Finally in Istanbul

After a cancelled flight, our 36 hour (door-to-door trip) was less painful than you might imagine (thanks to cousin Hali for putting us up (and up with us) for an emergency overnight stay in NYC.
Anyway, here are some photos and initial impressions of Istanbul:

A market street:




Ancient underground cisterns near Topkapi Palace (sideways, sorry!):












Blue Mosque at night with birds (bats?) swirling aroung the minarets:












Mosaics in Topkapi


KK on ferry to Asia (Uskadar):
June 21, 2007

This is KK writing. I was in NY at the airport for more then 7 hours. It was really annoying, like my brothers. Only if a stupid cargo door wasn’t jammed. But the next day we went back to the airport, got on the plane and the flight was fun. There were games, movies and seats that let us sleep lying down on the airplane. It was, what’s the word, very, very, roomy. We also got there at 2:00 A.M. Turkish time, which is 7 hours ahead. That same day I woke up at 12:45 P.M. We gathered with my dad’s friends at like 1 or something. The friend’s son was 6 ft 7. He was double my size. And where ever you go there is a stray cat (NO HOME) but, most are kittens. And some are dogs also.

‘Ey. ‘Dis is K1. To begin, we were stuck in ‘da bloody airport for seven hours and then they finally tell us it’s canceled. The next day, we go to the plane and we’re on for 12 hours tops. It was spacious and really fun. There were movies and very fancy meals like ravioli with many spices and grilled shrimp. Once we got to Istanbul, I immediately noticed many differences, like the taste of the air, and the language. We went to sleep at dawn for 2 reasons. First, the trip was very long and second was because of jetlag, or the distortion of your usual sense of time and the time zone of the country you're in. Just after we got in bed, we could hear the call to prayer singing from the mosque, it's a very different country.

First day, we wake up at noon and we meet some of me dad’s friends. As my first time in Istanbul, I notice something very different…there are stray cats and kittens everywhere. You can’t go any where without seeing a stray cat or the occasional dog. They treat us to lunch which was shish kebab and baklava, or pastries infused with honey for dessert. We go to the home of the sultans, Topkapi Palace, and we explore it. We then take a break at the hotel. We went to a royal styled restaurant and I had meatballs and baklava for dinner and dessert.

I am K2. Today in Turkey I saw the old market where there are hundreds of shopping stalls and stuff. Yesterday I got to see the Sultan’s palace. I saw a bunch of cats and a display of fancy ancient weapons at the palace and everything was covered with diamonds and colorful jewels.

We are on to Athens tomorrow AM! Keep checking and email us if this is working! Regards, C and M