Day 4 - Ankara

We arrived in Ankara, Turkey's capitol, in the late afternoon. After a light meal (where I got Mine to teach me how to order a small serving of soup), there was just enough time to visit the Swan Park. It was a short walk from our hotel and a nice bit of exercise after a long bus ride. Again, it was a great place to try some things with my new camera. (You have no idea how hard it is to take a picture of a black swan at night!)

Anatolian Civilizations Museum

First stop of the day: the Anatolian Civilizations Museum[*]. This museum has a large collection of artifacts from the early history of Anatolia (a portion of Turkey). Unfortunately, much of this museum was closed for renovation. Only one large room was open. (There are a couple of items that I really wanted to see -- I'd seen pictures of them on the Internet -- but they weren't on display.)

Atatürk's Mausoleum and Peace Garden

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk[*] is the "Father of Modern Turkey". He brought in many reforms, including giving women the right to vote and adopting the use of the Roman alphabet for written Turkish. It is due to him that Turkey proudly proclaims the separation of mosque and state. Many describe him as the "George Washington of Turkey". When we visited his mausoleum, it almost felt like visiting the Lincoln Memorial.