hello and thank you for the comments on the posts. i like to keep the blog going despite being on vacation because it's fun to write tidbits on what i see/experience here.
first of all, if anyone needs tips on istanbul traveling, please ask. hee hee... i feel nora and i have done almost everything on the guidebook (likewise with prague) and that's a really good feeling. enough that we can go back to our favorite restaurant and enough that people maybe speak to us in turkish. (ok, nora doesn't look that turkish but if i had more make up and smoked, i'm sure they would speak to me in turkish!)
we went to (google and wikipedia all you want) topkapi, agia sophia, blue mosque, bosphorous tour, istanbul modern, turkish and islamic art museum, istiklal, galata and galata tower, spice bazaar, basilica cisterns... you name it!
very fun and i have a lot of photographs that i'll eventually get a link out to.
also fun though is feeling very bubbly because of a 10 minute phone conversation. it's funny how different worlds can flirt with each other innocently. and how just that sweetness is plenty to get you giggling.
enough said about that but also, nice to see how people are when they travel and i had the bonus of that and seeing the same person in their home country. interesting to see what dictates a person's behavior and how that, when in touch through a phone, can be different than live.
i think my favorite sweetest part (and it makes you think about world politics somewhat) was hearing a muslim guy tell a jewish girl: "merry christmas." so sweet and cute and funny all at the same time. i love being bubbly. (for lack of a better adjective) and i'm sure if you have no barriers and are not afraid of intimacy, you share my feeling.
onto next destination tomorrow: greece.
much love to all who keep reading this, so far, this has been a great trip!
