Roma, The Eternal City

After a delayed flight, missed connection, lost bag, and some tears (2 times in one week, this is getting ridiculous)...I finally made it to Rome and into the arms of my mom and dad on Saturday afternoon!  We fueled up on pizza and pasta (what else) and headed to The Vatican City.  We were a little early for the tour, so we decided to go ahead and get some gelato while we waited…

How precious are these two world travelers??

We started off the tour in the garden where we got the full explanation of Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel.  Turns out that Michelangelo had zero interest in painting, he thought it was too girly.  Instead, he wanted to be recognized as a world famous sculptor and focused most of his studies on the human body (hence the magnificent David).  Much to his dismay, when the Pope commissions you to do something “no” is not an option.  I would describe Michelangelo (let’s call him Mike) as sassy.  He did as he was told, but in the process he made some subtle, almost spiteful, changes.  Most of his little quips aren’t noticeable because everyone is so taken by the beauty of his pieces – they most definitely aren’t noticeable to the untrained eye, but lucky for us our tour guide, Marta, was an art history major and knew everything about everything.  So here is my take on Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel:

The ceiling is split into 9 panels illustrating the book of Genesis:

1.       God’s separation of light and dark:  Pretty self-explanatory, the image of God is diagonal across the panel and one side is black, one side is whiteish

2.       Creation of the Sun and the Moon:  Mike’s quip #1, you see God with the moon in one hand and the sun in the other, but then right next to him, you see his naked backside – a full moon…

3.       Creation of land and water:  he stuck to the book on this one

4.       Creation of Adam:  This is the most famous of all 9 panels, the one where God is reaching out and touching fingers with Adam.  The Bible says that Adam was created out of dust, and has nothing to do with touch.  In my opinion, Mike was just showing off his skills for creating the human body, because this piece is outstanding…

5.       Creation of Eve from Adam’s rib:  stuck to the book on this one too

6.       Temptation and Expulsion:  The main difference here is that in the Bible the temptation is an apple, but Mike painted a fig tree instead

7.       Sacrifice of Noah:  This is where you see a big difference between the panels…Mike started painting the ceiling on the 9^thpanel, the end of the book of Genesis.  After 3 panels (7, 8, and 9) he got down off the scaffolding and really took a look at how things were looking.  He was pretty upset because he realized that he was putting too much detail in the panels and all the figures were much too small to recognize what he was trying to illustrate. 

8.       Noah’s Ark:  Being the 2^nd panel he completed, the scene is very small, but it’s important to note that there are only 2 animals in the entire scene – a horse and a dove.  Another big difference from the Sunday School song we all know and love –

The animals, they came in, they came in by twosies, twosies,
The animals, they came in, they came in by twosies, twosies,
Elephants and kangaroosies, roosies,
Children of the Lord!  

Again, Mike decided to focus on the human body rather than the little kangaroosies. 

9.       Drunken Noah:  The panel illustrated Noah naked on the ground with a few men pointing at him.  Marta’s explanation of this was my favorite…Noah didn’t know the effects of wine, got drunk, got naked, and his sons were pointing and laughing at him.  I’m sure that’s exactly when went through Mike’ mind when he was thinking this one up... 

So Mike finished the ceiling and walls, which contained images of prophets, scenes of the old testament and scenes of the new testament, and bee lined back to Florence to continue his sculpting.  About 34 years later at the age of 60, he was commissioned to paint the wall behind the pulpit which he had left blank.  Grudgingly, he completed a breathtaking image of The Last Judgment.  He wanted to get this piece done as quickly as possible because he was sure that he was going to die soon, but at the age of 60 he didn’t work quite as quickly as he had 30 years earlier.  So this one wall took him 5 years to complete, whereas the rest of the Chapel had taken him 4.  Needless to say, he was annoyed that it was taking so long, but much to his surprise he lived another 28 years.       

