good kebab place by the taxi drivers who flock to them.

But when I went to use the ladies room -- there were muddy footprints on the toilet seat!

A new one for me. I have heard that standing/squatting on the toilet seat is common in certain parts of the world, just never experienced this before. I assumed they at least lifted the seat!