Kickoff was at 12:30 a.m. here, which was a bit late for us old folks. But we hooked up the SlingBox on my laptop, and pulled it into bed.

It wasn’t long before another interested party joined our little Super Bowl gala.

We stayed awake for awhile, one happy family watching the game. I made it three possessions in, Travis made it all the way to the half time show, and Milli? She ran around yelling “Go SAINTS!” until the final ticks.

After last weekend’s excitement (and the anticipation of next week’s trip), this weekend will pale in comparison. The big thing on the agenda? Buying toilet paper. We’re down to our last roll in each bathroom.

Last night, we we went out to one of our favorite German restaurants with some colleagues and had a great meal. We ate there with Travis’ mom last November, too. I’m looking forward to taking my mom and dad there when they come in just six weeks! Yay! We have a pretty full agenda with them, including driving around the Alps a bit, and I’m excited for their visit.

And, that reminds me - less than three months left in Germany. Boohoo!

When we originally booked our flight, I selected a 7:00 p.m. return to give us two full days in Istanbul. But the airline canceled that late flight and automatically put us on an 8:00 a.m. return. That gave us only a day in Istanbul. I wasn’t happy! I called them and we were able to get it switched to a 3:00 in the afternoon, which at least gave us a little more time. But our day was still cut a little shorter than we intended.

Our first stop was to return to Hagia Sophia for a tour. I can’t say enough about how awesome this place is. It was built in the year 532 as a Christian church, and then about 1,000 years later it was converted into a mosque. About 500 years after that, it was converted into a museum which is how it is today.

Did that sink in sufficiently? This building is over 1500 years old. It’s mind-boggling!

When the church was converted to a mosque, the Islamics did their darnedest to cover up anything “Christian” inside. But now they’ve been able to recover a lot of things, and the work is amazing. The mosaics on the upper level of the church are some of the most beautiful works I’ve ever seen. It’s impossible to describe how each tiny piece glints and glimmers like gold, so keep that in mind when viewing these pictures.

The level of detail was just awesome, all the way down to the folds in the robes.

Although there was a good deal of construction going on (see above re: 1500(!) years old), it still was a magnificent place.

And it was unique seeing both the Islamic writing and the Christian symbols in the same place.

There was a story about a farmer who was working in his fields and he he found three large marble urns, all carved from a single block of marble. When he tried to move them, they were impossibly heavy. They were all filled with gold coins. He covered them and hurried to the Sultan to reveal his discovery. The Sultan said, basically, “Thanks buddy, and as a reward, you may keep one of the urns.” The farmer refused, saying he would only keep it if it was empty of gold, because he believed that was the intention of God’s gift.

There is also a portion of the church called the Weeping Pillar, said to have cured Constantin’s headache when he leaned against the pillar once. There, people now line up to try to stick their thumb in a hole and rotate in a complete circle. Supposedly your wish will come true if you’re able to complete the circle. I was so busy concentrating on completing the circle that I forgot to wish!

I had planned on wishing for my feet to stop aching (a byproduct of all the walking), but after I’d made a circle and practically dislocated my arm, I no longer had pain in my feet… just my shoulder So maybe it works!

Our final stop was another guidebook recommendation, a mosque that promised a superb view of the city. We meandered our way in that direction, and then when we arrived, circled the outside of the mosque trying to find the entrance. Unfortunately, we found out after walking around for miles, the mosque was under renovations and temporarily closed to the public. All that walking for nothing! We weren’t even able to get access to the courtyard for the promised view. This was as close as we got.

We returned to the area of our hotel and ate a light (and not so great, but it sure was expensive!) lunch before taking a car back to the airport. We had a wonderful time in Istanbul, and it’s high on my favorite cities.

Here are my pictures as well as Travis’s.

After lunch, we walked around the Bazaar some more thanks to a placemat map from the restaurant we lunched at. We (somewhat) easily found the restaurant we’d originally intended to eat at, and it looked nicer than what we’d had, but that’s how it goes.

