A Babymoon with Baby: Tenerife

Lots of people plan and take a "babymoon" when pregnant, especially with their first baby as one last chance to spend some time together as a couple.  Our life for the past two years has been a babymoon, so we didn't feel like we had to go out of our way to do this, but it did get us thinking.  Even though we didn't need to spend time together (we are ALWAYS together), we did think it would be a good idea to do some things that might be more difficult/less enjoyable with a baby.

Mike knew immediately that he wanted to do some serious diving on our babymoon and spending a few days at a pool or beach sounded like paradise to a pregnant me. After lots of research on Mike's part, we set our sights on Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco.  We became extremely ambitious when planning and decided to book our flights for two days after our trip to Portugal, which was not that long after our trip to Spain (rough life, I know). Mike ended up getting mono towards the end of our trip in Portugal and was so sick by the time we came home that we knew there was no way we were going to boarding a flight for our diving and beach vacation two days later.

Luckily, we were able to reschedule our trip for the week following Kelly and Sean's wedding, but that meant that it would no longer be our babymoon.  Instead, we would have a three month old coming along for the ride.  Finn is cute, but he definitely changes the dynamic of our travel.  Sitting by the pool isn't quite as relaxing as it used to be.   He also decided to enter a major sleep regression that had Mike and I questioning our sanity.

While we weren't able to relax as much as we probably would have before Finn came along, we still had a great time.  Mike was still able to go diving and I got to enjoy some adult beverages by the pool, something that I wouldn't have been able to do in January.  We stayed at the Sheraton La Caleta, which may be one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at.  As much as I make fun of Mike for being a little obsessed with credit card points, it definitely paid off because we didn't pay a dime for our week stay.  So, next time he yells "Use the Chase!" or "We get five times points with the AmEx!" I guess I should refrain from rolling my eyes and just go with it.

The water was a leeeetle too chilly for Finny

One last Olmsted selfie

Lounging by the pool

When you only sleep one hour at a time, you take lots of naps throughout the day.  I did too.

Nomz

Nomz nomz nomz

We loved our time at the Sheraton in Tenerife.  It was relaxing, the staff was friendly and the amenities were glamorous.  It was definitely an expensive and much more luxurious trip than our normal travels, but it was a great way to end our Olmsted travels and rest up for our move from Berlin.

Always review the emergency exit procedures before takeoff.

Bodrum

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First, thanks for all the texts, gchats, facetimes, and snapchats (Mary) over your concern about our safety after the violence in Suruc.  I am constantly reminded of how many people love us and support us, even if it is thousands of miles away.  That being said, the violence was hundreds and hundreds of miles away. 753 to be exact.  So, that's like from Virginia Beach to Montgomery, Alabama. Definitely far away from us.  Although, our apartment is located directly above a no drive street, which is where protesting is legal, so we have been hearing a lot of protesting tonight, but nothing violent or too exciting. Washington, DC would put these guys to shame. 

Second, thanks to everyone who reads this blog.  I started it so that I could keep my parents in the loop with what we were doing and hopefully preserve a few memories along the way.  I am always hesitant to post updates on Facebook out of fear of being "that girl" that nobody wants to see pop up on their newsfeed.  I talked to my parents last night who just spent a week at the beach with my extended family.  Picture three beach houses, 40 Russos and lots of food (and probably alcohol).  My mom just kept saying how people were reading the blog (Hi guys!) and I was so happy! I wish I could have been at the beach with everyone, but I'm glad you all are reading along!

Anyways, we went to Bodrum this weekend because we had Friday off.  This past Thursday evening to Friday was Bayrum, which is the celebration that marks the end of Ramadan.   Since 98% of Turkey is Muslim, Bayram is a federal holiday and everything closes.  Add in our lack of furniture and you're looking at a pretty boring weekend.  So, we flocked south to the beach.

They say hindsight is 20/20 and in hindsight, we would have checked the weather to see that it was going to be literally 100 degrees, which wouldn't make for the best beach weekend.  In hindsight....

