Following an early night and a better rest, we are now moving rapidly toward the end of the Turkish portion of the trip. We back-tracked for a while today to Aksaray then past Lake Tuz (Salt lake) from where much of the country's salt is harvested. The land was very flat most of the way and quite dry apart from where irrigation had been created. At last, we have seen some sheep although we wonder just what they feed on.
Around 1pm we arrived in Ankara where we first visited the Attaturk Mausoleum. 
Attaturk (who was the leader in establishing Turkish independence in 1923 and many reforms in the country until his death in 1938) is revered by the Turkish people 
and has been honoured with a massive memorial along with a museum commemorating his war-time exploits and the changes in Turkey during his time as leader. We still do not know who the visiting dignitary was for whom we were shunted out of the mausoleum building but based on no information, we are going to say it was either Hilary Clinton or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In reality it might have just been a couple of oldies from the local equivalent of the RSA.Next we had an hour and half in the Museum of Anatolian civilisation. This is contained in two renovated buildings from the Ottoman era and has a stunning array of artifacts from the Anatolya area of Turkey (which is where we have been for the last 5 days). The displays covered from Paleothithic times (stone-age), through the bronze age and up to about the 3rd Century BC. The items ranged from small icons of Gods 
to personal items like these Hittite prototype safety pins 
to large relief sculptures in stone. 
Out in the gardens were more artefacts covering the next 500 years, mostly in the form of Roman sculptures. It would have taken many more hours than we had to take in all the information available but it helped me clarify a few questions about the role of the Hittites in Turkish history. The museum was carefully organised in chronological order which made the development of the civilisation easy to follow.
to personal items like these Hittite prototype safety pins to large relief sculptures in stone. Out in the gardens were more artefacts covering the next 500 years, mostly in the form of Roman sculptures. It would have taken many more hours than we had to take in all the information available but it helped me clarify a few questions about the role of the Hittites in Turkish history. The museum was carefully organised in chronological order which made the development of the civilisation easy to follow.We reached our hotel before 5pm today and were ready for the break. Tomorrow, we drive back to Istanbul and take a ferry ride on the Bosphorus.
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