I think Marta could have gone on for days pointing out details about in the Chapel, but she could tell by scanning our group that none of us really knew much about art and she filled our heads with more knowledge than we could take in our 3 hour tour – that and most of our eyes were glazing over…

So after Marta blew our minds explaining the Sistine Chapel, she informed us that we weren’t going to actually go into the Chapel until the end of the tour.  Really??  As if we are going to remember everything she just said.  For the next hour and a half we walked through the palace and saw masterpiece after masterpiece of paintings, sculptures, and tapestries.  You could literally spend weeks in that place and not see everything, it’s unbelievable.  We finally arrived in the Sistine Chapel, and Marta broke the news to us that we couldn’t take pictures or speak in the Chapel.  For the record, I did NOT take any photos but you really expect me to be quiet gawking at what was before my eyes??  Luckily, most everyone else couldn’t keep their mouths shut either…

I shamefully can't remember the name of this statue, but it was buried and at some point during Michelangelo's lifetime was uncovered during excavations

One of the huuuundreds of tapestries that we saw

Ceiling of some hallway we walked through.  Seriously, everything was so beautiful...

Entrance to the Sistine Chapel

Hallway leaving the Sistine Chapel, we weren't allowed down this one...

After the straining our necks until we couldn’t stand it anymore, we headed to our last stop, St. Peter’s Basilica.  In my opinion, Marta spent so much time explaining the Sistine Chapel, we were in no way prepared for what we were about to see in the Basilica – which I think she did on purpose.  That place is absolutely breathtaking.  The detail is unreal, and the magnitude of the building is just unbelievable.  In fact, while we were walking around taking photos (which IS legal) they were holding mass in the front of the basilica, and we didn’t even realize it.           

Holy Doors of St Peter's Basilica.  This door is opened by the Pope on the first day of the Holy Year, Jubilee, which is every 25 years.  The next Jubilee will be 2025. 

Alter in St. Peter's

The center of the main dome

My favorite sculpture in the Basilica...Jesus and some of his people

Doors into St Peter's, reference for how MASSIVE this place is

  St. Peter's Square

To say that we were exhausted after the day is an understatement.  I had woken up early to ensure that I would NOT miss my flight in from Brussels, and I’m pretty sure that my parents were sleep deprived from dealing with the aftermath of emotions from me missing my flight in on Friday.  (I’m an awesome traveler.)  We made our way back to the hotel and as we were weaving in and out of the streets of Rome, we literally stumbled on the Pantheon.  Surprisingly, I think I’d have to say that the Pantheon was my favorite part of Rome.  This thing was commissioned in 27BC, and it is still PERFECT.  Dad and I had to nerd-out for a minute and just talk about the magnitude of engineering that it took to build this domed structure with an opening in the ceiling, and it’s STILL standing.  There is this plaque inside that explains how researchers have stated that nothing like the Pantheon will ever be constructed again because they literally don’t know how it was engineered, amazing.  AND it’s free to go in, crazy.

Pantheon 

The next morning, we spent some time at the Trevi Fountain, which was just right around the corner from our hotel.  We had passed it the night before, but the amount of people that got to see the fountain is unbelievable.  For anyone who plans to go, just walk by any time before 8am..it’s a ghost town.  We made sure to make a wish as we threw in coins and then took a drink from the fountain, which ensured our return to Rome…or at least Europe :)

Trevi at night.  Luckily, I'm freakishly tall and could get a photo over the mass of people...

Trevi in daylight and me!

The last stop on our whirlwind trip was the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, another place you could spend weeks walking through and never absorb the magnitude of history that are on those grounds.  Our tour of the Colosseum went through the uses of the structure over the years, including a garden, a meeting place, a residence for the homeless, and a space of entertainment, obviously, we have all seen Gladiator.  Our guide made sure to point out that the historians have confirmed that Colosseum was never used for massacre of Christians, but that every Good Friday the cross does make a stop at the sight in remembrance of all the lives that were lost in one single location.  The Roman Forum was essentially the heart of Rome, and is mostly ruins today.  There are drawings all around that depict what the area once looked like, and I’ll say it again…it really is just amazing.     

The Colosseum was originally white, covered in marble and travertine.  If you look closely, you can see holes in the structure from where people removed the iron clamps to remove the marble and travertine stone.

You're looking at the lower level of the Colosseum where the animals were stored.  There was a floor covering the exposed lower level where the events actually took place (you can see a piece of it that has been restored on the left of the photo)

Just a tiiiiiny piece of the Roman Forum

There were Morning Laurels everywhere.  I want a backyard full of these beautiful flowers!

