Beach Trip!

Almost exactly two years ago, we took Lane to the beach for the first time. Last week we took Noel for the first time ever, and took Lane for her first "real" time: the first time she'd get to play in the sand and the water and actually (hopefully) have fun.

Oh, she had fun.

The day started at around 10:00 a.m. when our friends came to pick us up. We piled into the car and headed toward the beach. Unfortunately there was a lot of traffic due to construction on one of Istanbul's bridges, and with all the stop-and-go-ing, Lane had a bit of tummy trouble. Poor girl always gets sick in the car when it's hot.

Wiped out from all the puking, she napped for the last 30 minutes or so of the trip.

We made it to the beach, rented an umbrella and got all set up, and let Lane take to the water while Noel chilled in our small blow-up pool.

Some friends' daughter took Lane out for a splash while we were getting set up.

Chillin' in the pool.

Mmm, sand.

Shannon took Lane out to brave the waves. She loved every minute of it, conquering her fear of getting water in her eyes for the thrill of being thrust above the water every time a wave would crash on them.

Waiting...

Daddy saves the day!

The aftermath.

While they surfed the waves, I walked Noel to sleep.

Love this picture. I still can't believe she took her entire nap in that position!

After she woke up and I nursed her, I took Noel out for her first time in the sea. She wasn't a big fan of the water and cried when her feet touched it, but she liked standing in the sand.

Getting her feet wet.

Dig those toes in!

The closest I got to recreating my favorite shot of Lane at the beach.

After Shannon and Lane got out of the water and got dried off, we took to building a sand castle.

Drying off and warming up.

The fortress!

Writing "yetters" in the sand.

After a good three or four hours in the sun, sand, and sea, we packed up our stuff, drove to Riva proper for a Coke for Shannon and ice cream for me and Lane, and headed home.

Noel did this the whole ride home. (Love the upside-down paci.)

Lane passed out on my lap again, Noel slept, and we enjoyed the 45-minute drive home in relative silence. For days Lane talked about the beach and how she and Daddy "got" the waves. It was a blast, and I can't wait to do it again. Hopefully it won't take two years before that happens!

The Basilica Cistern

This past weekend we got to play tourists again. We had a few spare hours, and there are quite a few "touristy" things here that we haven't done yet. We're hoping to do a lot of them when Shannon's parents come to visit next month, but as anyone with a baby or toddler knows, playing the tourist is not always fun with baby/toddler in tow. So we like to only do one or two things at a time, most of the time, since it's more tolerable for all of us that way.

Saturday we went to see the Basilica Cistern. It's a large, underground cistern that was built in the 6th century. A basilica used to sit above it (hence the name), but was destroyed in a fire. The Basilica Cistern is the largest of hundreds of cisterns underneath Istanbul. It used to provide water for the Great Palace of Constantinople and Topkapı Palace, among other buildings.


The English portion of the sign just outside the entrance.

The Basilica Cistern is just a short walk from either the Hagia Sophia/Blue Mosque area or from Topkapı Palace. It's nearly right in between them.


Columns.

There are 336 marble columns, 12 rows of 28. The whole effect is rather neat, as it's dark and damp, and the lighting of the cistern is a bit eerie. Water drips from the ceiling overhead as you walk through the cistern, and carp swim in the 2-3 feet of water in the bottom.


Mmm, carp. Did you know that in Poland the carp is considered the king of fishes? It's like the equivalent of salmon or Mahi-Mahi in America. They eat it for Christmas dinner. Strange, huh?

There is one column in the cistern that is covered in "Peacock eyes" and tears. Ancient texts suggest that the tears pay tribute to the hundreds of slaves who died during the construction of the cistern.


The "Peacock-eyed" column.

There are also two Medusa heads in the cisterns which are the bases for two of the columns. It's said that they were probably relocated to the cistern from other Roman buildings, but nobody knows for sure. One is upside-down and the other is sideways, and while once again, nobody is sure why, they were probably put that way on purpose, and it probably had to do with structural integrity of the cistern.


Upside-down Medusa head.

Most of us have heard the legend about Medusa. She had hair of snakes and everyone who looked at her would turn to stone. There's more to the legend, or Greek myth, but of course there are conflicting stories so there's no telling which myth is correct (ha, what a contradiction!). Anyhow, what I found interesting was that because of her "ability" to turn anyone who looked at her to stone, images of Medusa (and the two other Gorgons) were often used to protect great buildings.


Sideways Medusa head.

All in all, the Basilica Cistern was pretty neat. I've heard that it's awesome to visit in the summer, because it's naturally cool and provides a great break from the heat. At only 10 lira for admission, I'd recommend visiting. It would take a maximum of 30 minutes to leisurely look at everything. Be forewarned that if you have a young child in tow, the railings are spaced far apart (2-3 feet apart, at least. Definitely far enough apart that a child could fall in) and the floor is slippery.

