Izmir

Josh’s ankle was quite swollen so I stayed on the ship and Kelly and Keith went into Izmir, Turkey.  I got Josh a wheelchair since they did not have crutches and I pushed him around the ship for most of the morning.   Kelly and Keith showed up just before lunch and I was surprised to see them.  I had figured they would spend the day exploring Izmir.  Kelly had gotten off the ship and was pretty freaked out as they walked around the loud, somewhat dirty, big city.  I thought she was being a wimp but I was glad to be able to have some time to see the city. We left the kids on the boat and Keith and I headed out to see Izmir.   A few hours later I was ready to come back and totally understood what Kelly had felt. Keith and I took a horse drawn carriage around the city which was a pretty bad idea.  The roads were crazy and there were many times I thought the horses or we were going to get hit.  The driver took us to a Bazaar where he brought us to his friends shops so they could sell us their stuff.  After a while we asked to be taken back to the boat and again he drove down this street where every few minutes he would stop the carriage and shop owners would come up to us and try and sell us their goods.  I was so glad to get back on the boat.  Maybe if we had gone out of the main city and seen some of the historical sites, we might have enjoyed Izmir.  But our experience was not good.  We had a great dinner that night and then went to the show which was all Broadway songs.

The Bazaar