I think the biggest take away, for me, from Rome was how amazing it is that we were standing in places that were constructed when Jesus was alive.  My Dad was talking about how, before coming to Rome, when he read the Bible the images that he pictured were always of towns of mud huts with no infrastructure full of weathered people, which is exactly what I see also.  Obviously, this was the case in most of the populated world, but there was also civilization with unbelievably refined technology.  In a sense, it makes the word of God and the life of Jesus that much more REAL.  Gives you goosebumps too…        

After dragging our bags about a mile and a half through the streets of Rome, a 3.5 hour train ride, and a hour in the car we made it to Fano safe and sound.  I took Mom and Dad to one of my favorite restaurants where we had some amazing homemade pasta, bread, and gelato for the second time in one day…when in Rome!  After dinner we walked around Old Town Fano for a bit before I finally made these two party animals head back to the hotel.  I had to remind them that some people have to work and can’t party all night on a Sunday :)

This morning I sent Mom and Dad off to enjoy 2 leisurely days in Venice.  I had gotten an email last week about how Lufthansa had announced that their pilots were planning to strike April 2-4^th.  In my head I thought that sounded so organized that it shouldn’t affect our April 3^rd flight back to Houston, but I decided to go ahead and give them a call anyway.  The sweet lady that I talked to first calmly said that they weren’t going to be announcing which flights they were going to cancel until around noon, and as I was talking to her I got more and more anxious about our flight.  You see we have our annual Scott A Freund Memorial Fishing Tournament on Friday in Corpus Christi and there is no way I’m going to let my kinfolk (German’s) get in the way of that party.  So I thought I’d go ahead and take the risk of changing our flight for no reason prior to the mass chaos once they announce the confirmed cancelled flights.  About that time, the Lufthansa computers went down and they sweet lady I had been talking to for 30 minutes told me that I should try and call back in 30 minutes, which confirmed my choice to get things changes asap.  After 30 minutes on the dot, I was listening to Lufthansa’s elevator music praying I would get through before they post that list.  My visit to The Vatican played in my favor and I was on with operator #2.  Now, since I’m flying business class (thank you CVX) changing my flight was no problem, just had to switch times and airlines, but I could still get out on Thursday.  Mom and Dad (in economy) were a little more difficult – no flights Wednesday, no flights Thursday, and no flights Friday – awesome, so how about Tuesday…bingo, booked for Tuesday at 10:20AM. 

Now, Mom and Dad are on a train (with no access to communication of any form) to Venice thinking they can totally relax until sometime Tuesday evening when they feel like making their way back to Fano and I blast them with an email entitled “***SUPER IMPORTANT***EMAIL ME WHEN YOU GET THIS.”  After a few iterations of booking train tickets, their updated itinerary is a 5:05AM train leaving Venice with a 20 minute stop to change trains arriving in Bologna at 7:43AM (IF they make the connection, if not 8:40AM), followed by a 7km taxi ride that can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour depending on crazy Bologna traffic.  Luckily, they don’t have to check any bags because they left them all here with me in Fano and only took a carry-on to Venice, but OMG I cannot imagine how much Lisa is freaking out.  I only know this because I am slightly freaking out and as I've mentioned in previous posts, I am becoming my mother.  So everyone say a little prayer for these two, because you know they won’t be sleeping well tonight. 

Between delays, missed flights, and strikes, I’m beginning to think maybe this is a sign that I should hang up my traveling shoes…yeah, right.        

Cheerio!

For those of you who don't know, on occasion I choose to talk in a British accent for no aparrent reason.  In my head I typically sound fantastic, brilliant actually, but in reality I just sound like a bloody idiot.  Anyways, I've found the reason.  It's because I have a deep-rooted LOVE for the city of London.  I realize that I have claimed to be in love with quite a few cities lately, but this is REAL.    

I flew into London late last Friday night, and my dear friend Alanna was fighting off her jet lag waiting for me at the hotel.  I told Alanna that I was going to London about 2 weeks ago, and being the fantastic friend she is, she bought a ticket across the pond just to hang out with me for a few days.  I guess she was tired of hearing me complain about traveling solo.

We got up early Saturday morning to hit the town.  Naturally, the open top double decker tour bus was a MUST so we got our tickets first thing - we even splurged and got the 48-hour deal.  Being California and Texas natives, we skipped out the door sans-coats...the sun was out so that means it's warm right?  WRONG.  You better believe that we stayed on the top of that bus for the entire loop.  And we loved every second, regardless of the fact that we were loosing feeling in our fingers which is pretty obvious by my terrible photography.  After one loop, we decided that the only way to stay warm was to head to our first London pub...

