I left Egypt early this morning and flew up to Istanbul. The weather up here is blustery! It's rainy and cold with more on the way. They're even predicting some snow showers at night.
I had a first today where there was a wind gust so strong on the approach (just above the runway) that the airplane wings went up and down fairly violently causing the pilot to abort the landing and pull up. There was no announcement of what happened or what was going to happen and you could feel the tension in the cabin. We went around and made the approach again much faster than a "normal" approach and everything went well. The pilot definitely was hitting the brakes hard when we landed. I'd say 90% of the passengers clapped or cheered when the plane came to a stop.
The area of Istanbul I am staying in is called Beyoglu (near Taksim Square) in the European side of town, which is the center of the "new" Istanbul as opposed to the Sultanahmet area where most of the historical sites are. I went for a walk a little earlier to get some lunch and got SOAKED! At least the lunch was worth it. Time for a quick post and then maybe even a quick nap since I got up so early today. Hopefully it'll let up a little bit in time to do some walking and picture taking tonight.
Tomorrow I'll be visiting a few of the historical sights via the Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus that goes throughout the town. Wish me luck!
Do not even talk to me about rain. We are flooding here. You know how much fun that is.
ReplyDeleteI did the Hop bus in Berlin. It is pretty fun. Although I am guessing your bus is really going to be a more of a run and jump kind of deal. ;-)