Goodbye Europe, Hello Asia!

Sorry I haven't been blogging as much. It's been a very busy few days. Last we left off in Istanbul. The last day in Istanbul we stopped by the Military Museum which was really cool. They had weapons all the way back from the days of the huns. My favorite was the gun swords and daggers. Mom wanted the gun dagger. There were also gun canes which were pretty cool. After that we took a little walk down some shopping streets. Mom and I "climbed" a tower and got a cool view of the city. It wasn't much of a climb, there was a stupid elevator. Then we just kind of took it easy the rest of the day. We had dinner at our favorite Turkish restaurant. It was the same place we ate the first night. We couldn't resist, the food was just too good.

The next day we headed to the airport. We checked in the parents, I said goodbye and they went through security. They are heading for Budapest where they meet up with my Uncle Mitchell and Aunt Vicki for a cruise along the Danube. It sounds like a blast. I saw the boat online, it's kinda funny lookin. Anyway, I had to wait another hour or so, then I checked in to my flight. I flew from Istanbul to Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi. All via Malaysian airlines, which by the way is an awesome airline. The plane was the nicest I have seen the whole time, had on demand movies, big comfy seats, and cologne in the bathroom, which was wierd in a good way. This was just in economy. I was just about to fall asleep when one of the kids behind me got sick. I got up and tried to help the parents and stewardesses. The father was kind of a jerk, he barely did anything to help. The mom practically lept over the seats to get to her kid when it happened. Anyway, that pretty much ensured I wasn't sleeping. So instead I watched Toy Story 1 and both Iron Man movies, all on the Malaysian Airlines video thing. The Kuala Lumpur airport was pretty nice too. Not a bad place to be stuck for 5 hours. Got some breakfast and watched Bottle Shock on some Samsung thing. Got some sleep on the flight to Hanoi. Which we will hear more about in the next post....

Istanbul is Constantinople

That was the song Mrs. Brendel used to sing to us in 6th grade. And now I'm HERE! With my parents! Who must've thought I was a hobo when they first arrived. Egypt did not afford me very good shower facilities and had a lot of sand and soot to cover me in. Not to mention no easily accesible laundry places near my hostel. Anyway, Istanbul is great! My parents were zombies when they got off the plane. But they rallied a little that night and we had a very nice dinner right next to our wonderful hotel, the White House Hotel. It really is fantastic, staff, wifi, shower, A/C. This traveling has made it very clear to me what is important to me in a hotel. I'm a little ashamed to put free wifi on that list. Anyway, we also took a stroll between the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque that night, as well as through our first bazaar. It was too late to see many people there though.

The next day we met our tour guide, Numan. He started us off at the Basilica Cistern. I don't like being crowded by people, and that gets quadrupled when I'm stuck underground with them. But we caught the Cistern just as it opened with no one there. It was really cool. Dad tried to toss mom into the water. I have photo evidence. Haha. Next was the Blue Mosque. It was very cool, I had never seen the inside of a Mosque before. I was too shy to ask to go into any in Egypt, although I understand they are very nice about letting in visitors. I would guess they are proud of the architecture and beauty, and they should be. They are all breathtaking. After this we took a walk to the palace. I didn't like this as much. Toooooo many people. Mostly tour groups. I hate tour groups. I love tour guides. I hate tour groups. Too many people in too small a space. The palace was never built to be a museum, and it shows. We got to see lots of treasury pieces though. Mom (Sultan Mandy) wanted the 86 karrot diamond in the treasury. We also got to see a Turkish military band play which was REALLY cool. Apparently it is hard to catch them play, because the time changes each day.

By this point we were exhausted. The palace really did most of the tiring out. We ate some sheesh kebab and turkish meatballs at a famous place right next to the Hagia Sophia. It was outstanding. This gave us some energy back, but we were still pretty tired. So Numan brought us to a Turkish carpet store to see how the handmade carpets are made. They were very hospitable and this little break gave us the last bit of energy we needed to do the Hagia Sophia. Oh we also got some Turkish Ice cream. The stuff is very stretchy, and the guy serving it tossed the stuff around like a frisbee. He also used my dad as a human ice cream cone. It was pretty cool. The Hagia Sophia was definately my favorite. Originally the largest church in the world for several hundred years, it was later turned into a mosque. But rather than damage the images of Jesus and the angels, the Muslims simply white washed them. The result was they were preserved perfectly! It was very cool to see that compromise level. It was also cool to hear the story of how it turned from mosque to museum. Apparently Catholics wanted to turn it back to a church when it had been a mosque for hundreds of years. The two sides were getting heated, so the leader of Turkey decided to turn it into a museum. It probably wasn't his most popular decision, but at least they hated him and not each other. I thought that story was really cool.

For dinner, we went to a famous draw bridge out near the Golden Horn and had some delicious Turkish sea food. Numan joined us, and even helped us find which parts of Turkey were worth seeing and how to get to them. He was a fantastic guide, everything we could have asked for. The food was delicious but was way too much. I made myself sick on some of the most delicious fish I've ever had. But that's ok, cause whatever calories I gained, I burned off today. Today we took a day trip to the Prince's Islands, an island chain right off the shores of Istanbul, to the south. It is also technically Asia, which means I've officially been to 4 continents! There we rented bikes from a very bad company, Trek Bicycles. The island was awesome. Beautiful scenery. Very cool church at the top of the highest point. Definately worth the day trip. Unfortunately it was way too crowded in the main town itself, and the horse carriages are poorly controlled. So try to avoid those and you'll have a great time. Oh also, don't rent from Trek. Their bikes broke more than a dozen times on us. It just became a hike at one point because the stupid thing couldn't keep the chain on the gears. Anyway, it was a hike, but it was really cool. Oh and if you go up to the restaurant next to the church, get the meatballs. They're really really good.

Tonight we are gonna do... something. Not sure what. Dinner probably. Then tomorrow we are gonna try to see the Mini Turk (small models of famous places in the world and Turkey), the Military Musuesm (always fun to see stuff that blows stuff up), and the Harem (a house for the Turkish Sultan's concubines). Until next time!