We suspected that something was up when we were in Athens, and the feeling grew when we reached Thessaloniki.

By the time we got to Istanbul, we just HAD TO KNOW.

We found a Turkish chemist's shop, just round the corner from the Grand Bazaar, and asked for a pregnancy test kit.

This wasn't too difficult, the chemist understood a few words of English and dug us one out.

He gift-wrapped it for us (we have no idea why, but it was a nice touch..!) and we took the kit back to our room at the classic Pera Palace Hotel.

Nicolette assured Mark that the test kit instructions would come in several languages, as they always do... but of course when we opened the kit, the instructions only came in TURKISH!

We managed to do the test and within a few minutes Mark announced that Nic was 'hamile seni'...

"So what does that mean..?" asked Nicolette.

"Well," said Mark, helpfully, pacing up and down the room with the stick in one hand, peering at the instructions in the other, " it means we're not 'hamile degil seni'...!"

Nicolette: "So which one means pregnant and which means not pregnant?"

Mark: "How on Earth should I know? I don't speak Turkish!  But I'm going to find out..."

Mark ran out of the room clutching the instructions, charged down two flights of stairs, skidded to a halt in the hotel lobby and stuck the instructions under the nose of the hotel manager.

"Um. Er. Can you help translate this word..?"

Mark could tell from the manager's expression that he didn't know the English word he needed, but inspiration soon crossed his face and he moved his hand in a big arc over his stomach.  "Baby..!" he said...

So Mark asked "..so 'hamile değil seni'?".

The man replied 'No Baby'.

Mark: "But hamile seni?"

Man: "Baby!"

Crying 'Yeeesssss!!" to the great surprise of hotel guests, and with a big grin, Mark triumphantly ran back up the stairs to tell Nicolette -

we were pregnant..!