Randall's Trip to Turkey

Last week Randall was in Turkey for a work related meeting. The group that he works with is going to be involved in a large scale project involving members from several different countries. It is common practice with these projects to hold a large start up meeting to get everyone together and organized. Since we do not do anything like this in the US he was invited to join them. He attended a few meetings at had the opportunity to meet people from many different countries. He was also able to do some sightseeing and take some pictures of the Mediterranean!

I was not able to go because wives do not generally go to these meetings. Instead I enjoyed a week of quietness and relaxation. I had some work to do for a GIS course I am taking but otherwise I just relaxed. It was lonely at night as I am used to being home alone during the day. We were both happy for Randall to be back home on Friday.

Everything else is going well here. Nothing new or interesting is going on this week. We will not be doing anymore traveling until the end of the month when we go to Russia! The snow is finally melting! It has been rainy the past two days so most of the snow has cleared off of the sidewalks. There is still a decent amount on the grassy areas and in the fields but the sidewalks are better.

To see more pictures click below.

http://s1035.photobucket.com/albums/a439/jlamick/Randall%20Turkey/?action=view&current=fbbd916d.pbw

Amicks' Visit

View of Tallinn

Senate Chambers in Tallinn

Alexander Nevsky's Cathedral

Town Center in Tallinn

Kadriorg Palace grounds

Kadriorg Palace

So, my parents’ trip went well. We spent a few days here in Helsinki and one day in Tallinn, Estonia.

They did have a travel glitch that caused all of us to spend some long hours in airports. Their flight from New York to Copenhagen was delayed half an hour causing them to arrive minutes before their connecting flight to Helsinki took off. I had given them our phone numbers but had neglected to include the country code so they were unable to tell us that they did not make the flight. We were tracking their flight from New York but thought they had time according to the times posted on the website. So, Randall and I went to the airport in time to meet them for their scheduled arrival. Once that flight had been unloaded we realized that they were not on the flight. We decided to wait at the airport in case they were re-routed to another airport and arrived before the next Copenhagen flight. Long story short Randall and I waited for 8 hours in the Helsinki airport for my parents to arrive. We were all glad when they finally came through the doorway safely.

We did not do much other than get home eat supper and go to bed as they were tired from traveling. Sunday we walked around the apartment neighborhood and the Viikki campus before lunch. After lunch we showed them where Randall works and where our old apartment was. On Monday we went to two of the main shopping centers in Helsinki and looked in several stores to show them price comparisons.

On Tuesday we went to Tallinn and looked at several historical sights and viewed the town from two observation walls. After viewing all of the sights we went to the mall for my mom and I to do some shopping. She got a hoodie for Bradley and I tried on several dresses but didn't find anything that I really liked. Once we were done shopping we went to the Peppersack for supper. It was really good my mom had Salmon over wild rice and a salad, my dad had a pork fillet over sauerkraut with stewed potatoes, Randall had a curry beef dish with baked potato and carrot salad and I had cheese crusted chicken with wild rice and a salad. Everything was really good except for the salads because they were just lettuce with no dressing. We all had a good time and we were exhausted when we finally got home late that night.

On Wednesday we stayed around the apartment and spent some time just talking and catching up. We did leave for about an hour and a half to give the cleaning lady a chance to clean. While we were out we went to the indoor open market so that my parents could see what one looks like. On Thursday they flew home with no problems at all.

Overall their trip went well; we all had a good time and were glad to see each other. We are getting down to the short rows now with only 2 months and 9 days left until we fly home. We have enjoyed our time here but we are also looking forward to getting back to North Carolina.

No Posts

Sorry that I have not posted in a while but there isn't anything to post about right now. It is still cold here, but we did have above freezing temperatures Monday and yesterday. It snowed some yesterday and has snowed most of the day today. I think the total accumulation is around 5 feet so far. We will likely continue to get snow until late March to early April. After that temperatures should rise and the some of the snow will begin melting. Not all of the snow will melt before we leave because it has been piled up so high from scraping the roads.

I will not be posting this weekend as my parents will be arriving on Saturday! We will take a lot of pictures while they are here and I will try to post several times the week after they leave, so keep checking for new posts.