A Vacation Excursion

I mentioned before that we are taking vacation this week but not really going anywhere. It's been really, really nice. We have done a few things that haven't been the most relaxing (I worked on our taxes and Shannon worked on a brochure for work, as well as a long process of trying to figure out how our international health insurance works), but altogether it's been great. Movies and popcorn and naps and walks and lots of playing together and relaxing. Fun times.

Today we decided that since we're saving so much money by staying home for vacation that we should go and do something that we wouldn't normally do (at least not often). I was out last week and stumbled upon something I didn't know existed in Istanbul: a Ben & Jerry's. So out we went!


Using the stroller for maybe the 2nd time since we moved here. (In general the sidewalks here and public transportation are not stroller-friendly, but our new neighborhood has wider sidewalks than our old neighborhood.) Lane's chowing down on some apples and cheese.


Look at all that yummy goodness!


If it's not fun, why do it?


Love the chef timer. I think he's for timing the waffle iron.


Mmm. We got a large and shared: 3 flavors (Phish Food, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and Vanilla [so Lane could have a taste]). Shannon was WAY disappointed that 1/3 of our selection was vanilla, as he is officially a chocoholic! The cookie/cracker is Lane's.


Family photo op!

The only real bummer was that we had to sit outside and it wasn't exactly a warm day (maybe it was 45-50°), especially when you're eating ice cream! So we went to the Starbucks next door and got a Venti Chai Tea Latte (since Lane can't drink coffee it tends to be our drink of choice these days so that she can have a drink too) to help warm us up.


Lane getting a taste of vanilla ice cream for the first time. She wasn't sure what to think!


After we were finished with our ice cream we decided to let Lane wander around a bit. She is quite taken with motorized vehicles, always wanting to touch the tires. (Notice her carrying around the white plastic spoon from our ice cream?)

So, 13 lira (about $8.65) on ice cream and 5.50 lira (almost $4.00) and two 30-minute walks to and from Ben & Jerry's makes for a pretty cheap date, don't you think?


Goodbye, Ben & Jerry's! We'll hopefully see you again one day!

The Hagia Sophia

Taking on a city of 18-20 million people with a baby strapped to my back is not exactly my idea of a great time. But we decided before we moved here that we needed to be sure to do some of the touristy things while we lived here. How sad would it be to live here for a year or two and never do any of that stuff?

So a month ago it was a gorgeous day and we ventured out with some friends to Sultanahmet, which actually is the Turkish name of the Blue Mosque, but generally is referred to as the area surrounding the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia.


The Hagia Sophia doesn't look like much of anything from the outside (at least not compared to surrounding architecture).

We paid our 40 lira (20 lira per person) entrance fee to get into the Hagia Sophia. And we let our breath be taken away.


The view upon entrance: the Imperial Gate.


On ground level.


The view from the upper level.

The Hagia Sophia was an Orthodox church for almost 1,100 years. When Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, it was turned into a mosque. It remained a mosque for almost 500 years until, under the presidency of Atatürk, it was transformed into a museum.


The dome, with 40 windows at its base.


Stone columns.


So ornate!


One side of the Marble Door.

The Hagia Sophia is covered in mosaics. Practically the whole building has mosaics somewhere, although many of them are still partially covered (the Turks covered the mosaics in plaster when they transformed the church into a mosque). There were 30 million gold tiles just in the dome alone!


Mosaics.


Comnenus mosaic.


The Deësis (Christ in the center, Mary on the left, John the Baptist on the right) mosaic.


Mosaics of cherubs in the upper corners.

I, for one, do not generally enjoy museums. I don't like paying to look at all sorts of old stuff that means nothing to me. But when something is grand, when it's gorgeous, I enjoy it, even if I don't understand all the history behind it or appreciate the art or architecture for its time period.


The mihrab, indicating the direction of Mecca, is where the altar was originally.


Stained glass windows.

The Hagia Sophia is grand.

If you ever come to Istanbul, you should go. Even if you don't enjoy museums.

The Maiden's Tower

A few days ago, Shannon and I had a little talk. We've been so, so busy over the last 10 1/2 months since Lane was born, and especially over the last 5 months since we got to Istanbul. I told Shannon that I know we've been busy and that life is crazy, but that I really needed him to step it up a notch in the romance department. Lately it's seemed that so much practical stuff about life has just taken priority, and we're so exhausted most of the time just from surviving regular life that we just haven't been very good about going out on dates (other than a couple of times to the movie theater) or about making time for each other.


I ate here last night.

Boy, did he step it up a notch!

