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124
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I asked Naki where I could find the bath room, he pointed down the hall where there was another dim light and above the door was a dirty white sign, W.C. I slowly opened the door into a small room that was about 4 feet by 5. A small can of water was sitting on the floor in one corner. In the center of the room was an odd looking depression in the floor, perhaps two and one half feet square. Two large flat foot-shaped slabs of marble, with a hole between them, that went some where, there was no toilet paper, and no wash basin, or towels.
The day had been a long one, and I was tired. I undressed and tumbled into bed, a wooden frame with ropes laced across the frame for springs. The cotton mattress was hard, there were heavy woolen blankets, and the pillows were stuffed with cotton that felt as if made of wood. I slept well and wakened about 6 o'clock. The next morning a small dark faced lad, about 12 years old, tapped on the door, opened it a small crack, and said " Goodidin Effendem" and with a smile, set a basin of warm water on the stand by the bed. I shaved and dressed, went outside where Naki was waiting. We went to a nearby coffee house and had our breakfast, a glass of scalding hot milk, a half-loaf of freshly baked bread, and a large bunch of sweet white grapes, Ishan was waiting for us with the 1952 Ford station wagon. We spent the next day with Toprak Su (The Soil and Water Conservation division of the Ministry of Agriculture.)
Our next hotel was not a lot better than the first. This time the bed was a little softer and the pillow not so hard. I was tired and it didn't take me long to get into bed. The bed seemed to be hot so I threw back the covers, but that didn't cool me off very much, the bed was still hot. By this time I knew that something was not right, so I got up, and turned on the lights in time to see a lot of bedbugs scurry to get out of the light.
The following week Verna and I went to Istanbul for a vacation, and we stayed at the International Hotel, recently built, It was very comfortable and well managed, modern hotel, that attracted a great many tourists.
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Metzger Memories
