Urgup Haircut

When we were visiting Turkey, I (Jeremy) was in a desperate need of a haircut.  One afternoon in Cappadoccia, we found ourselves with ~2 hours to spare before our flight – too long to sit around and too short to go see another one of the sights.  As we were walking about town, there was a barber shop that was calling my name (and had an awning with male celebrities’ pictures on top).  It seemed like the perfect time to get a haircut – nothing else to do, we had the time (I’ve been traveling for work 4 days/week), and it would be far cheaper than going in Zurich.  Either way, I wouldn’t be able to really communicate with the barber, so it didn’t matter to me.

Needless to say, two tall white people getting a haircut was a shock for the shop, and word quickly spread through town.  The barber shops in Turkey seem like they are a gathering and social spot for men to talk.  During my haircut, five different people came in.  Each new person who came in got to change the song on the iPad, and each one picked “Gangnam Style”.  Apparently that had already swept the Arab world before Laura and I knew what it was, because we assumed it was a Turkish pop star until hearing it all over the place the subsequent few weeks.  Everyone was excited to try to communicate with to Laura and I, there were lots of hand motions and laughing. They served her tea and cookies, they gawked at my shoe size.

A 16-year-old kid, son of the owner, set out to cut my hair.  The only two English words he said was “zero”, when describing how to cut my hair, followed by laughter; and “facebook” so we could keep in touch.  All in all, it was a good haircut, but the longest one in my life.  After cutting my hair, I got eyebrow wax, a face mask, Turkish tea, and, when they started buzzing my ear fuzz, I decided that it was time to get up out of the chair.  It was fun experience, and a good haircut (though the shortest length my hair has been in 5+ years).  Well worth the $7 and 90 minutes.

Cappadoccia, Turkey

After touring Venice with my family, we flew to Cappadoccia, Turkey, via Istanbul. We stayed in one of the most unique hotels we have ever seen called, The Scared House. It was a converted Greek mansion that had cave rooms carved into the rock. Thanks to it being a slow week we were upgraded to a amazing room that came stocked with Turkish Delight and homemade cherry liquor. The food was beyond delicious. Our breakfast each morning was multiple courses and came with fresh squeezed juice and both hot and cold options. 

 Enjoying our dinner of mezes on our first night in Cappadoccia.

 

Having a lovely breakfast on the rooftop terrace and feeding the cats in the street our scraps!

 

While in Cappadoccia we toured cave homes dating back to the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries. This is where Christians used to hide from the Romans. Today the cave structures are museums and a few are occupied by Turkish families. We also explored early churches which are decorated with colorful frescos and other original artwork.

 

 

 Trying my hand at the pottery wheel in a local pottery store...much harder than it looks!

 Cappadoccia is known for it's unique geological features and moon like landscapes.

To get a better view of the land we took a hot air balloon ride. We departed our hotel at 4:30 am and headed for the launching area with over one hundred other balloons. The balloons were much bigger than we expected and held about twenty people per basket. It was beautiful, peaceful and something that we will never forget. Our trip lasted about one hour and took us over 900 meters in the air.

 

On the last day in Cappadoccia we toured an underground city that was eight levels deep.  This was the main hiding ground for the Christians where they were able to live completely cut off from outside engagement for over three months. It was very interesting to see how the planned, built and engineered their cave to serve a variety of purposes including cooking, living, a cemetery, animal facilities, toilets and fresh wind tunnels. Crawling through the tunnels gave us a new appreciation for this fascinating way of survival.

Farmer Family Vacation: Zurich, Lake Como, Venice

October is the month of visitors! We started out our month of guests with my favorite group...my family!! My mom, dad and brother came to Zurich on Thursday, October 4th. After a few days in the city we all traveled together to Lake Como and Venice, Italy. It was a wonderful trip!!

 

 On their first night in town we enjoyed a dinner of cheese, bread, salad and an assortment of sausages at home. The following night we went to a traditional Swiss meal of fondue. We sat outside on sheep skin seats while eating cheese and drinking Swiss beer!

 

After touring the city they came out to Kusnacht to visit my school and the surrounding areas. We caught the ferry back to Zurich and had a great view of the Alps the entire way.

On Saturday morning we started our trek to Italy. We got a train from the Zurich HB through the Alps to Lugano.  We had a slight hiccup in Lugano and missed our connecting train. However, it all worked out perfectly and we were able to get pizza and coffee at a great restaurant over looking the lake.

 

When we finally made it to Como we headed out to explore the lake, after getting gelato, of course. Como is different from Zurich in that the mountains rise out of the lake much steeper and are much more green. We hopped on the ferry and enjoyed a lovely ride on the lake, stopping at a smaller town for an hour or so to walk around. The scenery was beautiful. That night we enjoyed a great dinner at our hotel where we had the entire dining room to ourselves!

The next morning Richard, Jeremy and I got up early to ride the funicular to the top of the mountain. It was really interesting to see the lake from a completely different perspective.

We found my mom and dad sitting at a sidewalk cafe drinking cappuccino and people watching!

Dad, I think you should trade in the Harley for a Vespa! This is a good look for you!

On Sunday we took the train through Milan to Venice. We did not leave the Milan train station, but it was a beautiful place to spend an hour.

Upon arriving in Venice we hopped in a water taxi and rode to our hotel. This was such a crazy experience! It was like we were rock stars riding in the back of a limo....all that was missing was the bottle of champagne! The boat was zooming through the canals and missing bridges by only inches. At one point Richard had to duck inside so he wouldn't lose his head! The next days were spent wandering around Venice. There are unique and interesting views around every corner. The whole time we were there we kept commenting on how much water there is and that people actually live in these buildings.

 

We stayed at the Molino Stucky (thanks dad!) and took the ferry across the channel each day to get to main land Venice. This was the amazing view from our hotel.

The roof top view wasn't bad either!

We toured the Doge palace with audio guides. This is where the appointed leader of Venice lived. The grand ballroom/meeting room and the prison were two of the highlights of the tour!

My dad's pilot friend, Issac and his wife, Terry, were in Venice at the same time. We met up with them a few times to share a meal and walk around together.

One of the best parts of the trip was our gondola ride. We peacefully floated through winding waterways for about 40 minutes taking in all the beauty and trying not to tip over. This was an experience we will never forget!

We had a wonderful and memorable trip together! It was far too short and I can't wait for the next time we are all in the same place.