Adana Turkey

I finally got to go downtown Adana, Turkey. It was pretty awesome. The best thing I saw was the Mosque.

The Mosque was huge! I have a pamphlet on it somewhere with all sorts of facts about it, but the big ones are... it's only 10 years old and broadcasts to all of the smaller mosques in a 100 mi radius (or something like that), which is a ton of mosques. As you look at the horizon, you can easily see 10 - 15 mosques. Here's a pic of the entire building.

The inside is just as amazing, really cold though. It's made of stone and has no insulation, plus you have to take your shoes off. There's a lt of stained glass up top and gold writings along the walls. While we were there a school of kids came in and attacked us. They were all very interested in us, asking our names and really wanted their pics taken. It was very overwhelming!

Anyway, I took around 50 pics of the mosque but I won't post all of them.

Later in the day we went to a little museum with old artifacts.

I'm not a big museum guy but it was pretty interesting. Lots of big pots!

The last thing we did was go shopping in "old adana." There's about 200 gold shops, not joking either. They are all right next to eachother and sell the same thing. Pretty incredible to see.

Baku

Well, I've been traveling again. To start this post, I am going to post pictures
of my trip to Baku, Azerbaijan, as I realized I never posted anything about it. How I ended up in Baku in the begining of November is a very long story that I will explain to you, if you ask, at a later time. Anywho, Baku is the place to be! Azerbaijan lies on the shore of the Caspian Sea and shares a border with Georgia, Russia, and Iran. Baku has a heavily Russian influenced populus and the majority of the people speak Russian.

The history of the city is very interesting, I won't get into it but there's an Old and New town of Baku separated by a time degraded wall and a very old gate. I didn't take this pic but I did see this gate.

The country is supposed to be very rich due to oil, however I didn't see much of that. As I saw the streets of Baku, I was amazed at the difference between every building, even those right next to eachother. Not only did the architecture change from the Russian era to the more modern, but so did the "class" of each building. The following pic is taken from the Hotel Europe where I stayed and displays what I'm talking about.

The buildings closest to the camera are where the majority of the people live. The appartment bulidings are every where. You can also see a Russian church as you move further into the pic. In the distance you can see the skyscrapers being built. Here's another shot from my hotel room.

Now I'll cover the important topic... the night life. One word AWESOME! There's tons to do. Lots of shops, bars, and street vendors. The bars and night clubs are great but they don't start hoppin' until midnight at the earliest. This happening place is known as the Fountain Plaza, containing many sq miles of the above mentioned.

For you math types... BAKU = GOOD!

Carolyn is the Best Singer Ever

Come see and hear Carolyn Cockle (soon to be Rawson!!!!) in the Opera "Carmen" at the Pantages Theatre in Tacoma WA.
March 9, 10 and 11th...

The opera will be presented in French (english subtitles will be projected).

The tickets are going fast as everyone wants to see how gorgeous Carolyn is and hear how beautiful her voice is. Get 'em while they're hot!!!!