Yesterday we sat down to lunch and he had prepared a poem for me. Don't worry, I'll spare you all the lyrics, but it basically said that we were going on a date to the restaurant at The Maiden's Tower, that Lane would be asleep, that a babysitter was coming, and not to worry about anything. Well, all that I'd heard about The Maiden's Tower was that it was a little rinky-dink tower in the Bosphorus that had some kinda good views, but wasn't really worth the 5 lira boat ride out there. So...I was excited to go out on a date but not so sure about the locale.

We got ready to go, our babysitter showed up, and we headed out the door. We caught a minibus whose driver told us we were on the right bus to go to The Maiden's Tower. Shannon had even done his homework to make sure of which bus to take, but we figured we should ask too. The minibus driver lied and dropped us off about a 20-minute walk away (argh). Shannon was frustrated because it meant we were going to be late.

"Late?" I asked. "Late for what?"

"For our reservation."

"We have a reservation?"

I don't think we've ever been someplace where we needed a reservation! (Except for last year when we ate at The Seven Glaciers at Alyeska, but I took care of those.) So, we ended up walking as quickly as we could along the Bosphorus until we got to this:


Our boat! It took us the 5-minute journey out to The Maiden's Tower.

When we got out to the mini-island, we were in a bit of shell-shock. They were filming a movie out there, so we got to see some folks smooching for the camera and lots and lots of video equipment. I suppose that if we knew famous Turkish people that it would have been even cooler since we might have known who they were, but if you see a movie or television show in the near future involving lots of red roses, candles, fireworks,and The Maiden's Tower, then let us know because we were there for some of the filming!

Anyhow, we went inside and I checked my coat. We were shown to a table and given menus, and then we realized that this place had only 3 options for dinner, all of which were 4-course meals for a set price. Neither of us were that hungry, because we usually eat dinner at 5 or 5:30, so we'd already eaten something. We asked if we could just order tea and dessert. Nope. We asked if we could share a meal. Nope. We asked if they had a box so we could take anything we didn't eat home with us. Nope. Well, at that point we were going to leave, because while I have a hard enough time spending lots of money on food, I just can't do it if they won't even let me take home whatever I don't eat! As we were getting up to leave a waiter came back and told us that they had arranged something and that we could take our food home if we didn't eat it all. So we sat back down to what was my first ever 4-course meal (unless meals on a cruise ship count).

We started with cold appetizers.


Me with my grilled vegetable gratin. Shannon got breaded shrimp.

Next were our hot appetizers.


My crepe with vegetable and truffle. We forgot to get a photo before it was half eaten. Shannon had spinach and cheese gyozas (whatever those are).

While we ate there was a live band playing and singing in Turkish, English, Spanish, and what we think was French (you know, it's really hard to understand people singing in a language that is not their own unless they actually speak that language. Even the songs in English were difficult to understand). They were awesome. It made the whole experience even better. I don't think I've ever eaten someplace so classy that they had a live band.


The band.

Onto dinner:


Shannon and his salmon with gravy sauce. I had chicken korma.

And last was dessert!


My lemon cheesecake. Not exactly what I had pictured in my mind!


Shannon's caramel parfait. Also not what he had pictured in his mind.

We got our leftovers boxed (or rather wrapped in foil and placed in a plastic mailing envelope...we guess they really don't normally box stuff up!), paid our bill (yikes!), and went exploring the tower. We walked up to the top of the tower, passing the upper level, a gift shop, and the Kuledebar bar. When we got to the top level, we went out on the balcony and walked around the tower, taking in views like these:


The Bosphorus Bridge, with the municipality of Üsküdar on the right.


The Golden Horn as seen from The Maiden's Tower.

After taking in the gorgeous views, we got back on the mini-boat and headed for the mainland.


In front of the boat. See Shannon holding our leftovers in the plastic mailing envelope?

It was nearly 11:00 when we arrived back on the mainland! Dinner took nearly 2 1/2 hours! I don't think I've ever taken that long to eat! We walked a bit, caught a minibus, and walked a bit more. When we got home, Shannon walked our babysitter home and then we finally hit the sack at about midnight.

We had such a good time! Dinner was, yes, quite overpriced. But the food was good. The music was great. The view, at least at night, was amazing. And my husband, my dear, sweet husband. He took my request for more romance to heart and asked friends here for a suggestion as to something unique and nice for us to do. He scouted out the area before we left for our date that evening. He had walked it before and knew where to go when our first minibus dropped us off at the wrong stop. He made reservations. He prepaid the babysitter in Krispy Kreme doughnuts (true story) and arranged with her mother for her to come. He took care of everything.

Yup, I think it was romantic. He'll have to take me to eat at the top of the Eiffel Tower in order to top this one.



***If you enjoy my posts, could you please click here to vote for me? I'm holding steady at number 60...can you get me in the top 50? Plus, check out some other blogs while you're visiting...lots are very cool...and lots are not, which is why you'll be grateful you voted for me! :-)***