Allstar Green Park Hotel Istanbul

... After all this time, how could it be proven that a wooden staff they have was the actual staff of Moses? But I guess if it’s a reputable museum like this one, then they couldn’t get away with not telling the truth. It must have been proven some way, by historians or something. A couple cool things we saw in the Imperial Treasury were one of the world’s largest diamonds, the Spoonmaker’s Diamond (surrounded by a double-row of 49 diamonds ...

... head down to meet our tour group. It is a very diverse and well represented group in age and sex, but not so in location. Out of the 15 people in the group 7 of them, believe it or not are Queenslanders, and not only Queenslanders, bloody Brisbanites. Travel halfway around the world and end up with a group of locals. What are the odds???

A nice group dinner and a breaking of the ice and its off to bed to prepare for our first full day of sightseeing. A ...

... were flocking there like American tourists flock to the DC monuments. It was packed with Turkish tourists.

The Turkish soliders were there to do the changing of the guard, with many Turkish tourists gazing on proudly. I saw a group following the guard as they went to change with a little boy maybe 5 of 6 kicking up his legs to march in step with the soldiers. I didn't realize it at the time, but Turkey has compulsory military service, which is remarkable for a country of ...

... reach Sultanahmet, we have been walking all morning and half the afternoon and our feet are complaining-Judith now has blisters on her feet. After some poking around, we find a good restaurant and have a typical Turkish lunch of grilled chicken with pita bread. The meal sated out appetites but what we really needed was to take a siesta, so, back on our tired feet, we returned to the hotel and crashed. Tomorrow we explore the Archeological Museum.

... up with 'carry on' requirements, and 'let's go play trains'. Toot-toot. Passing suited men sit next to me on the garden-style bench. They are drinking beer at 7am, 8am. The beer shop is open. It is easier to buy beer in Russia than it is to buy water. Russia would be the life and death of Brits, Aussies and Saffers. Beer drinking in the street is allowed, it is tradition. Stall after stall near train and subway stations and bus stops offer a window full of beer varieties. Twenty ...

... about the price, and I bravely went up to the ticket office and asked for a student discount in Turkinglish, even though there was no mention of student discounts anywhere. The ticket officers required our student IDs, and the American ones won't do; you have to have a Turkish student ID. Our university being lame, we didn't get IDs, so I tried to explain that we go to this university and that we just have not gotten our IDs yet. My ...

... didn't stay too long as there was water dripping from the earth above us! Topkapi was crowded and noisy at times but actually really interesting - those Sultans certainly knew how to live. The 86 carat Spoonmaker's Diamond caught Alex's eye but Dean was having none of it. Have to say that looking at some of the Ming Dynasty porcelain, you'd have thrown it out. In fact we think we may have done when clearing out ...

Today we went to the Grand Bazaar, which was kind of bizarre. It was just about overflowing with people, and inside it was kind of a big rip-off. But that does'nt mean it wasn't fun. It was amazing and fun! There were so many shops selling stuff from soccer jerseys to tissues, and everything else in between. Then, after much discussion, we decided to walk to Asia (LOL!). We started walking, then had a great fish sandwhich on the Galada bridge ...

... is approaching (this weekend was cold and wet) there are other signs of colder weather. The Aygaz lorry delivering bottled gas drives around the neighbourhood and sounds like a very sad ice cream van. The tones of the Aygaz "song" are rather plaintiff and sound like the theme tune to a Roald Dahl story - one of those Tales of the Unexpected. Next weekend the weather is forecast to impove again. Thank goodness for that. I can put my socks back in the drawer.