It's been close to a week since I've arrived in Istanbul but we've done so much, it definitely feels like a lot more! After settling in to the apartment and unpacking, Chris' brother Alex and his girlfriend Jane arrived back in Istanbul after a trip down south to the Mediterranean.Since Chris was working, I got to play tour guide for the day and went with Alex and Jane to the Grand Bazaar (largest, oldest ... i assume ... shopping mall in the world!) and then to the Cistern, an enormous underground place that held all the water for the city, centuries ago and was only uncovered in the last 50 or so years!
After that, Chris met us and we hit Topkapi Palace, where the Ottoman Empire Sultans lived - it was amazingly beautiful. The treasures these sultans had were unbelievable - Giant jewels, 50 karat diamonds, solid gold flasks, mother of pearl thrones...It wasn't hard to belive that they had this much money, after seeing that the palace cafe was trying to sell us cans of Coke for 5 lira apiece (about $4.50) but at least it had a great view!
After our palace tour, we strolled around and did some browsing in the souvenier shops and then watched some of the World Cup in a fun little bar. Chris took us all for a great dinner at 5th Floor restaurant, which was delicious and rekindled my love of the beaded curtain!

Other than that touristy day, I've been trying to get settled with lots of help from Chris. Trying to find my way around and get acquainted with the neighborhood. Our apartment building is attached to Chris' campus and there are the cutest kittens out back...I think I posted a picture of them!

I haven't quite gotten the hang of posting everything yet, so the photos might come up separately than these descriptions. But i'll work on making it more user friendly :)