Ankara (Turkey)

Today, I took one of the more memorable trips I have taken. Flew up from Sicily in the morning and, when we were flying over Switzerland, got intercepted by Swiss F-18s. That was cool. We landed in Frankfurt and picked up our passengers on time. John and Julius flew the flight down to Ankara while I worked on my grad school homework. When we arrived at our lodging, a Swisshotel, it was clear that we would be the only ones here for the night. I took a tour of all of the facilities and learned that they had a Turkish Bath (called a Hamam) available for only 50 Euros. While everyone else went out for Mexican food (?), I got the best sauna, steam bath, massage and hard rub down that I could ever have imagined. The whole experience was kind of mind-numbing, and I nearly fell asleep a few times. When it was over, they put me in a cool room where I could relax. It was quiet and cool. I went to dinner (at Cafe Swiss, the hotel restaurant) and met the manager, who told me she was just wrapping up the construction and evaluation stages (I guess it was new). What an interesting career - build the hotel, develop the amenities and then move to another new hotel! Sounds like a good business...