Astounding

It's a bird?

It's a plane?

It's my Mom, looking out from a hot air balloon over Cappadocia!

Even my Turkey book doesn't have a picture of Cappadocia this good. 

Wave hello to St. Basil, Mom!

There She Is!

See that blonde in the foreground there? Just right of center, with her back turned, holding up a camera?

That's my Mom!  She is there in Ephesus, in front of the Library of Celsus (or at least she was a few days ago). This is one of the famous things in Ephesus - a similar picture is in my Turkey book, minus my Mom's head.  It looks like she's taking a picture of whatever is on the right, though, and I have no idea what that would be. When you live vicariously through someone, your view is restricted to what they share with you and what your guidebook explains.  The guidebook does tell me, though, that the Library of Celsus held 12 000 scrolls, and that the humidity and temperature were regulated.  It was built in 114 CE, and destroyed in 262 CE.

This is a picture she sent me from Troy!  But I hear the horse is fake - both in the sense that, um, it's not a living horse, and that it's a modern reproduction of what the famous Trojan horse might have looked like.  (It sounds like you can go inside, though. Fun!)

I've really been enjoying the daily emails Mom has been sending me about her trip.  It feels like we're communicating more regularly now that she's on the other side of the world than when she is at home, but I guess we have all her new experiences to talk about. I feel like this makes me more a part of her trip, and I like that. 

Books Read - Summer 2012

23. Nurture Shock by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman (audio book)
22. Cleaving by Julie Powell (audio book)
21. Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy
20. The Firm by John Grisham
19. The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
18. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
17. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
16. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
15. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
14. The Warden by Anthony Trollope
13. Stories by Anton Chekov
12. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
11. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
9. The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner (audio book)
8. The Client by John Grisham
7. The Chamber by John Grisham
6. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
5. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (audio book)
4. The Rainmaker by John Grisham
3. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
2. The Simple Solution to Rubik's Cube by James G. Nourse
1. The Physics of Christmas by Roger Highfield

Vicarious Adventure

Today, my Mom is in Troy.  Yeah, like the real Troy, over in Turkey!  She left on Monday for her Turkish tour.  I had hoped to accompany her, but alas, I could not get the time off work because a coworker is on vacation instead.  So instead, I'm living vicariously through my mother. I'm following along on her itinerary, and also reading a tour book about Turkey.  I might read the Iliad, and I have a "Learn Turkish in 60 minutes" CD.

Tomorrow she's going to Pergamom, and the next day, Ephesus.  It looks like they're skipping Nicea (now "Isnik") and Smyrna (or "Izmir") and, well, Sparta because that's barely a place now and it's not in Turkey, but towards the end of the tour they'll end up in Cappadocia.  (Will I read something by Basil the Great?  We'll see.)

I'm much more interested in studying this because I know that my Mom is seeing these things - and after following along, I'll be a much more interesting/interested spectator for her pictures and stories.  Even though I don't get to be there, I'm excited!