germany: dresden

I'd visited Dresden before, but it was just a day trip with rainy weather. When Bo suggested we meet up in the city, I said hey, why not. I can always justify a weekend trip somewhere. Always.

I took a taxi from school to the airport, flying Lufthansa. Both of my flights went smoothly, I arrived on time. Thankfully, the public transport in Dresden is a metro train, which comes regularly. I rode the train to the central train station, and went to find Bo, who said we could meet up at a giant Christmas tree.

He tapped me on the shoulder as I was going down a flight of stairs, he'd met my s-bahn from the airport but I'd completely missed him. He showed me to the Christmas tree, it was indeed very big. In another area of the train station was a GIANT stack of (presumably fake) ritter sport chocolate bars. If only they were real! Greatest marketing item ever.

We walked out of the station, I followed him. Bo had arrived in the city earlier in the day by train, so he'd already figured out how to get to the hotel, which I really appreciated. I'm not a huge fan of arriving anywhere after dark, but I don't always have a choice. On the way to the hotel we stopped at a small shack for a snack of curry wurst. Now that I like the stuff, I can't get enough of it!! With spicy sauce and mustard, I'm a happy camper. The bread roll that came with the wurst was the best bread roll I've ever had.

Our hotel was in a quiet neighborhood, which was nice. Some people want a hotel in the middle of nightlife, or at least close to it, but that's pretty much the last thing I want. We used wifi to take a look at what to see in the city over the next couple days, Bo already had a paper city map on which we could mark what we wanted to see.

The next morning I woke up earlier than Bo, because I always do. We got ready to go, and started walking toward the tram stop. On the way we stopped at the bakery on the corner of the same block where our hotel was located. We also stopped into another bakery close to the tram stop. Dresden has great bakeries, yum.

Close to the tram stop was an evangelical lutheran church. Like most churches, it caught my eye. I took photos of the outside, but the doors weren't open for me to go inside. Darnit.

We took the tram back to the hauptbahnhof, where we'd met up the night before. We walked through the station and out the other side. I remembered this walk from the last time I visited Dresden, I knew where to go. Even if I hadn't known where to go, it would've been easy to follow other tourists to the pedestrian zone.

Walking along the zone we looked into a couple more bakeries, somehow I didn't buy anything even though everything looked good. I stepped into a store with watches, hoping to find a Timex Ironman, but the store didn't have what I wanted.

We arrived at the Frauenkirchen, an iconic church in the old area of Dresden. This church is featured on many postcards of the city. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we discovered it was closed in order to prepare for a concert taking place that evening. Argh.

Since the Frauenkirchen is well known, and in the middle of a large platz, there are heaps of people around, including random performers. I liked the guy making huge bubbles while wearing a blue tuxedo. There was also a man playing a grand piano in front of the statue of Martin Luther, it was nice to listen for a few minutes.

We would our way through streets to a particular street which is known because of what is on the wall. It's called the parade of kings. On the wall is a long mural, depicting each king of the Saxon Kingdom. It's another iconic place in the city, I think it's more unique than anything else in the city. I still haven't figured out how to take a photo of the mural that shows the whole thing, and shows it well.

Our next sight was the Dresden Cathedral. Visitors enter through a non-descript door on one side of the church, then go up a short flight of stairs to get into the church itself.

It's a big church, but not super fancy. I like the ceiling, and the organ at the back of the church. Some of the interior of the church is being redone, so it was covered up in plastic. There is no entry fee, yippee!

We walked a bit more, past the opera house. I looked at one of the signs on the front of the opera house, to check out prices and times for tours, but nothing worked out for us. Another time I'd love to see a show, or take a tour. I love classic old school European opera houses, and all the etiquette that goes with them.

We arrived at the entry area of the Residenzschloss. We walked through the arches, into the gardens in the interior courtyard. It's a stunning area, everyone who walks in whips out their camera and starts taking photos. It's not super fancy, but everything is divided into sections. Since we were there in mid November, there wasn't anything special to see, but I was still happy to be there. We took a few timed pictures on one set of stairs, it's amazing how often people walk through photos being taken. I was laughing and frustrated at the same time.