SUPER excited about the bus

St Paul's Cathedral 

Tower Bridge

London Tower, which is NOT a tower, it's a fortress

Big Ben

I loved this little guy

Driving across Tower Bridge

The London Eye

I could stare at this view for days....Westminster Abbey from the London Eye

Entrance of the Buckingham Palace

Alanna had done some fantastic research on the oldest pubs in London, so we mapped out our route taking the Tube (subway) from pub to pub.  The first, The George Inn, established in 1676 was perfect in every way.  I indulged in my first beef and ale pot pie and decided that if I was a local I would definitely be a regular.  We had 10 pubs to get to, so after our meal and an ale we headed to The Jamaica Wine House, est 1652, then Lamb & Flag, est 1780, then Ye Olde Mitre, est 1546....ALL CLOSED.  Alanna and I were completely confused, tired, and most of all thirsty.  None the less, we continued on Citte of York, est 1695.  We got off the Tube at the Blackfriar stop and stumbled on Blackfriar's pub, which was not on the list but happened to be the cutest things ever established in 1873 (I guess that's not old enough to make the cut).  We had to stop to rest and refuel.

The George Inn's claim to fame....delicious!

Jamaica Wine House, closed, Alanna's confused

Leadenhall Market, just the cutest place ever, Lamb & Flag, also closed.

Ye Olde Mitre...this would have been the BEST, but it was closed.  Alanna is still confused.

SUCCESS!  Blackfriar's

It was very difficult to leave Blackfriar's, but we still had 6 of the oldest pubs in London to try and get to.  We were super close to #8 on the list, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese est 1538, so we modified our route and headed to the Cheese.  Little did we know that this is where we would spend the rest our night with bitter beer supplied by a bunch of Scotsman.  For the record, the bitter beer was served at room temp and is not good.  Over the course of the night, Alanna fell in love with the man of her dreams, Stuart, so we shut down "the Cheese" with the boys of Scotland.  Luckily, one of the guys was the Scottish version of my love, so I called him Chad and we sat together and I made him tell me every detail of his upcoming nuptials while making fun of Alanna and Stewy all night.  

SUCCESS x2!

We got back to the hotel just in time for me to realize that it was wedding time back home!  I attempted to FaceTime Mom, but of course there was no answer.  Thankfully, my sista had her phone on her and I called moments before Mr and Mrs Kristopher Johnson were introduced to the reception!  I got to hear Julie's dad welcome and thank everyone for coming to the wedding.  I couldn't tell you anything that he said, but I know that he mentioned my Nana and Papa and that's when the water works started.  I just sat in the lobby of our hotel and watched the first dance, the daddy/daughter dance, and mother/son dance just balling my eyes out.  I had kind of gotten it together when someone started passing the phone around.  I started at the kids table with all my cousins and the Kennedy's, then I saw my mom and dad and lost it again.  By the time I got to the grandparents/aunts and uncles I was a blubbering mess and THEN I got to the bride and I couldn't even get any words out.  Thank goodness the band was loud, it would have been super embarrassing if everyone would hear me wailing.  It was bad enough I exposed my hideous crying face to the entire crowd.  I did not expect to be so pathetically emotional, but I couldn't get it together...I'm just so thrilled to FINALLY have Julianna in our family.

Needless to say, getting up Sunday morning was a very slow process.  The combination of bitter beer, walking for miles, and crying myself to sleep made getting out of bed pretty difficult.  On top of that we had to change hotels, and 10am came much quicker than expected.  Luckily, Alanna and I had an unspoken understanding that we were going to check-in to my home for the week and get ourselves back on that bus for the rest of the day.  And that's exactly what we did.  I think we spent at least 7 hours cruising around London learning fun facts for the second day in a row.

I was super jealous of Alanna getting to beep bop around London Monday and Tuesday while I was in class, but it was so nice to have someone to hang out with in the evenings...she's a really great date :)  Just by coincidence, I had emailed one of my old friend/co-worker from Bakersfield (who happens to be married to a friend from high school's older sister - this world is REALLY small) and he was in London for the week.  I adore him and his sweet family (I used to babysit his boys), so we were able to get together for dinner on Wednesday night.  We had such a great time catching up and talking about how wonderful it is to be able to see each other on the other side of the world...did I mention that this world is really small??

