... FINALLY!

I'm sorry it's been so long!  So much has been happening!  The average time for us to go to sleep at night is around 1-2 AM... ;-) On Wednesday of last week, we went to Dolmabahce Palace in the morning.  Another thing... after a couple of days, I discovered that the covers on my bed in the flat we're staying in slide down EVERY NIGHT!  It's getting to be a little bit annoying now ;-)  but still funny!  It's just odd to wake up with two feet of bed above your head and your feet hanging off the end!  Dolmabahce (which means "stuffed" - dolma - and "garden" - bahce) Palace was large, and extremely overbearing.  It was built during the Victorian Era, and largely under European influence.  In design, it's not very Turkish, and the wooden floors, the chairs and whole design of the interior was very much reminiscent, even a copycat of the Victorian English courts and palaces.  It reminded me of the set of  "The Young Victoria", and it was kind of sad to see the traditional Ottoman art eclipsed by the stiffness and formality of the European form, which totally did not fit the geographical essence of the place itself.  Also, it was ridiculously extravagant, to the point that all of us were suffering from severe sensory overload and near disgust at the opulence by the time we got out.  We weren't allowed to take pictures of the interior, but we do have pictures of the exterior.  This is a picture from in front of the main gate (where there is a guard as long as it's open - kind of like the Buckingham Palace guards - can't smile, etc) and another from inside the grounds (the gardens WERE stuffed!).

Front Gate (notice the guard in the middle)...

Top of the front gate...

Inside the front gate...

The changing of the guard...

Oh!  I learned another thing!  Every Turkish male is required by law to serve military duty for at least two years, and if you refuse, you either lose your citizenship (if living outside the country) or are put into jail until you do (if living inside the country).

Oictures next to an amazing water basin/ fountain/ spigot; we've begin to make a habit of taking pictures next to these!

The side gate.....

The detail of one of the palace walls...

The beautiful view of the Bosporus from Dolmabahce Palace...

Us standing next to the unmoving, unsmiling, and decidedly abused guard (I felt sorry for him, having to be in everyone's pictures... and yet, here I am, adding to said pictures!)  At any rate, we showed him the picture on the camera :-)  He deserved to know what it looked like. :-)

After that, we went to the on-grounds cafe and drank some cay (chai), which is Turkish for tea.  We took lots of pictures... hmhmhmhm... it was nice getting the Bosporus in the background, and we didn't have a lot of ourselves with the place... :-).  Most of them looked like stock photos up to that point.  :-)

The infamous and creepy "I will eat your children, MUAHAHAHAHAHA" picture :-)

And this is the picture where Melis actually saw for the first time that she looks nearly exactly like her mother... :-)

This is the funny little seagull that was hopping around on the steps down toward the Bosporus from the cafe... 

Then we took the underground tram to Taksim square, and spotted a Greek Orthodox (Armenian) church about a block away, which is apparently one of the more famous Greek Orthodox churches.  It's called Ayia Triada and was built in 1880.  When we walked up the lane of the church courtyard, we stopped to pet some of the street cats (of which there is an ABUNDANCE on EVERY [and I'm not joking!] street!).

Another of said street cats in the garden of the Armenian churches' courtyard...

This is the facade of the Armenian Church...

Us lighting candles to say prayers in the Armenian church's entrance hall... (any of my GK friends care to remind me what that's called?  It's number two on our diagram, and I remember every other one except that!  It's driving me crazy!  Any takers..??  Margrette..??)...

The inside of the Armenian church... :-)  Beautiful... 

After we left the Armenian church, we walked down the street to the Istiklal Caddesi (chaddessee - basically, it means large street).  This is one of THE fashionable places to see and be seen in the European side of Istanbul, apparently, and Aunt Sureyya used to go there as a child and eat ice cream and desserts at the Saray (a restaurant) there.  We went to eat first at Shampion (a seafood place - got it's name because the person who started it used to be a champion wrestler - but anyway, it's famous all over Turkey) and had medye (you say it like multi-media, except the "a" on the end is more of an e as in egg) which is basically muscles stuffed with seasoned rice... so good... but, as we've tried it a lot of different places by now, Melis and I agree that the best is STILL the kind the street vendors sell - much less expensive too! :-)  

The Istiklal Chaddesi ... :-)  It's all alight at night... if you look towards the northwest corner of the picture you can see a chandelier covered in lights that turns on when it gets darker.  There are ropes of lights all down the street. :-)

After Shampion, we ate at Saray - tavok gusu, which is a pudding-like dessert, but with a thicker, wierder texture, because it's made with shredded chicken breast!  Apparently, they let the chicken breast soak for a REALLy long time, to get the chicken taste and smell out of it... it's one of my FAVORITE desserts here!  After eating there, we got back on the underground to go to Annanne's (Turkish for Grandmother - Anne (annay) is mother, hence, Annanne is grandmother) house.  Annanne is Aunt Sureyya's mother.  We stayed there and visited for about 5 hours. :-)  She's 90 years old this year, born in 1920... 

This is Annanne now...

And this is Annanne at 23 years old, in 1943...

And this is Annanne, totally happy to have her family together again...  When we first got to our apartment, Aunt Sureyya called Annanne, and while Annanne put the phone down to get a pencil, we could hear her in the background talking to herself, saying, "My dear daughter, she is home!  My dear daughter is here!  My dear daughter, she has come from America!"  It was so sad and sweet... and when the whole family finally got together on Sunday, she was so happy the entire day...

Aunt Sureyya in her high school graduation picture... 

Anyway, later that night, Melis's cousin, Mehmet, and his wife Aysin, and their little son Akin (about 5) came to visit Annanne as well, but Akin slept through the whole thing (he was tired after school).  And then we went home... finally!  We got in around 1 that night, I remember.... 

Akin asleep at Annanne's.. so cute :-)

Anyway, I will continue with this tomorrow, or in a few hours, depending on how I feel!  It's taken me about 3 hours to do this post, with uploading pictures, etc... :-)  I love you all, and hope everyone's doing well!

             ~Bekah