istanbul

 Two days before we left for France, Rocky was asked to get to Istanbul as soon as he could. He decided it was best to fly out of Paris on our way home, rather than take the train all the way back to Zurich. I started looking for cheap flights right away. There were three main reasons I wanted to go:

1. I didn't want to have to take the train home with just me and E.
2. Since Rocky was coming back to Switzerland only to catch a flight to Bangkok, I wanted to minimize the time spent on my own, and 8-plus days was sounding a little hard.
3. I wanted to go to Istanbul.
4. Rocky said Memo Okur was somewhere in Turkey--I never saw him in Salt Lake my chances had to be better in Turkey.

We spent the next two days checking every way to get E and me to Istanbul--night train, miles, cheap flights. We couldn't seem to get anything to work. By the night before we left, I had almost given up.  Rocky said we should try using our Delta miles one more time. He called and worked some serious charm and before I knew it E and I had tickets leaving Paris and returning to Zurich for significantly less miles than we'd ever imagined. We called it a miracle.

 In Switzerland, E is either ignored or, when she does something really unusual like planking on the grocery store floor--silently stared at. In Turkey, she was treated as a celebrity. Everywhere we went people gave her toys or candy. Strangers were always asking for kisses and one woman fawned over E in tears (she kept trying to tell me something, but she didn't speak English and I don't speak any Turkish).

For the first few days, E soaked it all in. It quickly went to her head and she started bossing all of us around and expecting special treatment--like jumping off thousand year old artifacts while the security guard laughed and told her how cute she was. After a while she got sick of it. When people would smile and come over to talk to her she would either run away or just start crying. Luckily, by then it was time to leave.

 

There was so much to see in Istanbul, we barely scratched the surface. But I have found myself a much more cautious traveler when it's just me and E. Our favorite sites: Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar.

 We went to the Bazaar on our last day and only had a couple of hours to spend before we had to catch our flight. I was expecting it to be like the other flea markets we've been to or maybe like Chatachuk in Bangkok--where there is some neat things but a lot of touristy knick-knacks. It wasn't.

It was amazing. So many fine goods and all for bargaining prices. We were overwhelmed. There was everything from hand woven carpets and pillows, leather goods, scarves, hand painted pottery, mosaic lamps and tiles. We'd barely made it inside before we had to leave. If I ever win the lottery, I will probably spend it entirely in that one place.

 

These giant lamps were my favorite. I didn't get one and I've regretted it since, as far as light fixtures go, they were pretty cheap--about $100-150 for the large ones. Next time Rocky goes to Turkey, I'm sending him back to the Bazaar. Any one else want one?