The waiter at the cafe we ate at had given us easy directions to the Spice Bazaar, basically, go out “that” door, and follow the streets. Well of course nothing is ever that easy, and after we’d wandered around indoors, we could no longer find “that” door and just wandered out the first one we saw. Using Travis’ sense of direction, we tooled along for a little while not really sure where we were going, but enjoying the scenery nonetheless.

Something didn’t feel right to me, and I got out the map on my phone which told me we were heading nowhere near the right direction. Knowing we’d never find the Spice Bazaar now, we decided on Plan B which was a cruise of the Bosphorus River which separates Asia from Europe. Travis was still convinced the river was the other way, even after I showed him on a map, and luckily he started listening to me and we made it.

I should note that usually we are quite the opposite with him knowing the right way and me questioning it, so I kind of liked this change

The cruise was really awesome and we got to see a lot of the city spread out around us.

We even pulled up to the Asia side. I wanted to get out and wander around, but the boat was out before we even realized what was going on. So, I still haven’t set foot on that continent. Yet.

After traversing under the sixth-longest suspension bridge in the world, we continued on for over an hour and a half, seeing lots of great scenery on the way.

There was even some nice real estate on the river front.

After the cruise we were starting to feel a little tuckered, so I suggested a quick pit stop at the hotel for rest/shower/nap/reading and Travis - to my surprise - agreed. But we didn’t want to retire before trying these nut-like things that we saw street vendors toasting everywhere.

I didn’t think I would like them, but they were really good, and kind of tasted like a potato. On the plane home they passed out hazelnuts, and the packaging had a photo of a smaller version of the same thing, so we think that’s what they must have been.

And then back to the hotel we went. We were both pretty exhausted from the four hours of sleep and enjoyed a solid 20 minutes of sleep before afternoon prayer time started again. Another prayer wake-up call! This proved a good kick in the fanny to get back out on sightseeing duty. I’d now located where the Spice Bazaar was - ON A MAP - so I knew we could get there. And it happened to be right next to the New Mosque, or Yeni Cani, which isn’t really all that new as it was built in the 1500s.

We didn’t go in this mosque because we thought it might be too close to a service, so we just wandered around and took pictures.

The sun was beginning to set and the sky was turning rose colored.

Right next door was the Spice Bazaar. It was SO packed with people, I think it made both of us a little uncomfortable. I snapped this shot to prove we’d been there and we scooted down two aisles and out the side door.

Our plan was to walk back across the Bosphorus to Beyoğlu, or “New” Istanbul, even though it is hundreds of years old. Go figure On the way, we happened to catch a spectacular sunset.

Once across, we rode the funicular (one of the oldest public transportation lines in the world) to the top of the hill.

It put us out into a really ritzy area with tons of people and shops for what must have been two miles or more. My guidebook recommended a boisterous restaurant where we’d get our fill of Turkish pop-music (gypsy-style) and sing-along crowds. We decided to check it out.

Apparently 6 is a bit early for dinner in Istanbul, as we were quite lonely.

The food was great, and came served in multiple courses. We had hummus and some kind of big giant white bean for appetizers, lots of warm pita bread, a Turkish stew and chicken dish for the main course, and a big plate of fresh fruit for dessert. It was all absolutely FANTASTIC and some of the best food I’ve ever had! We even stretched dinner out until 8, forcing down a complimentary Turkish coffee (I’ve had better sand).

After dinner, we walked along the crowded streets of “New” Istanbul and took another funicular back down to the river.

Our plan was then to go back to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia for some night time pics. This picture was taken from the exact same place as this one.

After a few more pictures, it was back to the hotel. We were in bed before 10:00, completely exhausted.

Note: I’m breaking Istanbul up into multiple parts because there was a LOT that we saw, and if I tried to sit down and write an entire day at a time I could be here for hours.

We started Saturday morning a little earlier than I expected. The alarm was set to go off at 7:30, but at 5:20 (Frankfurt time, which was an hour earlier) and after only four short hours of sleep, we were awoken by the Islamic call to prayer. I knew they prayed five times a day, but didn’t think about it being so early - or so loud. It was kind of spooky, because it was piped over speakers throughout the city, and I laid in bed listening to it. I guess it is kind of a nice reminder to think of God and the fact that everyone in the city is thinking of Him at the same time is kind of neat. But, I’m a crabby pants in the morning, especially at that time, and I had a little bit of trouble falling back asleep after it was over.