I also like the upper balconies/railings of this area. Along the railings of the balconies are statues, and you can see the stone decor of the buildings as well. One of the 'gates' into the area has a giant crown on top, it's definitely worth a photo. Given the crappy weather, it was nice to see the gold in the crown. Another area of the gardens has a fountain, surrounded by statues and whatnot. After waiting (not so) patiently for other people to get out of my way, I was able to take a panoramic photo of the whole thing. We also took photos of each other in the dry fountain, hee hee.

We exited to the schloss area, and walked across a bridge to the other side of the river. We saw a cafe that seemed welcome in the grey skied weather, and went in. I was happy to have ice cream, despite the cold. It had hot raspberry sauce, which equals out the cold, right?

After eating, we walked through an aisle of trees, straight up the street. The trees are nice, and still had colour from the fall season. Unfortunately, it was too dark to take photos to show the colour. We walked all the way to the end of the street, as we both still felt the need to move. By the time we got to the end of the street we found a circular intersection and went all the way around.

Then we walked all the way back to the old city area. I took a couple night photos on the bridge as we walked. I wanted to take a photo of a display set up by one vendor, but he didn't want me to do so, darnit.

In the hauptbahnhof we grabbed a quick dinner at a branch of the place we'd first found in Berlin, an Asian fast food place. Tofu and veggies make me happy :) Also in the hauptbahnhof was a cheap grocery store, where I found ritter sport chocolate bars on sale. I'm sure plenty of people would say that buying six of them was too many, but I'm not one of those people. That same grocery store also had the glass jars of Landliebe yogurt I love so much. Definitely more than one serving, but I don't get them very often. In addition to the chocolate, we picked up breakfast food for the next morning.

When we got up the next morning the food and drinks were still cold because Bo had put them on the sill outside the window the night before. Yay for a yogurt I love for breakfast. We cleaned up, packed up, and checked out, each of us carrying our backpack with us. This day was better, because the weather was much better. Mostly blue skies with some clouds make every photo better. I took another photo of the Lutheran Church from the day before, just because it looked better with a mostly blue sky.

We took the tram back to the hauptbahnhof, and found the small area where we could rent a locker to store our backpacks. We found one big enough for both our packs, yay! In the hauptbahnhof I found a small shack and bought hot chocolate, just because it sounded good.

We went back to the giant stack of fake ritter sport bars, and took photos. Definitely one of my favourite travel photos of all time, hee hee. If only all that chocolate was real.....

We walked past the Frauenkirche, back to the parade of kings. While walking along that street, I bought postcads and a magnet, getting that 'chore' out of the way.

We went back to the gardens in the schloss, and took more photos since everything looked better. I was happy to get a photo with the crown behind us, and blue skies.

We followed the same route we'd followed the day before, crossing the bridge. Across the street from our ice cream cafe the day before we found a bakery full of yummy stuff. I ended up buying something with cherries, and another pastry too. Yum. I wasn't hungry, but couldn't help myselfhe Sometimes I think it's a good thing I don't live in a place with yummy bakeries everywhere.

We continued to follow the same path as the day before, all the way to the same intersection at the very end. This time, instead of turning around, we kept walking. We walked past a very drunk man, all the way to Louisenstrasse.

This started our time in a 'hippy' neighborhood. Many of the buildings had graffitti on the lower levels, and the shops were of a more vintage sort. Heaps of cafes too. We even saw people painting an archway, which was fun to watch for a few minutes.

We turned up Koenigstrasse, which brought us to another archway. When we passed through the archway we'd entered an area known as the Kunsthof Passage. The apartment buildings in this area are decorated in a way I've never seen. It's not the type of decor you get from mosaics, or painting, or fancy brickwork. It's what you get when other pieces are 'glued on' to the exterior. One of the buildings was yellow, and the decor was a series of large yellow tiles. Another building was blue, with pipes and flower pots and such. We weren't the only ones taking a look at everything, it's definitely a fun area. There are a few cafes, but we didn't really have time to sit and relax.

To get back to the old city area we followed another street, totally non touristy. I took a photo of a woman at a bus stop just because it seemed so normal. When we got close to the old town area we walked along the water for a bit, which was quite pretty and relaxing. Even though it wasn't stunning, it was one of those moments when you think 'hey, I have a pretty good life.'

