I have done so much since the last update where do I even begin?! On wednesday we went to 2 mosques and the spice bazaar. The first mosque was the Rustem Paşa Mosque and the second was the Yeni Mosque. This day we were ın the Bazaar Quarter and this is where these mosques are. To get to the Rustem Paşa we had to walk through a lıttle market area and up these stone steps that were almost ın a stone tunnel like. Then once you reach the top of the steps you are in the courtyard of the mosque. All mosques have a courtyard. The tile work on the outside as well as the inside of the mosque was amazing I love the use of patterns and colors. The Yeni mosque was just as remarkable. In fact I think I am prefering these smaller less famour mosques than the big famous ones like the Blue or the Aya. The Yeni mosques courtyard was huge and so open. This mosque was built in the 1500s. Other than the use of open space I really like how in mosques the chandelıers hang very low to the ground. Im not sure what the sıgnıfcance of this is though. After the mosques was the spice bazaar. Oh the spice bazaar. I enjoy markets or bazaars so I loved ıt. The colors and smells of all the different spices from the different shops as you walk along. I especially love the different way shop keepers will try to get you to come to their shop. Such as the following (always done in a very polite manner mind you) 'Hello Spice Gırls' 'I will help you spend your money.' 'My shop is paradise come to paradise' or my personal favorite of the day 'the whole shop is free...except for today.' hahha Im sure I wıll have more once we go to the Grand Bazaar next week I believe. We did lunch under the brıdge which was nothing to write about for once. We then decided to take a ferry back to the Asian side to try to get into thıs brand new mosque which is the very first mosque in the world to be designed by a woman. After the ferry we hopped into two cabs to get to the mosque since it was a long walk and really hot. While we were driving the call to prayer started and it was so neat to hear it as we drove past all these mosques. When we got the mosque we were all so ımpressed with how grand it appeared from the outside but sadly a service possibly a funeral was going on so we are going to try to come back to get in another day I can only imagine what it looks like inside because it was so beatuful outside.

Yesterday was a LONG day! Luckily it wasnt as hot as it has been so the bus ride was bareable that is until our bus driver got in a road rage fight with a car! The bus (which as always was cram packed with people) sorta cut off a car but really the car was at fault too. Anyway the driver of the car starts yelling out his window and then the bus driver just stops in the middle of the highway and the car pulls in front of the bus and stops too. The driver of the bus and the driver of the car ( who is now standing in front of the bus) are just yelling back and forth no clue what was said since obviously I speak no Turkish but Im sure that stuff is pretty universal! Anyway we as usaly met Said at the ferry and took it over to the Sultanahmet area and went to Topkapi Palace. This was an Ottoman Empire palace from the 1400s and was HUGE I mean HUGE! The numerous buildings were amazing and all the floor was marble. Tons of beautiful tile work inside and out with gold on the outside and inside as well. We spent a few hours there and still probably didnt see it all. The architecture is amazing I just dont get how things were constructed like this so long ago and still are standing. We were getting hungry and were in the area near Lucians favorite place to eat so we went back since we all agreed as to how good it was. I got tavuk şiş which is chicken şiş I dont know what the english word for şiş is other than good! It came wıth pilav (rice) and the most delicious tomato Ive ever had. Lucian and Miles both got something that I cant remember the name of but its the dough like thing rolled wıth a sauce ontop stuffed with lamb. I decided to try some since Ive never had lamb and its pretty big here since pork isnt eaten. Who knew lamb was actually pretty good. I wouldnt order it because its pretty rich i thought but its really not bad at all. After lunch we walked to the Basillica Cistern. I had no clue what to expect here as I wasnt really sure what it was. When I walked ınt I was shocked! Fırst we were underground so it felt nice and cool then ıts dark with a little lighting and all I see are columns and water. This was from the 5th century! Above it use to be a Basillica and this was used as a water source and area to collectstore it. Water is still dripping and collecting. Coming out of the water are these amazing columns shooting up into the air. I love columns so I enjoyed this one!

The rest of yesterday was spent just shopping in Taksim. Today was class and our last Turkish language class. Now we are relaxing as we are all tired still. Tomorrow we have a free day until 430 and then we are going to a Turkish cooking class which should be fun and then we get to eat what we make!

Hopefully Ill load pictures tomorrow or sunday for sure.