Buyuk Londra Istanbul

... are hushed and the ambiance is warm and pleasurable. First you are asked to change into comfortable cotton pants/bikini and then instructed to lie on a hot marble stone and – surprise, surprise, RELAX. The big marble slab is situated in the middle of a huge, domed, temple-like room. On all sides little alcoves give way to water fountains and further marble slabs. The warmth of the stone and soothing sounds of splashing ...

... or when their parents come to visit they must behave differently. Luckily their family belongs to a sect of Muslim that is not very traditional – the women don’t even have to cover their heads – but still there are big differences between these two lives. For example, honor killing, when a male member will kill a female member of the same family if it is decided that she has dishonored the family (such as become pregnant out of marriage), is illegal but still ...

... or the Thai. The language itself almost sounds French from a distance; whether that could be from a similar underlying Celtic substrata is an interesting proposition. At the beginning of the of the Common Era, Gallic France and Galatian Anatolia were both primarily Celtic, similarities in their languages attested by none other than Saint Jerome himself. Could this explain France's bizarre deviation from the Latin norm? It's almost as if language and ...

... jewelry, flasks, bowls, boxes, chairs, etc. all with gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds in or made of them. There was a chainmail suit with gold chainmail! Len was impressed with the work, not to mention all the jewels worked into the chainmail. We had lunch at the café, be forewarned it is very expensive! We paid 15.5 TL for a chicken donner that on the street would be 3 or 4 TL! A 3 TL pop was 8 TL here. Met a couple from England sitting eating ...

... I saw the largest iron pot I have ever seen. It was probably 3 or 4 feet deep with a diameter of 5 feet: that's some serious cooking. They are so heavy they never actually move. They are standing on two slabs of stone and fires can be made under them. I would not want to be the person in charge of clean-up at this place. After that we went to the Blue Mosque which will have to wait until tomorrow for I grow tired.

... Sofia rose like a turtle shell in the desert, and near its dome stood four minarets. The whitish Blue Mosque flexed its royal, rectangular muscle, looking like an exclusive tomb/sarcophagus. And one of Istanbul's blue channels blew cool water on spectators gazing across at an orange part of the city that climbed in a mosque-like shape up to its highest towers.

In the park, on the same lawn where my companions and I were now resting, a local ...

... his "friend" ( i think it was imaginary since i didnt see him meet up with anyone) came. phew, i was off the hook. I saw so many things today, its almost impossible to list them all. Therefore, a few highlights: Hagia Sophia (check one off the list of places I want to go in my lifetime - simply amazing), Blue Mosque though this excursion isn't yet finished, I got my first sunburn of the season, Topkapi palace, Dolmahbace palace, Galata bridge with all of the ...

... tourists who love to smoke, from cigars to cigarettes (mind you all the restaurants allow smoking too). Few notes from the lawyer perspective. Turkey must not be very litigious. The reason i say is by looking at the stairs, with no railings, the very dangerous streets, and the lack of care in things that could cause personal injury, I just think it's one of those place where if you get hurt, it's probably your fault... (guess I won't be getting a job here...) Today was ...

... warm and fınally feels lıke we are out of europe. campıng ın gallıpolı tomorrow. over the next week or so we have got a balloon rıde and a mountaın clımb whıch sounds brıllıant. everyone ıs lookıng forward to ıran afterwards to detox!! Bye for now. Dave. ps. please excuse the wıerd wrıtıng am usıng a turkısh keyboard!

... to Americans he conceded. It was enlightening talking to him as he said he spoke what was on his mind and was not timid, like he claimed most Turks to be. We spoke of several subjects:

On the issue of Kurdish seperatism: "In my village I have Kurdish friends and Turkish friends. For me there is no difference. It is just the government telling us that "Now you can't like Kurds as they are bad". I don't like the government. What we need is a democracy. The government is bad ...