We got a relatively late start today. We began with a great breakfast on the terrace. Breakfast is included at our hotel, and it is always delicious: fresh squeezed orange juice, homemade pastries, yogurt, fruit, Turkish coffee, and simit bread etc.
After breakfast we caught a crazy cab to Chora Church, a small Byzantine church on the other side of town. (Driving here is insane. I know people say that about anywhere they go, but this is especially true of Istanbul. Although lanes are normally marked, the drivers pay them little mind. The first evening here, my cab driver stopped me from putting on my seat belt, saying "No, not need", before barreling down several dozen narrow cobblestone streets at about 50 mph.)
Chora Church (or Kariye) was beautiful. The ceilings were covered in mosaics and frescos from when the city was still Constantinople. Here is the icon of Christ Chora ton Zonton ("Land of the Living").
And guess who we saw there? None other than the French woman from the night of the dervishes. She was crazy as always. Anna posed "with" her here.
After the church, we went to Taksim Square, the social center of Istanbul.
It was kind of miserable out, cold and raining, so we spent the day inside. First we grabbed ice cream (dondurma) in waffles. I assumed "waffle" meant "waffle cone", but really it just meant "waffle". It was delicious. After ice cream, we walked to a Starbucks. The family was apparently craving its coffee goodness, but I don't really drink coffee, so I just sat there.
After wandering around Taksim a bit, we went to a movie theater (sinema) and saw Avatar (check out the awesome trailer here). I actually had to use quite a bit of Turkish to find this place. I spoke more Turkish today than the rest of the trip put together. Just about everyone in Sultanahment (where we are staying) speaks extremely good English, but we found almost no one who spoke English in Taksim. Avatar was AWESOME!! Yes, its plot was contrived, goofy and weak, but the visuals were absolutely spectacular! And the aliens were SO COOL! I absolutely recommend it. And actually, even if the writing is not the best, it is still fun. Go to it for the wild, carnival ride-like visual entertainment.
On the way back, Mom and Annaliese saw #157 and his dog-friend. The women have been carrying around bread in their pockets for the last few days so that they could feed the street animals. #157 ate the bread that my sister gave him, but friend-dog was more interested in the empty metal can that at one time may have contained sardines or something along those lines. Not a great success, but a valiant effort by Mom and Anna to better these dogs' lives ;)