We wound our way through the old town streets back to the Frauenkirche. I'd seen the inside before, but Bo hadn't. It's iconic for a reason. There are volunteers there who help keep all the visitors quiet, which takes some effort. There are a lot of people in there, and many visitors forget that a church is supposed to be a place of reflection and prayer, not yelling and gossiping. This church was hit during the war, but a lot of it has been redone, and it looks amazing. Most visitors only go to the ground floor, though you can pay 8 euros (!!!) to go up the bell tower. I think that allows you to go to the balconies as well, though I'm not sure. Everyone exits through a different door than they entered.

We started moving a little faster, heading back toward the hauptbahnhof again. I was very aware of the time, and knew I couldn't afford to miss my train back to the airport. When we got to the hauptbahnhof I ordered food for both of us, while Bo went to get our luggage from storage. We met up again in the middle of the train station.

We said our goodbyes, and I boarded the train. Around 20 minutes later I was at the airport, printing out my boarding pass. The airport offers 30 minutes of free wifi, I wish it was a little longer. My flights back to Kyiv were easy and smooth.

I hope to come back to Dresden another time, and get to know the rest of the city better, and maybe even do a day trip in the area.

czech republic: prague (something new every time)

Prague is another place I always know I can visit and see something new, no matter how many times I've been there.
I took a taxi straight from school to the airport in kyiv. Since I was flying a 'real' airline (vs a budget airline,) I got a snack and drink on the plane. Yippee! An easy direct flight, I wish that was possible more often.
I landed in terminal 1 of the airport in Prague, which is where you land when you're coming from outside the schengen zone. I thought I would see mom outside baggage claim, but she wasn't there. I checked the arrivals board and saw that ken's flight was coming into terminal 2 (schengen arrivals,) so I walked there and found mom. Ken arrived a few minutes later and I introduced the two of them.

We bought tickets for public transport and hopped on bus 119. It is super convenient, and cheap. There is also a shuttle bus to the city center, filled more with tourists than locals. It costs more, but I don't know the price since I've never ridden it. Either way, I think it's awesome that there are public, easy options to get into the city. Our bus took us to a metro stop, we rode that line to a stop across the street from our hotel. Yay!
Ken found out mom likes indian food, so he searched for restaurants in the neighborhood. He found one, so we went to mom's flat and she joined us. We walked for a bit before realizing we didn't know exactly where we were going. Ken's phone wasn't behaving, he wasn't able to find the restaurant on the map again. Fortunately it started working again after a few minutes.

Originally we thought the restaurant was indian, it ended up being vegetarian more than indian. As we entered we found out the menu was more according to how much you ate as opposed to what you ate. There was a select number of options available, you could have any or all of them, a little or a lot. You pay for a small meal or a big meal.
We all had rice, a vegetable curry, apple chutney, and a salad with cabbage and peanuts. Ken and mom had some sort of spinach patty too. The meal wasn't what we expected, but I think we all enjoyed it. And it was cheap! The total bill ended up being about $4 each!

I suppose ken and I could've gone out on the town, but we were exhausted, so we called it a night, after making plans for the next day with mom.
The next morning ken and I took the metro to malostranska. As we came out of the station, I looked to my right and saw people coming out of a door. I wanted to see where they'd been, so I walked and peeked in the door. I saw a pretty garden, so I called to ken to come explore.
Waldstein garden is pretty. Since it is only the very beginning of spring, nothing is blooming. I'm guessing in a few weeks it will be full of beauty. As we walked around a small pond, we heard a strange sound. Just after, I saw a peacock coming in to land. I had no idea peacocks can fly! There were two or three peacocks tellin at each other, it was loud. (It sounded like yelling to me; for all I know they were singing to each other.) The birds yelling at each other were all male. Two normal peacocks, and one albino peacock. It makes sense that every animal has potential as an albino, but this was a first for me. A white peacock!! Beautiful. In another area we saw two female peacocks.

Since Ken was getting hangry, we hopped on the next tram and took it just one stop, to a small platz. This is where a lot of tourists start their walk up to castle hill. It was 1100 by that point, so at the cafe we chose, I had a caprese salad. More impressive than the food was our view of the towers of st Nicholas, which was about 300m away.
We opted not to go in st Nicholas, as there is an entrance fee, and both of us have seen more than our fair share of European churches and cathedrals. Someday I will actually go in at Nicholas, but it didn't happen during this visit.

