Weekend Outings

On Saturday afternoon, I took the metro to Taksim Square.
Taksim and Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Street) are the big hangout spots in Istanbul. Istiklal has tons of shops and restaurants, a high school, several foreign consulates, various churches and lots of cool old buildings.
I met Rebecca at the McDonald's. I got there early, since it was my first time and I wasn't sure how long it would take to get there from the flat. I was sitting outside McDonald's and a woman with a dog came to sit at the table next to me. She asked me if I was afraid of dogs and I told her No. She sat down and started talking to me. And she talked. And she kept talking. I won't take up a year of your life going into detail, but I'll just say that she has an opinion about everything. I just tried to explain that just like all Turks don't agree with the government, so it is with Americans. The funniest part of the whole episode is that she took the dog to McDonald's because it was a special day. He became a man that day, as she put it. :) She fed him a couple of hamburgers and he was happy.

Rebecca and I went to dinner at a delicious restaurant. I had a mix platter with kuzu, kofte and other yummy stuff. The custom here is to bring the guests a cup of tea after the meal, sort of like the American custom of giving mints. After dinner, we walked down Istiklal. I took a bunch of pics, they are on FB.
Istiklal is very busy and is closed to traffic, except for official vehicles. There can be thousands of people there at any given time. An old fashioned type of street car runs down the middle.
We went into St.Anthony's Church, which is really beautiful. They still have their large nativity and beautiful Christmas decorations up, so that was very nice to see.
She took me to the Galata Tower, which is truly stunning. It's HUGE. It was originally built in the 14th century. It's over 200 ft tall and the walls are 12 ft thick. It has a restaurant, a cafe and a nightclub. When you get to the top, you can walk around the Tower and there is a panoramic view of the city. It is beautiful. We went just as the sun was going down and the lighting was gorgeous.
You can see the Golden Horn that separates the Old District from the New District on the European side, and the Bosphorous Bridge which connect Europe to Asia.

On our way back up Istiklal to the metro, we stopped and had amazing dessert at a place Ozsut. I tried a drink called Salep, which is made from orchid root. It is frothy and white and served warm with cinnamon on the top.
We had a great day together and it was fun to see some of the sights.

On Monday, I was lazy for the most of the day.
Fatma and I started talking around 4 and I said Well, I should go outside...
So we got dressed and went out for a little while. We went to a photography studio and she helped me get my portrait taken for the photos that I will need to register for classes and to get my residence permit.
We went to dinner at this little place that serves one dish - manti (but the i doesn't have a dot and makes a different sound).
It was delicious. It is teeny fresh made dumplings/ravioli served warm with yogurt (kind of like sour cream), pasta sauce, garlic, butter, fresh herbs and spices. It is fantastic. We stopped on the walk home and I got some fresh baklava, also fantastic. My tummy was very happy.

Today I have to go pick up the photos and go to school to get my student ID and password. I am meeting Rebecca at 5 and we are going to paint the town red. ;)