Turvan Hotel Istanbul

... James stayed and the next trip I will try to get into the house. There was a gate and now the place is owned privately and no one answered. It is called the Pasha's Library. Now I know where he was and I walked where he had to have walked and tried to think about him living here. He means so much to so many of us and he was so brave and so brilliant. I feel as if I should have told him what he meant to me that one time I met him but I was too overwhelmed to know what to ...

... which I guess
is an instrumental piece in plot of the 60's movie 'Topkapi.' The
thing has 3 emeralds 1-2 inches in diameter on the hilt, along with
hundreds of other little stones. The detail and the excess of all the
items in the Topkapi Palace Treasury were fairly exhausting.

From Topkapi we walked maybe a quarter
mile to the Blue Mosque to see it before it closed to visitors. Today
was the first day of Ramadan, so we were lucky to be able to get in
at all ...

... equaled or were much greater
than the yearly income of the slum dwellers and poor farmers we
encountered, or even perhaps our driver, one of the sweetest men I have
ever met, Mr. Deng. But cheerfulness or pride or hospitality is not
absent from their lives. My favorite picture from China was of a sweet Chinese farmer who was happy to let me take his picture. I doubt he had changed his clothes in days... or that he
even owned another set. He smiled when ...

... somewhat different to anything else I had previously experienced. The entire time spent in Istanbul was cold and rainy, which diminished the novelty of the place to such a degree that at times I hardly felt like leaving the house. It was at this time I resolved never to travel in the winter months where it could be avoided.

... the area that becomes a meeting ground at night after iftar.  Things weren't quite open but it was enough to see that it had a carnival like atmosphere of food.   Next up was the Cistern.  This was great cause it was underground and cool!  It cost 10lira($7) to go in there and it really was pretty cool. :-)  From the Cistern, it was back outside to the heat and over to the Hagia Sofia.  The entrance here was 20lira($14) but so worth it!  Before going in, sat ...

... blue, but by no means was it overly spectacular. Not that we were expecting Disneyland's Fantasmic or anything. Along with the music comes a narrative with different voices portraying different people. I am somewhat assuming this though as tonight's show was in German. (They have different languages on different nights). The lights weren't really a 'show' - but they more or less highlighted various ...

Istanbul Airport, Turkey, 11.15 am Turkish Time, 10 /5/2008 (Applause) Tanaya sets afoot on foreign soil for the first time & ... she felt cold! For all of you wondering who is Tanaya aka Tan, well she is my colleague at work and a good friend and a person who had the misfortune to be my travelling partner. I for a matter of fact, couldn't care less. I wanted to spot the Turkish GP circuit. My head is hurting as ...

... offensive the New Zealand troops actually captured this hill for all of two days before the Turkish took it back. This is now the site of the New Zealand war memorial. As the battle was really going nowhere and was becoming unpopular at home because of the heavy losses, it was decide to withdraw. They were able to do this in December and January without a single life being lost. Jenn here again. That rounds of our Turkish experience. It's an ...

... to have a guide to point everything out, and answer some stupid questions, some of which are mine. We're getting our first Turkish shower. Of course it starts when we're out in the "Troys." To make this more confusing "The Troys" have different time lines starting at 3000BC going up to about 300AD. At the 2nd site a panoramic view of the entire "Troy" is visable. Ruins of the large stone houses from the Mycenaean period are here. Site number 3 is the Roman Period with a ...

... lunchtime and the mall has the ever present food court, there were a lot of professionals in grabbing a bite to eat at KFC, Schlotsky's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks. I chose to have a piyaz salata and kebabs. I just could't bring myself to order a double cheeseburger and fries here in Istanbul...I mean, what's the point of journeying across oceans if all I'm going to do is replicate life in Grand Rapids. The mall didn ...