What's happening in your world?

[maulkin]

I have returned from Turkey where, as expected, it was very hot and humid. The first week was spent at a conference in Trabzon (on Turkey's North-East coast), so most of my time was spent in an air-conditioned conference centre which could have been anywhere in the World. My hotel room was not air-conditioned (because I am a cheap-skate) and was next to a mosque which woke me up at 4 am with a call to prayer (which I did my best to ignore). After the conference, my family joined me. We paid a brief visit to friends across the border in Batumi, Georgia and then headed back into Turkey where we spent a lovely few days in rustic accommodation, hiking in the cool, misty Kackar mountains before flying back with a few days stop over to see Istanbul (magnificent - especially the Aya Sofya). Turkey is a great place to travel with a baby. The Turks made such a fuss of Emily that now she expects cuddles from everyone!