Water lilies.









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Cultural Thoughts

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Turkey: Istanbul was a culturally varied, welcoming place. At restaurants, the hustle performed by the servers waiting at the street was intense. Everyone wanted your business! At our first restaurant, the server proclaimed that he loved Canada and that his girlfriend was from there, but he couldn’t name the city she was from. 😂 Other vendors played a similar game, trying to engage you in conversation. The easiest approach was to ignore them, unfortunately.  Most places tell you not to flush toilet paper, but to instead put it in a small waste bin. Smoking is MUCH more common than at home, and we are very unused to smoke at restaurants.  Lots of seagulls and hooded crows were to be seen around town.  Greece : The restaurant service flow was a little different from in North America. When we were done our main courses, we had to signal the server that we wanted the bill. They simply wouldn’t bring it until asked! Once we asked, though, we would often get a small dessert, f...
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Whirlwind Melbourne

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After a lovely sleep (well, I woke at 5:30, but that’s just me), we headed out to explore a bit of Melbourne. Breakfast was at a tiny coffee shop and the girls loved their hot chocolate.  The cafe was in a narrow alley typical of the Melbourne CBD.  It must have been some breakfast to make a sign about it! Next up was the National Gallery of Victoria. It was free! Unfortunately everyone was tired at this point.  But Isabelle still managed to climb a tree! Poor JL.  Such a pretty city: Then it was back to the airport! We had a TON of time to kill, first at the Singapore Airlines lounge. They close in between flights, so we snuck a few minutes in the Air New Zealand lounge: Once boarded, the girls slept pretty much right away while JL and I had our preselected meals. I had a lovely barramundi.  We’ve now arrived in Singapore and are waiting to board our flight to London. This one’s a monster 13.5 hour flight! See you on the other side. 
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Second Day in Wellington

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After another lovely breakfast, we took a walk up Mount Victoria to find a couple of the Lord of the Rings filming locations: Next up was a visit to the Weta Workshop where they make special effects for lots of movies. Unfortunately, photos inside were forbidden, but it was really cool to handle actual prop swords and helmets used in the films.  Watch out, JL!!!
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