Instead, we failed to check the weather and headed south.  We arrived late Thursday night and checked into the hotel.  When we woke up on Friday, we went upstairs for the free breakfast (we wouldn't be true Americans if we didn't love free food!) and were sorely disappointed. Somehow, olives and cheese just doesn't do it for breakfast. Oh well.  We put on our bathing suits and headed to the beach.  Bodrum is a beach town and has tons of restaurants and bars along the water.  They also have free beach chairs along the water to sit in, which Mike and I jumped at the opportunity to do. I lasted about 2.5 seconds in that beach chair before I started melting and had to stick my (not so little according to the trainer at the gym) body in the water.  I was pleasantly surprised at how cold it was and repeated this pattern of 10 minutes in the water, 2.5 seconds out for the next half hour before giving in to the sun and napping.  After an hour, Mike and I had reached our limit and gave in to the heat.  We headed back to the air conditioned hotel.

That night, we walked along the water and found a restaurant with a great view.  Not long into our meal, we were greeted by this guy.  Turkey has a ton of feral cats and dogs running around and while none of them are going to run up and greet you, they are usually pretty clean and well fed.

Dinner wasn't great, but the view was beautiful.  We walked further along the water and found that the beach chairs we melted in earlier had been replaced with lawn sofas and chairs.  We chose a sofa and were quickly greeted by the waiter who brought us drinks. The waiter asked where we were from and as soon as he heard America, he was hooked.  He began talking to us and asking us all sorts of questions.  My favorite was "Do you like Obama? Obama is good."

Being the old married couple that we are, we were ready for bed way earlier than the average person in Bodrum.  We asked our waiter what time the performers come on at this big stage in Bodrum and when he responded with 12:00, my eyes grew the size of saucers. I like to stick to my geriatric bed time of 10:30 on weekdays and 11:30 on weekends, so a performance starting at midnight was just not going to work.  After a few drinks, we headed back to the hotel to make our bed time while the rest of the city geared up for a wild night. To each their own...

Saturday, we knew it was going to be hot, so instead of heading to the beach, we made our way to the Castle of St. Peter, which is this huge castle in Bodrum.  It's open to the public for 25 TL ($10) and is definitely worth it.  You can see all sorts of artifacts and there are some great views of the water.  Plus, there are cool things like a dungeon and towers.  I wore flip flops (trying to cover the least amount of my body in order to survive the 100 degree weather) and in hindsight (they say it's 20/20) I would have worn tennis shoes because you do a lot of walking and climbing.

The chapel on the castle

After the castle, we walked around a bit before...you guessed it...heading back to the hotel.  One hundred degrees is really hot.  We spent a couple of hours in the hotel napping (me) and reading (Mike).  Around dinner time, we went on the hunt for the top restaurants in Bodrum.  We found this restaurant called Avlu thanks to Tripadvisor.com and it was well worth it.  Because we're Americans and eat earlier than the average European, we were the first ones in the restaurant.  It had a great ambiance and we quickly ordered a bottle of wine with the recommendation of the waiter, as well as steaks.  I'm not a huge red meat person, but this was a delicious meal.  The steaks were juicy and the potatoes and vegetables that accompanied it complimented it greatly.  Yum.

Most of the restaurants in Turkey have free wi-fi, but this one decided to go against the grain and not have free wifi. Instead, we were ordered to talk to each other and get drunk.  Tough life. 

After our delicious meal, we headed to the water for a few drinks and a decent view before calling it a night.

We woke up on Sunday unsure of what to do.  It was hot again and we had to catch the bus at 3:15 to head back home.  After consulting our handy guide book (Lonely Planet is the way to go) we realized that one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was right around the corner!  The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was located in present day Bodrum.  Key word...it was.   This is what is located there now.

Granted, they had a museum and some of the artifacts were pretty cool, but it's disappointing that it was destroyed.  Oh well, at least we can say we went!

We grabbed lunch at a pizza restaurant and headed to the bus stop for a long journey home.

And, as a bonus edition to this post, I'm starting a little section called Michael's musings.  Mike had me laughing all weekend at different things he said and I wanted to share them with you because...Monday.