When we got up at 7:30 and I realized it was really 8:30 Istanbul time (and that the prayer had been at 6:20, not 5:20) things made a little more sense. We hurried down for breakfast at the hotel. They had a giant spread of bizarre things, like big bowls of unidentified glop, but for the most part we were able to get some good stuff in our bellies from the extra-large spread.

As Travis popped back upstairs for the umbrella, I made a new friend in the hotel lobby. (I’m pretty sure he was flirting with me, always saying “Hello” and whistling.)

We’d read in our guide book that it was best to visit the mosques in the morning to avoid prayer time crowds, so we made the famous Blue Mosque our first stop. Our hotel was just a block or so from the tram line

Before entering a mosque, it’s required to remove your shoes. We did this and padded in. I sure wished I’d worn my thick woolen socks - even with the Turkish carpet, the floor was cold! The Blue Mosque is named such after the more than 20,000 blue tiles that decorate the interior. Most of them were too high for us to photograph well.

There was an area called the Women’s Section that I was able to sneak into (as a woman - though I don’t really know that it was sneaking). There I was able to get this picture of the tiles a little closer.

The mosque was really beautiful but different from anything I’d ever been in, and very different from Christian churches. Note the lack of pews, just a few benches off to the side. I guess that’s not needed when everyone kneels! (And I guess that’s also why the shoes must come off, so you’re not kneeling in dirt.)

As I stood there with my own cold feet, I thought about how funny it was that we were all crammed in there with cold tootsies.

After the mosque, we slipped back in to our shoes and went across the courtyard to the Hagia Sophia. We decided to come back for a tour later, and just took pictures outside.

Our guide book suggested a stop at the Basilica Cistern next. It’s basically a giant underground water tank from the 6th century that’s been reopened for tourists. It was one of the coolest things ever! We had no idea what to expect and almost didn’t pay the $4 entry, but I’m so glad we did.

They also had big giant Medusa heads (one upside down and one sideways) and apparently no one really fully understands why they’re there.

After the wonderful walk through the Cistern, we wandered off in the direction of the Grand Bazaar. We may or may not have gotten a little confused wandering around. We thought it would be easy, seeing that the Bazaar is one of the largest indoor markets in the world. How could we miss it, right? Finally we found it!

Unfortunately we weren’t in the mood for rugs or tea or fancy lights, so we didn’t do any shopping, but we wandered around a bit.

It was really cool. There was a restaurant mentioned in the guide book, but with 58 streets and about 6 street signs, we were mostly wandering around with our heads on swivels, ignoring the calls of “Hey lady, do you want to spend your money here?” (Someone actually said that to me!) We didn’t find the restaurant that we were looking for but we did find a restaurant, so we sat down and had some ok, but not amazing, Turkish food.

We are back from Turkey, and I will start the update with the easiest day first, Friday! Our flight was delayed but only an hour and a half or so, and we hung out in the airport lounge and ate a good (free) dinner there. Then we also got food on the plane, but that food was almost barely not edible so we were thankful to have already eaten.

After stopping and picking up our visa (good for 90 days for $20), we went through passport control. With no luggage to pick up, we shot through quickly. The hotel we booked (a really great hotel in Istanbul for anyone needing one, the Sapphire, which had free breakfast, an awesome Turkish bath, and a perfect location) also arranged for a car service, free of charge, to pick us up at the airport, and in the throngs of waiting people outside, the guy holding the “Erin Hess” sign was front and center. I felt bad because it was midnight their time and the poor guy had been waiting for us for a long time, but I guess that is part of the job.

He took us to the hotel and on the way drove us by two of the city’s most famous night-time sights, Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque. They were gorgeous at night, all flood-lit and beautiful.