My BFF, Kate Middleton, was really busy this week, so I didn't get to see her or George.  I really have no other choice but to get back to this city as soon as she let's me know what her schedule is like.  This trip was so last minute,she just didn't have time to pencil me in, but I was super busy too so it's fine :)   I feel like I've only touched the tip of the iceberg of this amazing city, and I will definitely be back for more sooner than later!

So long London...

I'm heading to ROME tomorrow after class to meet my Mom and Dad, and I couldn't be more excited!  They have been exploring Italy since Monday, and I cannot wait to hear about their adventures.  I realize this sounds ridiculous, but I feel like a proud momma just thinking about everything they are getting to see and experience.  They are 100% out of their comfort zone (especially Lisa), but I am just so thrilled that they agreed to take a trip across the pond to see the everything the rest of this world has to offer...well, Italy, for now ;)

xoxo...    

gobble gobble

Last week was pretty exhausting. Between my daily NASCAR practice (communte to/from work) and trying to communicate with a pathetic mixture of English/Portuguese/Spanish/Italian it's been tough for me to stay up past 8pm which is unfortunate for me because most resteraunts don't even open until 7:30/8:00. Believe it or not, there's been a few nights where I pulled a Brian Johnson and was too lazy/exhausted to eat dinner. BUT don't anyone worry, I was still able to plan a weekend getaway...ISTANBUL!

I had never really had any burning desire to go to Istanbul, so I can't really say how I landed on Turkey but I am SO glad I did. Istanbul is the farthest East that I can go from the Bologna airport, within reason, just a quick 2.5 hour flight with Turkish Airlines. With everything going on in the news about the Malaysian Airline flight, to say that I was nervous to get on a non-American flight is an understatement. Of course, it didn't help that the night before I was scheduled to fly I read every article on the internet about the flight investigation...super smart. I had also decided to keep my weekend getaway a secret from my mom to avoid giving her a mild stroke, however I caved and confessed Friday before I left...and yes, at 26 years old, I still can't keep little white lies from my mom - pathetic. Anyways, Turkish airlines is amazing. Great food, free booze, roomy seats, nice people, and bonus safe flight!

So I arrived in Turkey late afternoon Friday and when I got off the plane I realized how unprepared I was for the trip. I didn't know some key things like what the Turkish currency is (Turkish Lira, fyi), how to say please/thank you, and where my hotel was...I instructed the taxi to take me to the wrong place and after arguing for a good 15 minutes, I shamefully realized it was my mistake.

After getting settled in the correct place, I headed to Taksim Square which is where dinner at a nice restaurant called 360 came highly recommended. In the cab on the way there, the driver kept explaining something to me about Taksim and after about 15 minutes of back and forth I realized that he was saying that Taksim is where are the local riots are – awesome, I would have been just fine not knowing that fun fact. Luckily, last Friday there were no angry crowds, and I was about to walk all around Taksim without any problems at all. After a mouthwatering meal, I walked around the streets a bit and my fair share of the local flavor at the pubs (Efes and Raki), but I skipped out on the street vendor mussels, street-side raw seafood just didn’t sound right to me.

Stairs up to 360

Riot-free Taksim Square

Before I start babbling too much about what I did all weekend, I need to touch on the history of Istanbul for all us non-history buffs. I know I was much more concerned with what Old Navy t-shirt I was going to wear to middle school and if it would match the color I had chosen for the rubber bands on my braces that week than the Ottoman Empire, for proof see photo below...

yikes.

Anyways, back to the history. I’m leaving out 99.9% of the details, but here are the highlights…

Pre-4th Century: Byzantium – founded by the Greeks
      o Hippodrome built in 203…that’s 1811 years ago people!

4th – 15th Century: Constantinople – Constantine relocated the Eastern Roman Empire to Byzantium and renames the city Constantinople
      o Lots of things happened here… Theodsian Walls, Basilica Cistern, Hagia Sophia, and LOTS of sieges of the city
      o The end of the 15th century was CRAZY, this was the mark of the beginning of the fall of Christianity and the rise of Muslim rule

15th – 19th Century: Ottoman Empire
     o City was taken over by Ottoman forces and fell under Sultan rule…Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar, several new mosques
     o Hagia Sophia was converted from a Christian church to a mosque, more details to come…

20th Century: Fall of Ottoman Empire…Istanbul
     o World War I, Republic of Turkey, abolishment of the caliphate (Sultan Rule)

21st Century: Population EXPLODES
     o 2.3 million in 1965 to 10 million in 2000…now somewhere between 14 and 16 million.