Continuing up the hill, there is one switchback, the corner of which has a nice view of the city. As we came to the top of the hill, I realized there was a crowd just inside the gates of the castle, and I could hear military style music. I quickly saw the musicians were actually standing just inside windows on the second floor, an there was a changing of the guards happening, or something along those lines. We watched the end, just because we were there.
Just outside the gates of the castle we saw a group of members of the red hat society. I've heard and read about this group, this was the first time I'd seen them. Very very cool. This group was from an area near Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.

We went through the castle, and got to the front of st Vitus cathedral. The castle is very close to the cathedral, it's really difficult to get a picture of the entire front of the cathedral. You just can't back up far enough. As it turned out, we got there while the cathedral was closed for the midday, so we continued walking, on the shady side of the church. I kinda wish we had waited around, (it's lovely inside) but 40mins of waiting didn't sound like fun.
We took a photo together at the back of st vitus, as that side of the church is also quite beautiful...plus, there is a small square of sorts that allows photos to be taken with the entire side of the building in the photo (unlike the front side)

We walked past the entrance to st George's church, skipping the interior of that one as well...(another church which I have not entered, but hope to do someday)...the path next to st George's takes you past the church, and closer to the entrance of the so called 'golden lane'...it also requires an entrance fee, argh...(we didn't go in the street)...
From there we walked down the hill, passing a few musicians along the way...ken was happy to donate to the one who played freebird when he asked...hee hee...

The bottom of this hill was just around the corner of malostranska station...instead of going back up the hill, we crossed the river on the bridge next to the famous Charles bridge...not too long after crossing, ken saw a restaurant/cafe/brewery (I'm not sure which it was) and he wanted to stop, so in we went...our food took a bit longer than we expected, but it wasn't bad...(not great, not bad)...as we paid the bill our waiter gave me an orange rose 😀
We followed the street parallel to the river, coming to the tiny square at one end of Charles bridge...it's always filled with people; some are about to cross the bridge, others have just come over, and still others are just hanging out...on the platz (it's really small) are two churches that are now used for evening concerts, often with an organ...I don't know architecture all that well, but I'm pretty sure they are both baroque, which I don't particularly love, as I think it's too 'busy'...we peeked inside one of them, just because we could...

Then we crossed Charles bridge...all the postcards have beautiful photos where you can see all the statues, an it looks empty...the reality is very different...it's packed with people, and there are vendors all along both sides of the bridge...depending on your mood it's either awesome or really annoying...thank goodness ken is tall, I didn't have to worry about losing him in the crowd...
We took stairs down from the side of the bridge before reaching the end...I don't remember why, but that's what we did...there are plenty of little shops, cafes, etc...since it was a beautiful day (still a bit chilly, but there was a lovely blue sky, which made it feel warmer,) there were plenty of people out walking, sitting outside at the cafes...

A bit further along the river ken found a display of American military 'stuff'...even though the American military didn't liberate Prague itself during the war (they only made it to rokycany (sp?) in the west) many Czechs are very grateful and show it through museums and displays like this one...ken loved the motorcycle...
We got back on the bridge and walked to the end, going under the tower...(there are towers on both ends, both appear in various postcard photos)...
Not far from where we'd eaten breakfast that morning, we met mom at the entrance to vrtba gardens...it's not a well known sight, but I think its popularity is growing...the entrance isn't obvious, the sign out front isn't big or splashy...when you first go in, you can't even see what it is you are going to see...

Vrtba garden was originally a private garden, belonging to one of the wealthy folks in the city...it isn't huge, it is landscaped, and there are levels...it is a beautiful location for weddings, and when one of those is taking place, the garden is closed to the public...(meaning Saturdays in the summer are not good times to visit)...
The garden was closed during the communist years, due to its location next to the U.S. Embassy. During those years the small area in which you see beautiful frescoes was used as a pram storage room. The former mansion was used as a kindergarten.
We walked through the garden, going up each level of stairs. Some of the stairs are rather skinny, not made for large people or two people going in opposite directions.