"It's like the Mike Hogan of restaurants." -Mike describing the number one restaurant listed on TripAdvisor.  We're obviously lacking in the self-esteem department around here.

"It's like we're living in a freaking zoo." -Mike describing all of the dogs and cats around

"Do you love me? Do you love me?" -Mike singing the Dirty Dancing song every time he thought I was ignoring him (aka reading, trying to fall asleep, etc).




As if this weekend wasn't hot enough, we're in for a scorcher here for the next few days. Even though I am usually one to vocalize every sort of complaint, nothing can break this girl's good mood because our furniture comes tomorrow!! Can you say Christmas/birthday/Thanksgiving/Valentine's Day/4th of July/Memorial Day all in one?

A (relaxing?) weekend in Cesme

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If you read the last couple of blogposts, you'll know that after a long struggle to get to Izmir, Mike and i decided to leave and go to the beach for his birthday weekend. You were probably thinking something along the lines of "You worked so hard to get there and now you're leaving?!?!?!"  Don't worry, I was right there with you.  When Mike proposed this little excursion, I wasn't really feeling it either, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it.

I had worked hard to get there and it had been quite a struggle. All I wanted to do once I got to Turkey was relax.  What better place to relax, though, than the beach?  

So, Friday morning, we packed our bags and headed to Cesme (pronounced Cheshma) for the weekend via bus because apparently we're European now and that's what Europeans do.  The bus was super crowded and Mike and I didn't even get a seat together.  Besides a moment of panic where I thought Mike had gotten off (translation: he had moved seats so we could sit together after a bunch of people got off at the first stop), the bus trip was an uneventful hour where I stared out the window in amazement of the mountains and countryside. Add in a little Spider Solitaire and it was a party.

Since I had bragged about Izmir being on the water, I figured it would be kind of confusing that Cesme is west of Izmir.  So, voila! A map!

The bus driver assured us that the bus went to where our hotel was.  What he failed to mention was that the bus stop was on the side of the road and the hotel was about a mile away.  So we walked. Thankfully, the hotel in Izmir let us leave a few bags with them for the weekend, so we only had two bags each (overpacking much?).  

Mike found our hotel on Hotwire, which meant that he didn't know the name of it before he booked it.  Hotwire tells you the price and the ratings (this was a four star resort for pretty cheap) and you book it.  It's almost always works out.  We (read: me) were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the Altin Yunus.  The rooms were nice and big, the beach was comfortable and clean, and the views were stunning. We checked in, put our bags down and headed to lunch (carrying two bags each can work up a hunger!). 

They had a buffet lunch which was okay, but way overpriced (read: $20 for a salad and some poorly cooked meat).  We finished lunch and headed to the beach where I took a nice long nap basking in the sun.  This was the relaxing part I had been waiting for. And the views.... I mean, really?  

We came back to the room to learn that the Supreme Court had legalized gay marriage! Go Supremes!!  It is amazing to witness such a monumental moment in history.  That being said, we also got to experience our first taste of censorship here in Turkey.  A lot of the articles about the ruling were blocked thanks to Turkish censorship. It was frustrating to not be able to access the news directly, but luckily, Facebook filled me in.  

We had been told that we received free breakfast and dinner at the buffet, so we decided to give it another try. We checked in and got our food.  Again, we were sorely disappointed.  Not only were we disappointed in the food, we were also disappointed to find out that it wasn't free.  After we had finished eating, we received a bill for our meal, which led to lots of arguments in broken English and Turkish. The poor hostess who had to deliver the news that our meal was not free then had to translate for her manager and then for the guest relations person.  We ended up only paying for one of the meals (that was their compromise for the confusion), but left feeling a little more than frustrated.  We would have just gone to one of the other restaurants on the property, or maybe even in to town, but we chose this one because the receptionist had told us it was free when we checked in. We also weren't told that we would have to pay when we checked in, just when we had already finished our meal.  Oh well.  You live and you learn, I guess....

Anyways, after that fiasco, we went to the outdoor bar to grab a drink and listen to live music.  It was beautiful sitting on the docks watching the sun set and listen to the music. 

