Istanbul, not Constantinople.

We got into Istanbul late on Wednesday night, so we went directly to our hostel. Our taxi driver almost got lost, but eventually we made it. The Neverland hostel was run by a bunch of hippies and I loved it! Very colorful! :) Plus it was right across from the Italian consulate, which we found very fitting!

We got up early to eat breakfast at the hostel and plan out our day! After getting a map and setting an itinerary we headed to the Sultanahmet district, which is the center of old Istanbul. I'm very proud to say that in every country I traveled to I used the public transportation systems, and Turkey was no exception. They had trams that took us everywhere we needed to go, and there was one conveniently located right down the street from our hostel.

Once we got to Sultanahmet, the first thing we went to see was the Ayasofya Muzesi, or better known as the Hagia Sofia Museum. The building was originally a church, then converted into a mosque, and then made into the museum it is today. The building was gorgeous and had such an interesting mixture between the early christian and Islamic art and structures. On top of that the upstairs and the dome of the building had some of the prettiest mosaics I have ever seen, and just coming from Italy that's saying something!

Hagia Sofia.

Lustration urn.

Tablet on the wall.

Mosaic left over from the church.

Making a wish on the weeping/sweating column.

Fountain outside the Hagia Sophia.

After leaving the Hagia Sofia we were going to go the Blue Mosque, but once we got there we realized that we would only have a half an hour before prayer started and would get kicked out, so instead we went and grabbed some lunch.

Fountain on the way to lunch.

I have to have a picture of a cat in every city, so here's Istanbul.

White bean salad, meatballs, and chicken. Yum!

We dragged out our lunch until prayer was over and then headed back to the Blue Mosque, or the Sultanahmet Camii. It's nicknamed the Blue Mosque for all the blue tiles in the interior. It was gorgeous.

The Blue Mosque.

Inside the Blue Mosque.

Ceiling of Blue Mosque.


Putting on my shoes after exiting the mosque.

After we left the Mosque we went to a nearby market where Clara bought a gorgeous bowl. Istanbul is known for its gorgeous ceramics. We left the market and it started to rain, so we went to to the Tomb of Sultan Ahmet. The sultan, his immediate family, and about 40 other members of the dynasty are in the tomb.

Tomb of Sultan Ahmet.

When we finished walking through the tomb it was still raining, so we went into the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art. We didn't want to spend the money the money to see the whole museum, so we just went to the free exhibition about water in Istanbul. It was a good exhibition, and when we left the rain had stopped.

Fountain in the museum.

Bathing shoes.

Tablet. Isn't Arabic gorgeous?!?

We walked down the Hippodrome to the Basilica Cistern. The Basilica Cistern is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath Istanbul. In fact in Turkish, the direct translation of this cistern (Yerebatan Sarayı) is "sunken palace." The cistern was really eerie, but amazing. I also loved that the water was filled with fish. Another fun fact is that part of the James Bond movie, From Russia With Love (you can see it at 0:50) was filmed here.

Basilica Cistern.

Basilica Cistern.

After leaving the Cistern we headed back to our hostel to plan out our next day and to kill a little bit of time before dinner. We figured out where to catch the bus the next day for the airport and then decided to walk there, just so we would know exactly where we were going. It was a nice walk and it took us into the newer part of Istanbul and to the main shopping district. We walked around, found the bus stop, grabbed some pastries (what did you expect) and then headed to dinner. We found a cute restaurant where we got to sit outside and listen to a live band. It was a very relaxing night. We ended the night watching an episode of Lost in the lobby of the hostel and then heading to bed early.

Me and Clara at dinner.

Written on the wall of our hostel.

The next day we got up early again, ate breakfast at the hostel, checked out, and then headed back to the Sultanahmet district to go to the Topkapı Palace. This palace was the official and primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans of Turkey for 400 years of their 624 year reign. The palace is huge and today displays the official buildings, the wardrobes of the sultans, the treasury, and the Harem. The parts I liked the most were the treasury and the Harem. The treasury is where I saw the GORGEOUS Spoonmaker's Diamond. The diamond is 86 carats!!! The Harem is where the private apartments of the sultan were, including the eunuchs, and the concubines of the sultan. It was definitely worth the extra ten lira.

Entrance to the palace.

Ceiling of the reception room.

Original hammer pants?

Sea of Marmara.

Entrance to the Harem.

Gate of the sultan's bathroom. He would lock himself in every time he used it so no one would kill him while he was using the bathroom.

The sultan's "living room".

The passage of concubines. How scandalous!

I was obsessed with all the gorgeous tiles in Istanbul.

The mirror in the entrance to the Harem.

Gorgeous fountain.

The gardens of the palace.