As we got to the top level I was able to show ken why this garden is my favorite location in Prague. You can see over the entire city, and you feel like you are close to the city at the same time. (While I love beautiful city views, you're often far away, or very high up. Somehow, this isn't the case with this garden.) we sat and chatted for a while.
Eventually we wound our way back down all the stairs, and back across Charles bridge. Since mom is not as tall I had to keep an eye on her so we didn't get too separated among the crowds. Ken was still easy to see.
After we got back to the old town area, mom and I took a quick detour to show Ken a particular piece of art. I think I've mentioned it before, but in case I haven't, this is a sculpture of a guy hanging off a pole over the street. If you aren't expecting it, it's quite a surprise. It looks realistic enough to make you think (initially, anywho) that it's a real person hanging over the street. Mom says Czechs have mixed feelings about the sculpture, as it isn't very traditional.

As we came around a corner that gave ken his first glimpse of the old town square, ken said he was officially wowed. Yahoo, mission accomplished 😀
We walked past the astronomical clock, it was nowhere near the top of the hour so we didn't wait around. (At the top of each hour you get to see the twelve apostles 'march' by, it's cute, and people crowd in to see.)
A little bit further into the square ken and mom saw a cafe and they were both a bit hungry, so we sat. We could see quite a bit of the square, which was full of booths selling all sorts of stuff. Some food, some decorations, some random knick knacks, etc. The booths aren't there most of the time, mom said they usually appear around Christmas/New Years and Easter.  After we ate (all three of us chose traditional Czech food) we walked through some of the booths, coming upon a pen holding a couple sheep and a donkey. Ken had fun feeding them.

From there we walked out the other side of the square, walking under the powder tower. I can't remember why that tower is important, even though mom has told me a few times.
Not too far from the tower we got to the tram stop where we hopped on tram #5. It took us directly back home.
The next morning we slept in, then got up and packed up. Mom and I had planned to go with ken to the airport, but he had another idea. We ended up eating breakfast, then he caught a car to the airport.

Mom and I went back to her flat, then relaxed for a while. Eventually we went back out, and took a combination of metro and tram to get to Strahov monastery. Mom hadn't been there in a while, but she has memories of being there when she was younger.
The garden on one side of the monastery is big, and offers another view over the city. Absolutely lovely. We entered one courtyard and building, buying tickets that gave us entry to the cloister area. Several of the rooms around the cloister had been set up with exhibits, mostly of art. We walked through the rooms with paintings on display pretty quickly, neither of us enjoys dawdling in front of paintings. My favourite part of that area was when we stepped into the summer refectory. The entire ceiling is painted, it's gorgeous. I took a heap of photos, none of which do it justice. I got a crick in my neck from staring up so much.

We exited that area, and walked around to the entry of the church. Unfortunately, we were only able to peer inside through a couple windows in the inner doors. I don't know if the church is always open that way to visitors, or if we were there at an unlucky time. Regardless, I saw a sign indicating no photos were allowed.

At another entry we bought more entry tickets, and walked up a flight of stairs. This was the library. WOW...AMAZING...it was incredible...I'm not usually a huge fan of paying extra to take photos, but in this case I thought it was worth it.
The library is divided into two halls, the theological hall and the philosophical hall. Both are beautiful. The walls are covered with bookshelves in both rooms. In the philosophical hall the books go up high enough that a special laser is required. Both halls are now blocked off by a rope at their entrances, visitors can only peer in. Mom remembers walking where a she wanted, back when she was a student. I wonder when the library essentially closed to public use and became a tourist sight instead.
I took as many photos as I could, of course. Each hall has a lady who checks those taking photos, making sure they've paid. As annoying as that can be, it's nice to know it's tough to sneak the photos.

