Yesterday started with Turkish brunch in the garden of the Dengiz home.  What could be better?  The weather and food and company were all perfect.  Then we drove to the "Midas Tomb" (as in King Midas) with its very nice Gordion museum (because this area was where Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot).  This is located about 100 KM (note the use of the metric systems!) west of Ankara.  It was very cool and very empty.  We really enjoyed it.  We also bought some handicrafts there from a man with a stand.  They are unique and very nicely done (four necklaces and a carved box).  We (BTW, we were Randy, Orhan, Berna and I) drove back to Ankara and picked up Orhan's black convertible Saab - his babe-mobile- which had been getting an engine rebuild.  We drove (see pix) to Berna's mom's apartment and enjoyed her and her amazing spinach and cheese borek.  We drove home to Golbasi (where Berna lives) and changed for dinner.

Dinner was hosted by our friend Fulya Altiparmak who is a professor of industrial engineering at Gazi University and Berna's old student.  We ate at "Butcha's" an upscale American style steak house in an upscale new neighborhood.  The meat was very good and the portions large (American style) and eating outside all together was very nice.  We met Orhan's current lady - Zeynep - who works in law.  The evening ended with a visit to Orhan's bachelor pad in the city.  He had totally renovated the apartment and the inside was gorgeous but the view outside was even better.  We could see the lights across the entire city.   We opened a bottle of red Turkish wine (from the wine shop in Eskisehir) and took it all in.

Breakfast in the garden of Casa Dengiz

Ankara goats (statues) frolic in the garden of the Gordion Museum

So called because it is the spot where Alexander the Great (at right) cut the Gordian knot

Detail of floor mosaic at the museum - one of the oldest floor mosaics ever

Walking into the tomb under the mound

The center of the mound contains the original wooden tomb from thousands of centuries before

Alice and Orhan drive the streets of Ankara in Orhan's vintage convertible Saab

Berna's Mom and Berna in Mom's kitchen

The best - Mom's spinach and cheese borek

Alice and Fulya at Butcha's

Orhan and Zeynep at Butcha's

Butcha - an American style upscale steakhouse and butchery

They take American - Turkish relations seriously at Butcha's

The lights of Ankara from Orhan's apartment

The lake near the petrified forest

The dirt track to the petrified forest - luckily we had a 4 wheel drive SUV

Small samples of petrified wood

Orhan examining petrified wood in situ

A petrified log from 17 million years ago

Another one

Orhan with an upright petrified tree stump

A large petrified log

Another petrified stump - this one very large but falling apart unfortanately

An old cottage in a nearby village - note bricks within wood framing

Another old house waiting for renovation

Orhan in the pine forest

Close up of pine bark in the forest

Another pine bark close up - I think my photos are getting quite artistic!

Today brought warmer weather.  Berna, Orhan and I took an hour long power walk in the morning to burn off some of the Butcha calories from the night before.  Then we ate another Turkish breakfast (we can never get enough of those!) and headed out to the world's third largest petrified forest.  This is located about 60 KM northwest of Ankara.  We followed the signs and ended up in a dead end in a village.  Orhan asked one of the villagers and we took a dirt track (literally) down a hill towards a small creek.  We discovered the forest and it was amazing.  See the photos. Petrified wood lying on hillsides.  Who knows how old this wood is?  And, no one is there - no official site or anything.  It was a uniquely Turkish experience.  Luckily we were in Orhan's four wheel drive SUV otherwise we would not have made it.  We then drove to a real forest - one of fir trees.  It was also very beautiful although quite full of people - Turks making their Sunday picnics.  We all loved the countryside we saw.  Back at Golbasi, the evening brought the men's French Open finals (which I am anxiously watching as I have a substantial bet with Jeff on the outcome) and dinner at Casa Dengiz and a long deserved Efes brewski!