Don't Engage

We finally assended from Dante's Dulles. Turkish Air had more leg room than the United flight we were on briefly before it was cancelled. Service reminded me a bit of flying overseas during the 70's. Civilized. We left on-time - 10:50p - and shortly thereafter, a full dinner service was served - on real plates and real stainless. Amazing. The only thing not offered were warm moist towels in the a.m. About 1 1/2hrs prior to landing we got a full breakfast - mind you, we landed at 4:00p.

Soooooo good to see S. We stated our trip across town in the cold and rain. By foot, metro, bus, up and down stairs we dodged traffic and crowds. Oops, and I almost forgot to mention the ferry ride - so foggy we didn't see much. Good thing we packed light. By the time we made it to the hotel, J&I were in need of a bit of regrouping. Lovely that the hotel room was welcoming warm.
S gave us a brief tour of the near-neighborhood, then we popped into a restaurant she knew was good. We had a lovely fish dinner (J&I had bluefish, S had anchovies). We headed back to the hotel in the rain. A man approached J&I and began working a bongo-type drum, persistent for a contribution. S edged in, made a sharp oral clicking sound and gave him a dismissive wave of the hand; off he vanished. She instructed us sternly, "Do not engage." Okay, we'll work on that tomorrow.

Expectations

Expecting to hear that we are enjoying S's company, being wowed by the sights of an unfamiliar city, eating yummy unidentifiable food? Bet you are not expecting to hear that we are still in G-town. Due to those rip-roaring storms last night our flight was eventually cancelled. 1st - the plane we were suppose to fly out on was given to another group for some mysterious reason, 2nd - the plane that came in that we were to take out was struck by lightening descending and did not pass the safety check to continue, 3rd - another plane was sent for us from Chicago, after circling for quite a while was sent to Pittsburgh to wait it out, but eventually the crew's max duty time would have been exceeded before landing in Istanbul.
Because Turkish Air was a part of our reservations, United was obligated to get us on their flight today - I heard folks who would not be rescheduled till Monday - actually we almost aren't anyway. Plan B: Turkish Air, April 17, flight 8 departing Dullas 10:55 pm, arriving Istanbul, April 18, 4:10.
Grateful to still be going, sorry we will be almost 2 days behind. Expecting to have a wonderful time.