After getting my fill of the library, mom and I exited the entire area. A little way down the hill toward the castle, we stepped into a cafe for a snack. Both of us had sandwiches and a sweet. Then we walked all the way down the hill, and when we got to the bottom I wondered out loud why there weren't more tourists at the monastery. It's not totally quiet, but it's also not overrun; considering how close it is to the castle, I'm surprised there aren't more people walking up the hill.
We took the tram and metro back home, picking up dinner at the food court in the mall across the street.
The evening was spent just relaxing. Mom bought flights and made a hotel booking for her visit to Kyiv in May. Yay!
The next morning was the same as the previous morning in terms of waking up and packing. Then mom took me to the airport and we said 'see you later' again.
I will be back!

turkey: instanbul, with seoullites

i think this was my 3rd visit to istanbul...though when i came to turkey for my winter holidays in 2011-2012 i started and ended my trip in istanbul, so i guess i could say i've been here four times...anywho, the purpose of this visit was to hang out with a girlfriend from my years in korea...
my flight left kyiv at 0640, which meant i didn't get much sleep and was at the airport plenty early...ugh...the benefit of an early flight means i don't waste the day traveling, i landed in istanbul right on time...visa and passport control went really fast, there weren't many people in the queues...the visa guy even put the sticker right where i asked him to, no questions asked! (usually they - passport people and visa people - want to know why i want a stamp or sticker in a particular place)...

my second favourite coffee chain is called caffe nero...i like them because they have good chai lattes and chocolate fudge cake...there are a number of branches in istanbul, including two at the airport...guess what i had for breakfast? :)
i took the havatas airport shuttle bus to their dropoff near taksim square, it's a 40 minute ride or so...(depending on the time of day, of course)...amanda picked me up and we went back to her flat for a while...we've known each other a few years and have some of the same issues going on in our lives right now, so it was great to catch up...

eventually we got moving, and went back to the hotel at the bus dropoff point...there we picked up lancelot, another seoullite...i didn't know him, but we have mutual friends, and he's a traveler, so i figured he was okay...
the three of us hopped in a taxi, amanda told the driver where to go, and asked for the meter...the driver said no, and his fixed price would be 40TL...amanda threw a fit, told him he was dishonourable for trying to gouge foreigners...(she spoke in turkish)...all three of us got out of the taxi, and found another...this one said his set price was 15TL, as there was bad traffic along the way we wanted to go...

amanda said absolutely not, so we climbed out of that taxi as well...eventually we got a third taxi, and the driver agreed to use the meter...our final fare? less than 10TL...
we went to a hotel next to Ciragan Palace, on the Bosphorus river...the setting is lovely...amanda and some of her friends had arranged to gather to enjoy the holiday (Christmas) by having high tea...it was nice, we enjoyed ourselves...at one point we walked out to the edge of the river to take photos as the sun was setting...beautiful...
somehow, we didn't have to pay for any of the three of us...when we asked for our bill, the waiter said there was nothing left to pay...

then we asked for the bill of the other table in our group, to see if they had somehow paid extra...they didn't, and our waiter didn't seem to care...so, happy holidays to us, and we will pay it forward...
we took a taxi to an area of the city known as galata...you have to get up a steep road/stairs to get to the base of the tower, but its not a long way...we didn't go up the tower, maybe next time...i'm told there are great views from up there...galata is an area with heaps of little restaurants and places to hang out...amanda told us the steps in the area are usually covered with young adults on weekends, just hanging out with their friends...

we finally got home around 2300 that night, i crashed fast...since i hadn't had much sleep the night before, then been awake and social most of the day...
the next morning amanda and i got up slowly, it was awesome...after tea and breakfast, amanda searched online to find a hamam for us...she found a great deal for the botanica spa at the radisson blu hotel in pera...IT WAS AWESOME...our ticket got us towels, bathrobes and slippers...we were also able to hang out in the jacuzzi for a while, drink water, and stay warm in the sauna...

our hamam service included a full body scrub, a mini massage, foam bubbles all over, and shampoo...i haven't been that relaxed in a while, it felt soooooo good...plus my skin was super smooth...i would love to do that regularly!!
lancelot met us that night for dinner, i wanted to have tantuni...kinda like a turkish version of a soft burrito...(foodies will scream at me for that comparison, but i don't know what else to say)...sooooo good...plus we found a place with friend mussels, and mussels with rice inside a mussel shell...by the time we got home, we were full...awesome!

the next morning we got moving a little earlier, and went to the organic market not too far from amanda's flat...it was fun to wander around and see what was available...honey, vegetables, fruit, dairy products, etc...
after the market, we hopped on the metro to meet lancelot...amanda noticed we could take the metro a way she hadn't gone before, then we would take a tram afterward...lets just say it took us much longer than it should've to find the connection to the tram after leaving the metro station...eventually we figured out where to go (thanks google maps)...we met lancelot, and made our way to the mosaic museum...

