crowded, and more chaotic. I'm not sure if the visit was
worth it except for the being able to say we'd been there,
even though a couple of us bought a few things.

There was a huge traffic jam getting to the Park Hyatt
(the designated end point, where Lori_Q, totmode, and
Where2next? were staying), so Ihsan dropped gvdIAD, lili,
and me off partway down so we could walk down Ciragan
Street to szg's birthday party. gvdIAD wanted to freshen
up at his hotel, so our slightly diminished party headed
to the Kempinski, where after an airportlike magnetometer
scan we were allowed to go to the bar, where we met szg,
flysurfer, and rcs85551 and spent an unconscionable amount
on drinks - two Efes, a glass of Sarafin Merlot, a Coke, and
a fruit smoothie: E100. We were served peanuts, chickpeas,
and other fairly tasty munchies, though.

It was coming on time for dinner, and the rest of our party
had arrived, so we strolled over to the restaurant area, and
guess what, they couldn't find our reservation; after some
mutual confusion between the staff and us the lightbulb went
on - instead of the hotel restaurant, where the prices were
high but manageable, we were supposed to go to the grander
dining room, Tugra, in the palace itself.