The next morning I set out for the old city to hit the obvious tourist spots, still not really knowing what to expect. I started at the Hippodrome in Sultanahmet Square, which was the center of the old city. The Hippodrome is a U-shaped area where the chariots raced in Byzantine and Roman times. There are three significant structures that still stand in this area, which is crazy because the original floor of the Hippodrome is about 5 meters lower than the current surface. The three structures – Walled (aka Constantine) Obelisk, Serpentine Column, and Egyptian Obelisk – were placed in a line in the center of the Hippodrome, all with different stories. The oldest of the three is the Egyptian Obelisk, which was “custom ordered” by a Roman emperor to be made of pink granite and shipped from Egypt sometime in the 4th century. It arrived in Sultanahmet and sat at the corner of the Hippodrome for 10 years before it was erected in 390. The most amazing part about this is that the granite looks brand new. The Serpentine Column was erected in 479 under Greek rule and was originally three snakes intertwined. The heads of the snakes were later removed since snakes are representation of the devil. It’s unknown when the Walled Obelisk was constructed, but sometime before the 10th century. It was originally covered in bronze, but was stripped off during the siege of the Fourth Crusaders. Seriously old stuff…

Egyptian Obelisk

Walled Obelisk

Serpentine Column

Next on the list was the Blue Mosque, aka Sultan Ahmed Mosque. Driving into the city you see massive mosques all over the place, and they all looked pretty magnificent to me so I wasn’t really sure what was so special about the Blue Mosque. I’ve learned of a few things that make the Blue Mosque significant, and I’m sure my Muslim friends could probably educate me on several more; but this is what I’ve gathered. This mosque wasn’t designed by the famous Sinan, but by one of his students, and it was ordered by Sultan Ahmet who became Sultan at only 14. There are 6 minarets on the mosque, which was rather controversial at the time because 4 was the common maximum. Minarets are the towers you see that were used to mark the Call to Prayer. People used to climb up into the minarets to begin the call, so the more minarets you had the louder the call, so Sultan Ahmet’s mosque by default had the furthest reaching call. (Now there are speakers mounted that echo the call). The interior is decorated with more than 20,000 handmade tiles and 200 stained glass windows, and none of my pictures do this beautiful interior any justice – it’s truly breathtaking.

View of the Blue Mosque from the courtyard

These columns were MASSIVE

On to the Hagia Sophia, which means “Holy Wisdom,” my FAVORITE part of the weekend. This single structure illustrates the history of the city, and is symbolic in more ways than any of us will ever know. Bear with me here, there is a lot to explain about this one. The first church that was constructed where the Hagia Sophia stands today, somewhere between 340 and 360, was actually two wooden churches – the Great Church and the Hagia Eirene which was built for use while the Great Church was being completed. At the time, it was said to be the largest church in the world, but was burned during a riot in 404 (Hagia Eirene was not burned, only Hagia Sophia). The church was rebuilt with the use of more stone for protection in 415, however burned again in 532. There are ruins of the second Hagia Sophia around the entrance to the building and a few illustrations of how the second structure may have appeared, which was more representative of the Roman architecture – archways and columns. Emperor Justinian decided to go for a different look and ordered the Hagia Sophia to be rebuilt as a massive dome structure, and a little less than 6 years later, the structure that stands today was completed.

Now to the really interesting part…conversion of this intricate Christian church to a Mosque by the Ottomans.  The details in the Hagia Sophia are amazing.  There are images of Jesus, Virgin Mary, Joseph, and other key Christian figures were created with tiny mosaic tiles with rich colors to a background of gold tiles, made with gold leaf.  Luckily, when the city was taken under Ottoman rule they respected the beauty of this Christian church and rather than destroying it, they simply made minor modifications.  All the crosses were strategically converted into arrows or flowers, and all the Christian images covered in plaster and painted.  The crazy thing is that the Ottomans clearly liked how the church was decorated, because as they painted over the plaster they kept the same colors and designs just excluded any Christian images.

