Hotel Les Ottomans Istanbul

... waiting for classes to start up). Every time we go in for meetings or classes (I've started one class), we say to ourselves: "It's like we work for a real school!"

So at the moment, we've got lots of time to shop for furniture and get ourselves settled in -- which isn't really such a bad thing (apart from the fact that Istanbul is more expensive than we'd anticipated). We'll continue to wait for things to pick up and keep writing to you -- stay tuned!

... good restaurant.
6. The Archeology Museum is one the most worthwhile Museums you will ever find with rooms dedicated to different eras of sculptures in Turkey, and the necropolis of Sidon!
7. Beyoglu is the best place to go out in the evenings - filled with young Istanbullus going to restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs!! Not only that but you will also mingle with the oldest tramway in Europe, the Pera Palace Hotel where Agatha Christie wrote most of ...

... earlier than the brochure had us going... we were feeling pretty good about our timing...we shouldn't have.

From Safronbolu we drove straight North to the Black Sea coast town of Amasra, which was kind of quaint. There were no foreign tourists from what we could see and almost no one seemed to speak English. We walked through one of the markets quickly, mainly Jeremy's attempt to kill a little bit of time (about 15 minutes) because we were so early for lunch, and then we ...

... some water to wash it which she initially accepts then ignores. Her friends arrive, we put the chain back on and depart. This has been the first interaction with ordinary turks. The culture here is very different; groups of girls go picnicing together where in the uk they might shop or drink. These picnics are well organised with blankets and a wide range of mostly fresh food in boxes. We head back to town and Worst hand of scrabble; two Z and three U's

... amazing to see all the people praying. I was one of only a few who was respectful and rolled my pants down and wore a scarf over my head. Being female I was allowed to go to a part of the mosque upstairs which access is obviously allowed only to women. We sat down for a bit after this because it really was tiring. We then went to the Basilica Cistern which is an underground waterway all lit up. It was beautiful ...

... tub. There were thing floating in the water, and I couldn't tell whether they were special herbs or just dirt. They also did not use the most hygenic tools, but hey, they did a good job and my feet became a lot prettier and cleaner than it has been in the last 2 weeks! We were grinning very widely at this point. Oh, Day of Pamper! Strolling and doing some more shopping on the way down, we found a side street full of cute discount ...

... obelisk, and the Spiral column. Then around the back of the Blue Mosque to the Hotel Spina, the meet-up place for the tour tomorrow. Lots of nicely renovated older places around here, with a good atmosphere. Go past Blue Mosque on way back, and find the Sound & Light show is in English tonight at 9pm, so wait around for it. Take some good pictures of the mosque lit up, though the lit-up signs in fairy lights ...

... we left the Bazaar, wew alked up to the Galada bridge and had an outstanding fish sandwhich. Then we walked across the bridge, thinking that we were in Asia, but we were still in Europe. We saw some really cool shops, but couldn't go in them. We went on a trolley. On it, I was in the back. After that, we caught a bus to get back to the hotel. We stayed there for a while, then we had dinner in a restuarant in the hotel's basement. It was a cave.

Arrived back to Istanbul this am via overnight train...it was pretty hilarious because at times it seemed like the train would jump its tracks throughout the night...up and down, side to side, stop here then go etc...it was quite amusing. We had a 3am ...