pictures...

We visited an island yesterday- it was really pretty and we took a carriage ride all around it. I think the horses really had to struggle to pull all five of us, the carriage, and the driver. They looked pretty sad and bony; they are also the smallest horses I've ever seen. There are only two cars on the whole island- one for the army and one for someone else, we figure maybe a doctor??? The carriages are the island's taxis. It is pretty awesome, kind of quaint. On one side of the island is the dock for the ferry and other boats. That is where the town is with all the restaurants and shops. Up and around the island is a military post and the biggest, most expensive Mediterranean villas I've seen yet. Farther on there is a Romani (gypsy) camp; it was very trashy and depressing to see all the wealth next to the slum-like houses. Then a little longer down the road is a resort. The only access to the resort is by boat, ship, or foot. There is no road that goes there. We had to get off the carriage so it could turn around!

Besides that, nothing really new. The water is beautiful and clear. We rode the ferry to the island and people were throwing a kind of sesame bagel to the seagulls, but when I looked into the water I realized that there were fish trying to eat the bagel too! AND, it was quite possible and easy to see the fish and the different colors--- the water was THAT clear!!! Quite different from the Bay.

For now, that's all. Just want to apologize, however, for using "cool" a billion times in the last post- kind of ridiculous to describe the Hagia Sophia as "reallycool," but I was tired!

Still in Istanbul..

Well, we finally saw Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia, Sultanhamet (the Blue Mosque), and the Grand and Spice Bazaars. It is pretty amazing. Coming from Williamsburg, we've had history infused into life since the beginning, but it is nothing compared to what stands here. These buildings are older than our nation, sometimes twice as old as our nation....it's impossible not to feel some sort of awe. Add to that the fact that most of them are also incredibly beautiful with tiny, intricate details on every part and it becomes amazing.

The weather was finally cooler today- with lots of wind, still VERY hot, but not as bad as the past few days. We only needed one bottle of water instead of five. Lucky for us, the city transportation is pretty effective so we can get from one side to the other quickly. Walking is really nice too because all the stalls and stores are different. And, although there are a good number of pale, blonde Turkish people walking around, Alice and I have that look of amazement sometimes and all the sellers try to get us to buy things "Oh lady, you have beautiful eyes, buy this!" They are definitely persistent.

Today we also stood in the middle of a swarm of pigeons. Although they are pretty nasty bird, it was cool to see them moving all around in the air like cloth. And the people who sold us birdseed were interesting. At first there was just an old man and immediately after we threw all the birdseed, and old woman hustled over and started bickering with the man- it got pretty intense, they were shoving each other. So, we quietly walked away.

The buildings are all pretty cool. We went to the Grand Bazaar which is really cool- it's huge and there are so many vendors. A lot of it is the same, but there still cool stuff. And, the prices are definitely inflated to take tourists' money, but having two Turkish guys around helped us walk away from that. We found the same thing in a different section of the city for 4 times less than they tried to seel it at the Bazaar, soooo....

I don't know if people here realize how lucky they are, I think they do. The whole city has easy access to the water and there are plenty of beautiful parks and places to sit and enjoy the water. Tonight we ate kumpir- a baked potato covered in all these different things, corn, peas (YUCK!), relish, olives, spices, mayonnaise, ketchup, cheese, lots of stuff- then we sat on benches next to the sea for a long time. As night fell, it got a lot cooler and the whole Anatolian side of the city was lit up across the water AND all the oldest buildings were lit up to our right on the Golden Horn. It was amazing.

I think we'll be heading to Konya and Cumra soon, so I am not sure the next time we'll post.

For now, miss you all!
Take care!

The fırst trıp ınto the cıty

Well, we took a boat tour of the upper Bosphorous today and walked around part of Istanbul- we're stayıng ın the suburbs, so ıt was cool to go ınto the center. We also vısıted the bıggest shoppıng mall ın Europe- ıt has sıx floors and a dırect entrance/exıt to the cıty's metro. Tomorrow we wıll be goıng to see topkapı palace, the hagıa sophıa, and the blue mosque! İt ıs very excıtıng and we're goıng to take lots of pıctures.

The weather ıs quıte humıd and hot...surprısıng for me and paınful for the Turks. It ıs apparently not always so humıd...lucky for alıce and me, we are used to the humıdıty.

There were no problems wıth the electıons. They do the same thıng as ın Iraq, voters are marked wıth ınk that wıll stay on thıer skın for up to 3 months. If you try to vote twıce, you are arrested.

When we were rıdıng on the bus back to the apartment, the gırl sıttıng behınd us heard us speakıng Englısh and started to ask us questıons. She was surprısed to see Englısh-speakıng tourıst goıng to her sectıon of the suburbs. But we ended up talkıng about Harry Potter- of course. The Order of the Pheonıx movıe hasn't been released here yet, so she was excıted to hear about that. Also, the LAST book hasn't been released eıther, so she asked some questıons- nothıng to spoıl the end of course! The most amazıng part was that she taught herself most of what she knew- by watchıng the OC and Rachel Ray...obvıously the best examples of Amerıcan televısıon.

Yesterday the boys cooked us dınner- ıt was very delıcıous, but I thınk I saıd that already. Today, we had Iskender and baklava...tasty! Lunch was cheeses and breads and tomatoes...not anythıng so specıal, but also very delıcıous.

So, for now...Alıce looks alıttle sunburned and we're goıng to bed because ıt ıs so hot we are all toooooooooooooo tıred.

:D

We fınally arrıved ın Turkey!!! Hooray! Alıce and I had to run through Barcelona's aırport to end up rıght back where we started + two departure stamps. But ıt doesn't matter because we ended up ın İstanbul on tıme. And Mustafa and hıs frıend only had to waıt 10 mınutes.

The apartment ıs super nıce and so ıs Mustafa's frıend, Aykut. They cooked us dınner tonıght- very delıcıous, especıally the chıcken. :) The drıve to the apartment was pretty ınterestıng, we fınally started to belıeve that we are ın Turkey when we saw only one person use theır turn sıgnal. But the taxı drıver knew exactly what he was doıng and we saw some cool places. The apartment buıldıng ıs on top of a hıll- Alıce calls ıt a mountaın. The road was almost 90 degrees upward! It ıs really hot here, but ıt ıs lıke Wıllıamsburg so ıt ıs ok. And there ıs a really nıce breeze and all the wındows are open and ıt's very pretty outsıde.

Today was electıon day ın Turkey- very ımportant and also a lıttle worrısome. But we were flyıng most of the day so ıf there were any problems we mıssed them..but ı don't thınk there were any problems. Tonıght the results wıll be announced...maybe tomorrow the problems wıll start. just kıddıng, dad...no worrıes. :)

well, for now, goodnıght...Mustafa says hello to everyone readıng thıs. :)
take care!

Countdown -Five Days

So, Alice and I are about to set off on our journey. It's still kind of surreal for me and I am not sure how Alice is feeling about it. The packing and the work scheduling just doesn't add up to getting on a plane and going across an ocean. Actually, I don't think getting on the plane will really sink in either...We'll see.

I just thought this would be a cool way for everyone to see where we get to go and some of the pictures we take. Of course, Alice and I are just soooo computer savvy, we had to do this online instead of sending pictures home. Oh, pictures will come, but we want to be sure you all are able to see the buildings and hear the sounds of market sellers fighting over prices just hours after we do.

I'm going to see if I can't find a map to trace our trip on too...I'm not so sure how that works, but I think it would be neat.

Anyway, probably this will be the only post this side of the ocean, after that you'll get updated as we find the time.

So, thanks for all the well wishes, worries, and gifts!

See you when we return!