Yesterday, and a bit of today - from an email

I think I almost just witnessed a shooting. Two guys went running down our street, and like 15-20 seconds later another guy came tearing after them; it might have been innocent, but he had something black that looked like a gun in his hand. The guy that works here, looked at him funny too. But they rounded the corner, and he put whatever was in his hand away. So... we'll never know.

Now, I'm having breakfast with/by an Australian couple, and we are having sporadic conversation.

OK, about yesterday.

My new friend "T" from Boston and I spent the day together. We saw this Egyptian Obelisk that Theodosius (Byzantine emperor) brought over; it had been built around 1500 BC by Thutmose III. Anyways, it is in really good shape and was quite impressive.
Then, we had lunch of Turkish meatballs and a desert, which was really good. After which, we walked by the Basilica Cistern which they were charging about $8 for; that sounded really expensive and it was going to be skipped till we read a bit about it. It's incredible! Very well worth the $8 and the time spent.


After that we met a friend of T's, who decided to show us all of Istanbul in day.





We first were whisked off to Dolmabahce Palace where a number of the sultans had their residence and where Ataturk delivered a major speech to the nation.



Anyways, that was a good tour, some nice pictures, and a better understanding of what it means to live like a king.








After that, we went to several different "fashionable" parts of Istanbul. They were fun, interesting, and expensive, but our guide insisted on paying for much of; thus, my budget afforded it, barely.

Finally, I will leave you with what was billed to us as "the perfect view", and it really was about as close as you can get. We are standing on the roof of a hotel on a hill in Istanbul, looking out over the city, the foreground is the main city; the background is the Golden Horn, and you can see the Hagia Sofia on the left-center and the Blue Mosque on the right center. (The view was incredible; the picture is ok.)