along the way, amanda noticed a carpet store...she's been looking for a carpet, and had already been to the mosaic museum, so she told us she would find us in a little while...the museum was fairly small, she didn't think we would spend much time inside...it was indeed a small museum, but the mosaics were pretty impressive...the mosaics are displayed on the walls, and in a fenced off area in the middle...
after exiting the museum i walked through another market area...lots of jewelry stores, random souvenir stores, and more...

then i found amanda in the carpet store...when i got there, she had one carpet she liked a lot spread out on the floor, but was still looking...she ended up finding another carpet she liked even better, then the negotiations started...amanda had no intentions of buying a carpet that day (she told me later she'd told the salesman from the beginning that she was just shopping) but the salesman kept trying to negotiate...
after leaving the carpet store, amanda and i went to an indian restaurant for snacks...while i'd been in the mosaic museum, lancelot had left to go to the archeology (or is it architecture?) museum, and had agreed with amanda to meet up at 1730...amanda and i had some time to kill before then, and decided we were hungry...that restaurant had an amazing lassi...sooooo good, and big :) ...the top floor was a covered balcony with a fantastic view of the hagia sofia...

we met up with lancelot and started making our way toward dinner...when i first sent a message to amanda asking if she would be around during these holidays, i mentioned i wanted to go to this steak house again, as we had during my first istanbul visit...the steak house is in a mall with fancy shmancy stores, and isn't the cheapest place to eat in the city...but it's sooooo worth it...dry aged steaks: perfectly tender and full of flavour...YUM...two of amanda's friends joined us, dinner was lovely...

the next morning i headed out by myself, as amanda had to do a lot of paperwork...another activity i'd wanted to do during this trip was go on a bosphorus cruise/tour...i chose one that was 2.5 hours, and involved getting off the boat for 30 minutes to visit a palace on the asian side of istanbul...(one of the awesome aspects of istanbul is that it is the only city in the world - i think - on two continents)...
the cruise was nice, though the guide had a peculiar way of speaking english...it was fun to see the palace where we'd had tea a couple days ago from the river, as well as other sights in the city...plus, although it was cold, it was also sunny, which always makes me happy...
the palace we visited is called Kucuksu, and was built by the sultans as a hunting lodge...no one ever spent the night, it wasn't meant as a residence...according to the guide there are also kitchen facilities, he also said no cooking was ever done there...it's relatively small, but very fancy...every room has a fancy ceiling, and a chandelier...

the floors are all wood, and are beautiful...the patterns of the wood are complicated, no nails or glue were used in the building of the floor...no photos are allowed, but i broke that rule, as did plenty of other folks...our group entered through the back side, the front side is on the river...it's quite nice...i asked the guide how many people were in the hunting parties, he said minimum 300, sometimes several thousand...!!!
the boat dropped everyone off at the pier near the spice market...i ate a fish sandwich from a boat docked next to the tour boat, it was good and not as expensive as i expected...i then walked through the spice market, only stopping when i saw a stall with ginger...i liked the guy, he didn't pressure me to buy, he just waited as i looked...
after the spice market i made my way up the hill of sultanahmet...i went back to the indian restaurant, i wanted another lassi :)

i ended up spending too long drinking the lassi, i got to the blue mosque 10 minutes after it closed for the day...booo...i was disappointed, but i've seen the mosque before, and it's not worth getting upset about something i can't change...
i made my way back home, i had some time to relax before picking up lancelot at the metro station and bringing him back to amanda's flat...amanda had told us she would cook dinner, it was really really good...not only was the food awesome, she made it...i love turkish food, so eating out all the time isn't horrible, but who doesn't love yummy homemade food??
lancelot left after a while, and i started packing up...boooo...
my flight leaving istanbul was scheduled for 0555, and the earliest airport shuttle bus was at 0400...i get nervous about being on time for flights and such, i figured it was better to take the 0100 bus, and take no chances...either way, i knew i wouldn't get much sleep...
the lady who checked me in to the flight put me in an exit row, so i had plenty of leg room...i also had all three seats to myself, so i was able to lay down and sleep a little on the flight, yippee!!
i love istanbul...