The Hagia Sophia was transformed into a museum in 1935, which allows the public to truly see two worlds coming together in one building.  They are constantly doing restoration work of the building and finding new images.  The best part about it is that they are trying to restore pieces of the building to respect both cultures; peeling back plaster just enough to show mirror images in mosaic, maintaining the verses from the Quran and exposing Christian images...it's really a sight to see!

View of Hagia Sophia leaving the Blue Mosque

Traditional Ottoman band was serenading folks outside the Hagia Sophia.  This guy was a crowd favorite.

Main entrance door...cross turned into an arrow

Beautiful.  

The left half of the building was under restoration while I was there.  I tried to keep the scaffolding out of my pictures...

View from the balcony.  This is where the empress would sit while the emperor was down on the floor on his throne.

The emperor's throne would sit here on top of the different imported stones.

Visitors began taking the little mosaic pieces as their own souvenirs...

Example of some of the restoration work.  CLICK to make the photo bigger, and you can tell that the top layer is painted plaster and the underneath the original mosaic tiles.

My favorite photo of the whole trip, so much history in one photo...

From the Hagia Sophia, I stopped for some substance at an adorable little hole in the wall for some Turkish cuisine. I went with Musakka, an eggplant dish with minced meat, and it was delicious! I learned that the Turkish and the Greeks still bicker over the origin of different foods (baklava, kebabs, etc) but one that the Turks will not let go is yogurt. They are very passionate about the fact that yogurt originated in Turkey, and most actually make their own on a weekly basis. They have a milk man who comes to their house and delivers milk to make new batches of yogurt. The best part is that the way they make it is just take a spoonful of the current bowl, and mix it into the new milk. So technically, you could be eating yogurt that is year and years old…think about it…

Next stop was Topkapi Palace which was the home to Ottoman Sultans for about 400 years of their rule, and is now full of some pretty unbelievable artifacts, not to mention gorgeous views of the Bosphorus Strait.  So this place is massive, over 7 million square-feet, and kind of overwhelming especially after already conquering two mosques and the Hippodrome, but I continued onward.  The grounds are surrounded by walls and the Borphorus on the edge of the peninsula.  You first enter the main gate, the Imperial Gate, into the first of four courtyards.  As you continued to walk into the palace, each courtyard subsequently gets smaller, more private, and in my opinion more beautiful.  All the buildings had a specific purpose and were extravagantly decorated, again pictures do not do it justice.  My favorite room of the tour was one of the rooms that displayed the different Sultan's treasures.  The one piece that left me speechless was the rod of Moses.  That's right, as in the piece of wood that parted the Red Sea.  It was everything I had not to stop all the people around me and say something to the tune of "I'm sorry, whaaaaat??"  I kept it together, and calmly walked to the next piece that happened to be the sword of David.  Yep, the one that chopped off Goliath's head.  Did I mention that I was in no way prepared for what I would see on this trip??

I'm not really sure if I wasn't allowed to take photos, or if I was just in such awe that I forgot to capture every single piece but sadly I don't have too many to share.  I do know that there were no photos allowed in the treasures rooms because you better believe that I would have snapped one of that rod, or the 86-carat diamond, no big deal...

One of the doors into one of the buildings...

Entrance into the second courtyard, I think...

Bosphorus Bridge

I had dinner Saturday night at a place called Reina, which was also highly recommended for it's view of the Bosphorus Bridge, and it did not disappoint...

I didn’t have too much time on Sunday to explore, and my top priority was the Grand Bazaar – which, of course, is closed on Sunday. Luckily, the Spice Bazaar is open 7 days a week. I can’t imagine the magnitude of the Grand Bazaar because the Spice Bazaar was pretty overwhelming for a silly white girl on her first trip East.  I pretty much wanted to buy everything, but was sidetracked with how many things there are to look at.  The one thing that I wanted the most were some of the lamps they have, which I can guarantee would be broken before I get home in a few weeks, so sadly I passed...

Walking into the Bazaar

Turkish Delights

Spices and teas everywhere you look

I want a house full of these lamps

I feel like I only grazed the surface of this beautiful city, but I walked away with so much appreciation for the change that the city has endured. I am blown away by how much history I was able to see and experience, and so incredibly grateful for this beautiful life.

Until next week, xoxo...