Tea, Sugar, and Dreams.

(that's what 'thank you' sounds like here.)
blogspot is in turkish! it's a good thing i know which buttons i have to press anyway, i do not see an english button!
Our hostel is located just down the street from the Four Seasons in the Sultanahmet district (touristy) which is full of history and beautiful buildings to see. Our journey from the airport was treturous (sp? too exhausted to figure out how to spell things right now...) but cheap, and the guys who run the hostel are very very nice, so it ended up okay. Today we went to the ayasofya which was built in 360 i think and has been through a lot since then-- being rebuilt after a fire in under 6 years (it's HUGE!), and then it was converted from a church to a mosque-- very cool because the christian images were plastered over and now that it is converted into a museum they have uncovered many of them-- you will see a picture of one partially uncovered. I can't explain how overwhelmingly large it is, and you will have to wait for the pictures!
There are cats EVERYWHERE here. I love cats, but I do have my limits and they are way too dirty for me to touch them. I think about half the women here wear headscarves and every now and then a birka (sp?) walks by. Apple tea here is where it's at. Many people do not drink, but as you read in that NYTimes article (mom and dad) there is nightlife. Last night we were really lucky to stumble upon a street festival and some cool bars right on the same street. Matt and I jumped through fire on there on that street... we don't know why everyone was doing it, but we followed along. I get stared at constantly and, be it the red hair or the tank tops/low-cut shirts i've brought, i have already grown very tired of it.
We have been in Istabbul for two days and we've already seen so many beautiful things! Today after the mosque, we walked to water and matt dipped his foot in. You have to walk on the rocks to do it-- the coast right there is like in larchmont where we go. It's a beautiful view from there to ASIA just across the way!!! (We will make it there on Wednesday when we do this boat tour thing.) We're going to stay in Istanbul the whole time... pretty much just because it's easiest. Tomorrow we're going to a beach that's on a little island just out of the city-- i think this is all very touristy, but i'm down for whatever.
To be continued...