The next day, Saturday, was Mike's birthday!! He had signed up to go Scuba Diving, so we were up early.  We ate breakfast and Mike went on his way to go diving.  Little did we know that diving in Turkey takes all. day. long.  In the United States, it's like a 4-5 hour excursion and if you leave early enough, you're back around lunch time.  You live you learn. I spent the day relaxing at the beach, walking around the resort taking pictures, and blogging.  Honestly, it was kind of nice, being the introvert that I am.  This week has been exhausting, both physically and emotionally.  It was nice to just have a day to relax and spend the day how I wanted.  Mike was pretty disappointed though because the dives weren't as good as in Hawaii (I mean, that's like saying salads aren't as good as ice cream. Duhhh.) and he said there was a lot of time where he was just sitting around on the boat.

American flag! I may have shrieked in excitement.  We noticed that most of the boats had American flags, as well as Turkish flags.  A lot of them were registered in Delaware. Anyone know why? Fill us in!

On the walk to the beach

The view from our hotel room

and more from the hotel room

After he returned at 7:00 (!!!!), we quickly got dressed and went down to the restaurant for dinner.  We obviously avoided the buffet due to the previous night's ordeal, plus it was Mike's birthday, so we wanted to do something a little bit nicer.

This was when we encountered another mishap.  We went outside and down to the nicer restaurant at the resort in hopes of having the Turkish equivalent of a steak dinner, whatever that would be.  When we got downstairs, we were greeted at the door by the host.  When he asked if we had reservations, we replied no. I didn't think this would be a big deal since there was literally no one there, but he told us that we would need reservations and that we could make them at the front desk.  We turned around to leave when they quickly called us back and told us we could stay for dinner.  I think this was not as much of a cultural mishap as it was a communication misunderstanding.  We (okay, Mike) was trying to speak in Turkish while the host was speaking in English.

View from dinner

The completely empty, but very charming restaurant,

I don't always take pictures with my food (okay only sometimes), but curly fries served with filet mignon called for a food pic. Don't worry, I didn't instagram it (but seriously considered it).

A complimentary cheese platter.  I don't know if it's a good thing (aka more cheese for me!) or a bad thing (more cheese/calories for me!) that Mike doesn't like slices of plain cheese.

After crossing that bridge, we sat down to a nice water view for dinner.  We ordered filet mignons and a bottle of California wine, both of which turned out to be very good.  Afterwards, we got ice cream and were in bed by 10:30.   I know, wild, right?  Maybe Mike was on to something when he said "Twenty Seven is the new sixty."


On Sunday (today), we slept in (jet lag hit HARD last night for yours truly) and slowly made our way to breakfast.  We were going to get massages yesterday for Mike's birthday, but due to the marathon of a scuba diving trip Mike went on, we had to reschedule them for this morning.  We originally had them planned for the same time and I thought I relayed that the hostess when I rescheduled them, but alas, that message was not relayed, so one by one we went.

A massage is a massage in any language and country and it did feel great. The second half of the massage package was to sit in a tub with jets.  As the masseuse was preparing it, she said to me "This will be good for you.  You have problems."  I just smiled and nodded, but thought in my head "If you knew how stressful the past month has been, you'd be happy I'm in one piece."

After Mike finished his massage, we grabbed our bags from the hotel and headed back to Izmir. Despite a few misunderstandings, we had a nice weekend away and definitely recommend Cesme to anyone looking of a weekend getaway in Turkey.

Once back in Izmir, we checked back into the hotel that we've stayed at every time we've been here, the Marriott Renaissance. If you find yourself in Izmir and not at Hotel de Hogan, we highly recommend the Renaissance. We were both here in April, then Mike has been here for the previous two weeks, and now we're here again for another week before moving into the apartment.  I think they appreciated our dedication (and the Navy's money) because we ended up with a sweet (or should I say suite?) room.

We quickly settled into our room and have been relaxing ever since.

Think we have enough stuff?

I think this is their way of saying we're their favorite customers