When we got to the hotel, the front desk staff was AWESOME and spent about 15 minutes talking to us about what we should do. The only problem is that it was so late, and I was so exhausted, all I wanted to do was sleep! So we soaked in some of what they said and went to bed, planning on hitting the pavement early Saturday.

Real quick:

1. I have my work computer back after almost two full days! That means I’m really busy.
2. We are leaving later this afternoon for Turkey, which means I’m really busy.
3. We are HOPING to leave later this afternoon. It’s snowing like crazy here right now.
4. The name of the bird from yesterday is (translated) red throat. I asked “Red throat what? Finch?” And I was told, “In German, we don’t call it anymore than that.” So, there you have it.

Have a good weekend!

My computer at work has a nasty virus so I’m at home trying to be productive without most of the tools I need. Hopefully I’ll have my computer back tomorrow.

In the meantime, enjoy this picture that Travis took from the office window of a little visitor…

Yesterday, one of the Germans came up to me and said, “I got an e-mail from Megan, and she said she was running late because her son is under the weather.” I nodded, not sure if I was supposed to be sympathetic to this Megan woman’s kid, or what the right response was.

“So,” he continued, “you know what that means? That’s a common phrase, that ‘under the weather?’”

“Yes,” I replied. “It means he’s sick.”

“Sick? Like sick, serious?”

“No, like sick, not feeling well.”

Thanking me, he wandered back off shaking his head at the weird Americans and their weird sayings. But it got me thinking how often we throw that phrase around and how funny it must sound to someone who understands the literal words but not the phrase.

Some of the words they have make sense “translated,” even if I don’t fully understand why. For example, goose bumps is equal to goose skin in German (even though I’ve never seen a goose get bumpy skin when it’s cold). The funny bone on your elbow is the music bone to them (not funny OR musical when it is hit). A lot of our sayings, like “cross your fingers” are also used in German, even though I have no idea where the saying comes from.

Apparently they have been missing out on “under the weather” all this time. I guess I have three months to fix that.

(Let me apologize in advance for the poor pictures. I didn’t want to use my flash and embarass myself or blind the performers.)

We walked in to the auditorium and everything was set up “under the big top.”

Luckily, I had prepped myself with some caramel popcorn. I settled in for the show.

The first act was a hula hoop master, who not only could hula hoop 10 at a time, she could also light them on fire. Now, that’s just showing off.

Then, “for the American guests,” they brought out line dancers. These were employees from the company that got signed up to perform. I was embarrassed for them AND for my country, that this is what we’re known for.

After the line dancing, a clown/mime came out and did his crazy clown thing.

Followed by a half-naked guy doing stunts. (He could have been reading a book for all I know. I was distracted by the lack of shirt.)

A “football” player came out and did some tricks with a ball, including taking off a sweatshirt, a t-shirt, and a pair of pants, and walking into the audience, all while bouncing the ball.

Then the clown came back and got some people from the audience to sit on chairs, lay back on each other, and then he took their chairs away leaving them shaking.

After all that excitement, there was a short break for dinner - pizza, sausages, and other “circus” fare, along with circus games.

To start the second half of the program, they suspended a woman from the ceiling and let her swing from cloth:

Then more of the clown, shown here spinning EIGHT plates at once.

A ventriloquist was next up, and he was HILARIOUS. Even with my limited German skills.

Then came what I will from here on call the crazy lady, who swallowed fire sticks:

put a giant spider on her chest - you may need to check out the large view of this one:

laid on broken glass and had someone stand on her belly:

brought out not one but TWO crocodiles, and kissed them:

And if that’s not enough, she wore three giant snakes around her neck.

A hard act to follow, but three more employees came out and sang a really funny song next:

Then a comedian came on for FORTY-FIVE MINUTES. I really didn’t like this guy. It didn’t help that he was in German, but he also went on for-ever.

At the end, Jenni presented the retiree with a gift:

And then everyone in the crowd sang “You are our champion” to the tune of “We are the champions.” And also waved glow sticks. It was kind of as cheesy as it sounds.

What a night! Six LONG hours later, it was over and I broke free. They’d never pull anything like that off in the U.S. for a retirement, that’s for sure!