Since Sim's return

Sim arrived home on March 17th, via Doha, Qatar.  (Not a vacation spot.)  He bought alcohol at the duty free, then discovered it's illegal to bring alcohol into Qatar. (He had some from Bangkok duty free as well) He had to turn his Doha purchased bottles over to be picked up on his way out after an overnight.  He said they didn't really seem to have a system in place, but just making it up as they went along.  The next day he was sent hither and yon to retrieve his packages, but finally magaged to get them, and luckily no one checked and discovered he had brought the Thai purchases in. 

Friday March 18 was the big St. Patrick Day bash (Sim's purchases in duty free involved several bottles of Irish whiskey for the occasion.)  The party was hosted at the apartments of Maura Kelly, Graham Fleming, and Metin O'Ferhatoglu in Blue House (dubbed Green House for the evening).  Lots of great food and luckily the rain held off so we were out in the garden with the fire pit.



Our bedroom at Kadriye Hanim Kosku



The restaurant-lined waterfront in Buyukada.  There used to be glass-enclosed seating, but it's in the process of being replaced by a tent  sort of thing.  We all decided it's a really dumb change.

On Saturday afternoon, Sim and I took the boat to Buyukada to spend the night and celebrate Fusun's birthday.  A beautiful dinner with Selim and Cigdem and Angela and Korhan, two couples who live on the island and whom we've spent a lot of time with on previous visits.