Day 61- 26 Hours Later...

Asli and I woke and caught a cab to the airport around 6am for my 8:30 flight. We had coffee together before hugging goodbye, and I passed through customs once again.
The flight to London was great- I had my own row of three leather seats and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the overhead monitors. We had a typical airplane breakfast, which wasn't exactly gourmet to say the least, then I opted to take a brief nap while the gettin' was good. A few short hours later, we had arrived in London.
My London layover was minimal and I killed some time browsing a bookstore before heading out to the gate. This was a crowded flight, but at least this time I had an aisle seat on the side-as opposed to a center seat in the middle of the plane. It was hard to sleep since the whole trip was daylight, but they played three movies, and this time we had our choice between them. I talked to the nice couple beside me who were returning from Israel and had just seen the River Jordan and Peter's boat (restoration of which was only finished in the past few years-mainly by algae-eating fish). We chatted and had a nice time in between naps, more airplane food and my pomegranate (which had to be eaten before entry to the States, so I split it with a flight attendant who squealed that she loved pomegranates when she saw mine).
My Chicago layover was over four hours long, but I mostly read (un-purchased bookstore books and my own) during my wait. The last flight was on a sketchy American Eagle plane with three seats across and so little head room that I almost had to duck when walking down the aisle. I doubted the safety of this one, but we did arrive safely in Pittsburgh around 10:30 at night.
I saw the red neon circle at the end of the tram getting closer, and therefore, bigger this time and ran down to baggage claim where I found my mom, Casey, and Michael waiting for me and running towards me like a slow motion field run from a cheesy movie. I gave Michael a ride on my suitcase out to the car where Russ and Donovan (sleeping) were waiting for us.
On the ride home, MIchael offered to let me play his Game boy (which is a rarity from what I understand), and we stopped at Sheetz for an MTO, completing the full circle-I stopped there on my way to the airport back in September, since I hadn't bought food all day.
After 26 hours of travel, I still stayed up till 3 am then only slept 5.5 hrs before getting up and starting the day. I was convinced that I was immune to jet-lag, but two nights later, it finally caught up with me in the form of complete exhaustion and emotion at my birthday dinner. The cheesecake (which ended up taking 4 sittings to eat) helped solve that, though. :)

Day 60- 30 Naked Ladies

After doing a lot of relaxing and nothing, we finally got the gumption to get out, walk and catch the public transportation to a Turkish bath.
We went to the most historic bath in Istanbul, built in the mid 1500s. When you arrive, you pay and get some plastic chips for your massages, then proceed to the women's section (the men's and women's sections are completely separate and identical). Upon entry to the locker room, you are handed a thin towel, and a locker key, and that is all you take with you into the bath area.
There is a large, round, marble stone in the center of a domed room that is called a "tummy stone." It is here that one finds that being shy just won't due, because relaxing and "preparing for perspiration" on the stone are about 15 ladies of all ages, sizes, and nationalities. The rest of the ladies are sitting by the sinks around the sides of the round room or in the little extension rooms that also have sinks in them. The sinks all have hot and cold water and little bowls that you fill and pour onto yourself. I have to admit, it was a little shocking at first, but as they say, "When in Turkey..."
It didn't take long to feel more at ease, and before I knew it, I was being summoned to the edge of the stone by a heavy set Turkish woman for my bath. She scrubs you down with a hand mitt before sudsing you up with what looks like a white pillowcase dipped in soapy water. After your shampooing, you're free to return to the stone for more relaxation before the oil massage. This was nice, although exiting the domed room is a chilly experience after you've been basking in the steam for over an hour. We hung out for awhile and eventually all of the pampering got old, so I dried off and had some water and an orange while waiting in the common area for Asli.
We took a cab part way back, then got dropped off in Taksim, where we-like many people in Turkey- walked arm-in-arm through the main street. I bought some dried figs to take home and a pomegranate (which I would have like to have taken home) then we caught the metro again and walked home.
Belgin (Asli's mom) came home late that night after having an incredibly long wait in the airport when returning from her Bayram holiday in southern Turkey. We visited briefly in the kitchen before all hitting the sack, preparing for an early morning.