After a very brief night's sleep and a bit of nursing for a very injured foot and company we were off for a WONDERFUL day. And by off for a wonderful day I mean onto a little shuttle where I realized that of all things to leave behind after the night before's skin tearing drama I LEFT MY CAMERA~~~tragic! But MA went back to the hotel and got it for me, because hes awesome, even though this meant he missed breakfast.
My forgetfulness was quickly forgiven once we were amongst all the balloons and the sunrise though.
Not my best hair day, but who the heck cares when there's a balloon ride to be had! (and not bad for getting up at 3:15)
Sunrise, with a moon, and a balloon...just sayin.
And by 'a balloon' I meant dozens of them.
While all the colorful balloons were a distraction the landscape was breathtaking.
I spent the majority of time so distracted by the view around me I occasionally forgot and put my foot down or dinged an injured elbow, but all was well once I peaked out over the landscape again.
All the cave homes seemed so tiny, and it was a great way to appreciate how many of them there were. Along every valley there were hundreds.
And the balloons, from flags to patterns to beer they were so fun to watch rising and falling through the sky.
All the little things below were hard to stare at because it could make a girl a little motion sick.
Look that's us!
In the process of landing I'm pretty sure I saw Pebbles and BamBam ;-)
They might have gone in there.
Captain we're starting to deflate!!!
Back to the hotel with all of the HUGE perfect roses.
Injured foot up.
Following a brief nap we were off again to Derinkuyu Underground City. An absolutely fascinating place. stories and stories going deeper and deeper into the ground of carved rooms, tunnels and storage spaces. All in the name of Christianity.
The system of rooms and tunnels went for what seemed like forever. I can't imagine being down here before electricity...and plumbing.
A little church built right in.
A 'tunnel'...not sure what was so special about this particular one as opposed to the dozen we had already passed through that they felt the urge to label it, but sure enough...a tunnel....
The ventilation shaft. This picture does it no justice. It went on forever, and echo sounded miles away.
I am not a tall person. Honestly I'm more vertically challenged than most. Ok, I'm short. I spent a good portion of the time nearly crawling in some of these tunnels.
A winery. Not exactly sure what went on here, but there was no shortage of wineries around. I am sure I would have needed more than a few bottles to make it though any amount of time in these rooms no matter who my company was...especially unbathed, light deprived and hiding from hostile armies.
Off travelling again, past Salt lake. A misadventure in itself. I was hot, tired and maimed when MA decided to go for a bit of off road exploring. It ended in silence and distant pictures of the lake followed by a nap.
We stopped in at MA's alma mater. Middle East Technical University. There was a little group of kittens that people had provided with food, water and their own pizza boxes. Some were a little more brave than others.
We had long conversations about the surrounding hoards of nerds. Their interactions with one another. The 'mating habits' of nerds kept us amused for a long time. (No, we aren't horrible people, we are just grown up nerds making a few observations.)
Case in point of my nerd-ness. I don't speak Turkish but I was all over what building this was. Amazing that all Bio/micro/chem buildings seem to have the same aura.
The photo above reminds me that I am lucky to be alive. I survived CRAZY Turkish drivers. Edit- PSYCHOTIC Turkish drivers. They were crazy everywhere, but in Ankara they took the cake. I should be given a medal for surviving these people and a tunnel simultaneously without vomiting.