After leaving the palace we took the tram to the grand bazzar. It was huge and had everything imaginable. I bought some ceramic tiles, that I have since made into coasters for my apartment. We decided to walk back to the old district and then take the tram to the bridge. We walked across the bridge enjoying the sea and then headed back to the hostel to grab our bags.

These lamps were gorgeous, and next time I'm in Istanbul I'm definitely going to buy one!

A young fisherman on the Marmara Sea.

Now the previous day when we walked to the square we went a more indirect way, but once we grabbed out bags we went the most direct way possible.....which was up a HUGE hill!! Once we finally got to the bus stop I thought my hand was going to fall off and that I might pass out! It was not a fun journey. Despite what we thought we made really good time so we were able to catch earlier buses. This meant we had to say quick farewells, as we were going to separate airports. It was very bittersweet.

It took me an hour to get to the airport, so I arrived around 7pm. I'm a very punctual person so I gave myself plenty of time to catch my flight. In fact I gave myself 17 hours! Clara's flight back to Rome was Friday night, so instead of paying for an extra night at a hostel by myself, I just decided to find a nice comfy piece of floor at the airport! I payed 3 dollars to have internet for an hour, but thankfully my skype worked past the hour, so I got to talk to the family and friends. The rest of the time I spent editing pictures and people watching. It's a good thing I'm used to spending long amounts of time in airports.

Sitting in Ataturk airport.

It was an extremely close call, but me and just one other standby made it on the plane! We were in the last row, but I was just happy to be on at all! I got into JFK at 5 and got first class back to MSP. Both of my seat mates were nice, which made the journey nice, especially on the long flight.

My mom picked me up from the airport and 2 of my best friend surprised me as well! It was fabulous and good to be home!!

Also since this song was stuck in my head the ENTIRE time I was there, I'm going to give you the same pleasure! Enjoy! :D

And last but not least, Happy Birthday to one of my best friends, Miss Kelsey Lynn!! I love you!! :)

London calling.

To get to London we flew on RyanAir. It is a cheap charter airline where you definitely get what you pay for. Upon arriving at the airport we found out that your checked bag could only weigh 15kg. or state-side about 30lbs. Both Vivi and me had the remainders of our semester, so both of our bags were over the limit. To check an extra bag it was seventy dollars and to pay for extra weight it was twenty dollars for every kilogram over. Luckily I had some papers and a textbook that I just ended up throwing away to get me to the right weight, but Vivi had to drop her suitcase about thirty pounds! How she did it I have no idea, but in the end both suitcases were down to 15kg.

Me and Clara each wearing 2 of Vivi's sweatshirts.

After that we had a smooth flight to London. We got in a little late so we were hurrying to get to the shuttle. Vivi's bag showed up right away, but mine was taking forever! After watching the same bags go around the carousel about five times, Vivi spotted my bag sitting on the opposite conveyor belt all by itself with one side completely ripped! Thankfully it was just a duffel bag that had my backpack in it though, so nothing came out. We made it to our shuttle and got to Clara's friend Bethany's apartment by one in the morning.

Sunday we let ourselves sleep in as we were officially on vacation. We woke up around eleven and Bethany cooked us a full English breakfast with eggs, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon, tea, juice, and TOAST!! We were far too excited that she had a toaster in her apartment, since we had been deprived of one for four months. After breakfast she took us to Camden Lock, which is a neighborhood in London. Since it was Sunday the market was in full swing. They had tons of adorable shops, and even had part of the market in the old stables that used to be there. Sadly the rain followed us to London so for lunch we just grabbed some Chinese and then headed to a different part of London.

Camden Lock.

Stable market.

Me and Vivi on the double decker bus.

The rain had stopped so we decided to walk the Queen's walk along the Thames to the Tate Modern museum as it was hosting a festival. It was a nice stroll and we got to see a few more of the sights. We got to the Tate Modern, which you might have guessed is a modern art museum, and the first things we saw/heard was a lovely rendition of ABBA's Dancing Queen on a karaoke stage. Gotta love festivals. The whole main hall was a giant exhibition from local artists displaying everything from drawings to installation art. It was cool. We then headed into the upper galleries and saw the works of Warhol, Dali, and many other artists. We got there right before closing so we didn't get through every room but we got a good taste and I really enjoyed it.

Big Ben and the London Eye.

Festival.

Art installation.

Floor covered in paper.

Warhol.

Boccioni .

Clara in a gallery.

The Millennium bridge.

That night Bethany and her boyfriend James (whose English) took us out to dinner. We were going to go to a Thai place, but it was too full so we ended up going to a Portuguese restaurant called Nando's instead. I got a lemon and herb chicken sandwich with pineapple and cheese. Delicious? I think so. After dinner we went back to the flat and just relaxed. We all enjoyed being able to watch TV and actually understand it, especially since the majority of the time it was Friends that was on.

On Monday Clara, Vivi, and I started the day by going to the Victoria and Albert Museum. They had a bunch of different exhibits from photography to jewelry to furniture of the 1800s. My favorite parts were the interactive areas that were probably meant for kids, but we took full advantage of them! :)

Me in a telephone booth in front of the V&A.

Rockin a Rococo style petticoat.

V&A.

Dressed in theatre costumes.

After the V&A we went down the street to Harods. Harods is a GIANT department store that has EVERYTHING! This includes clothes, shoes, food, several restaurants, and pets! It's crazy. And to make it even more obnoxious everything is designer and extremely overpriced. The only place that I could even consider buying anything from was the gift store. And yes, the department has it's own gift store!

While everything at Harods was fun to look at, the main reason we went was to get high tea from one of the restaurants. I felt very classy and posh. We each got to pick a kind of tea (I got 4 berry) and got a whole pot. Also, since we did the cheaper version we only got one plate with our tea, so we each ordered a different plate and shared. This resulted in pastries, finger sandwiches, and probably the best scones I've ever eaten in my life.

My tea and pastries.

Me in front of Harods.

After tea we met up with Bethany to go to Abbey Road. This was one of my absolute favorite things we did, mostly because I'm a giant nerd and it's the location of the iconic Beatles picture! The first thing we did was try and take pictures on the crosswalk. This is more difficult than it sounds as you have to deal with traffic and other pedestrians. We only had one go at it, but I think it was successful! Plus there was four of us, so it worked out perfectly. after we took our picture, we went in front of Abbey Road Studios, where almost all the Beatles works were recorded (as well as many others). We all signed the wall and then said goodbye to Abbey Road.

Abbey Road street sign.

Our attempt at the iconic picture.

Abbey Road Studio.

Signing the wall in front of the studio.

The rest of the evening we spent at the pub. We went to the Volunteer, which was right next to Bethany's apartment. It was a lot of fun. For dinner I got cider and fish and chips, and they definitely didn't disappoint! :] The rest of the night Vivi, Clara, Bethany, James and I drank Pimms (which is delicious) and just hung out. I can definitely see why pubs are so popular there!

Tuesday we got up a little bit earlier to go to Primark. It's a store like Forever 21, but cheaper and cuter! I got 2 pairs of shoes, a shirt, a towel, and a headband for about 25 dollars. It was a dangerous place! After Primark we went to a few other stores and then went to lunch at Wasabi. It was a sushi chain, where you take a tray and then grab individually wrapped sushi. I was actually really surprised at how good it was. After lunch our group split up. Me and Vivi headed off to do some touristy things, while Clara continued shopping with Bethany as she had been to London before and is going back at the end of summer.

Our first stop on the tourist loop was Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. After that we went to London Bridge and then walked along the Thames to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Next was Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and then we ended with Buckingham Palace. We were too poor to actually go into any of the places, since most of them were around 30 dollars a piece to get into. I'll just have to return when I actually have some money!

Westminster Abbey.

Parliament and Big Ben.

London Bridge.

Tower Bridge.

The Globe Theatre.

Guard at Buckingham Palace.

When we got back Clara, Vivi and I went to dinner at a Thai restaurant. The fun thing about it though, was that it was in the back of the Winston Churchill Pub. It was a really bizarre mix, but it definitely worked! And the food was delightful!

Wednesday was the last day in London, at least for me, so we got up early to squeeze a few more things in. The first on our list was the British museum where we got to see the Rosetta Stone, an Easter Island statue, and the rest of the Egyptian artifacts that are not in the Cairo Egyptian museum. You could easily spend days in the museum, so we picked the things that we really wanted to see and then headed out.

Hieroglyphics.

Next on our list was Covent Garden. It's an old market place that today houses lots of shops. We quickly walked through and then got lunch. We got Pasties, which were AMAZING!! I got chicken and vegetable and it really was divine! If I could, I would probably eat one everyday! While we ate lunch we just sat in the square and watched the street entertainers. They were actually quite good, and reminded me a lot of the Renaissance fair.

Street performer.

Last but definitely not least on our list was King's Cross. It is the main train station in London and is home to platform nine and three quarters from Harry Potter. Again, I'm a nerd, so I insisted on going and taking pictures.

On my way to Hogwarts! I wish!

We left King's Cross and gave ourselves just enough time to get to the apartment, gather our bags, and head back to the airport. But when we got to Bethany's apartment nobody answered so we had to wait about twenty minutes for Bethany to get home and let us in. Then upon getting inside, Bethany discovered that one of her roommates was at home. For some reason she was unable to buzz us in, even though she clearly heard it. Needless to say, nobody was very happy. Clara and I said goodbye to Vivi, as she was heading home the next day out of London, and then took the tube to Heathrow to catch our flight to Turkey!