Istanbul: Day Three

We didn’t have much planned for our last day together.  That’s why we stayed up talking all night long.  We missed the breakfast but grabbed some coffee instead.  We took our time getting ready in our rooms.  I made sure I started packing my things since I had decided I was going to go to the airport tonight.  I had a 4am flight back to Paris.  From there I was going to fly out at 12pm back to Chicago.  That was the best option for me when I booked these flights.  My friends were leaving at 2pm the next day.  

Today the Grand Bazaar was on the agenda.  I knew I wanted to pick up a few souvenirs for my mom and for myself.  We grew hungry since we didn’t eat yet and I decided a fish sandwich was going to be the best choice for me.  I wanted to try some local cuisine and a fish sandwich around the port area was what kept coming up in my searches.  I was too curious not to try!  My friends found a restaurant and I walked over to a fish stand and ordered my sandwich.  The man preparing it added paprika and lemon juice.  To my surprise, the fish was very meaty and filling.  For 7 turkish lire I would definitely recommend it!

We found the Grand Bazaar, and yes, this place was HUGE!  They were selling everything imaginable.  I found a trivet for my mom since she uses them a lot, and found some cay tea to bring back to the States.   I kept walking around to look for something for my male co-workers, but in my opinion, everything seemed too girlie.  I even tried to find some souvenir socks, but kept finding regular black trouser socks instead.  In the end I got them both a can opener with the Turkish flag on it.  Oh well; what can you do?

My friends wanted to go back to the Spice Bazaar.  This part was confusing because I wasn’t sure what else they had in mind.

We rode back the other direction on the tram and headed to the Spice Bazaar.  We stuck around until it closed.  Beforehand, we had made arrangements with the concierge to have a pickup at the hotel by 7:45pm.  They were going to take me to the airport, and unfortunately it was the last drop off for the evening.  We got back to the hotel in time for my ride.  I said bye to my friends and their parents.  They were going to freshen up and head out to dinner.  I wish I could have joined them.

Just like I expected, the caravan had to pick up other passengers at different hotels.  This part took almost an hour.  It wasn’t explained to me at the time but at least I wasn’t in a hurry.  It also gave me a chance to see different neighborhoods since we mostly stayed in the Old Town neighborhood.

In the end, I got to the airport close to 10pm and once it hit midnight, I checked in and decided to kill some time at a café and use their plugs to charge my phone.  I completely knocked out on my flight and landed safely in Paris after 6am.  There I killed some more time by messaging my friend in Italy.  I even got a chance to enjoy one last chocolate filling muffin before I boarded my flight home.  I wish I could find those muffins in Chicago!  They are delicious!

Istanbul: Day Two

My friends woke me up at 1am.  By the time I headed back to my hotel they were already boarding their flight.  And just like I warned them, it took them a while to get out of the airport.  They found a  driver and hired him to drive to the city.  It didn’t take them 2 hours like it did for me, but there probably wasn’t much traffic at that time.  I was so happy to see them!

We caught up for a bit and knocked out around 3am.  The hotel’s complimentary breakfast was going to be served from 7-10am.  I woke up around 8ish and headed up to the rooftop to see what they had to offer.  I ran into their parents who have a room across from us.  We all sat together and discussed their trip in Italy.  Eventually we decided to wake up the sisters so they wouldn’t miss out on breakfast.  They finally came up and joined us.

The weather was acting up.  At first it seemed the sun was trying to peek out but the clouds started to roll in.  I also noticed that it wasn’t as warm as it was the day before.  We decided to get things moving and got back to our rooms to shower up and get ready.  First up was the Hagia Sophia Museum.

We walked over down the street from our hotel and I showed them the restaurant I had dined in.  We made our way over to the plaza and noticed how many people were already up and roaming around.  Luckily, most of the sites are near each other.  We found our spot in line and proceeded to wait.  It seemed to be moving quickly, but we waited close to 40 minutes.  As the afternoon got later and later we noticed the line was noticely longer than when we had first waited.  As we got closer the crowd seemed more aggressive.  It got to the point that there were some shoving around, but it settled once we all made our way inside.  I think people didn’t want to lose their groups, but it did get hectic for a bit.

The Hagia Sophia is massive, and once we were inside we had more space to move around.  For the most part, the building itself was detailed more on the dome ceilings and low chandeliers.  We found the infamous Hagia Sophia cats napping over by the fenced area.  They didn’t seem to mind all of the commotion.

We walked around and admired the 2^nd floor when we decided to move along to the Blue Mosque.  We headed outside and found the main entrance.  My friends’ parents wanted to pray so they walked over to the area to rinse their feet.  My girlfriend convinced me to stay in line with her and not go in the visitor’s line, but in the end everyone met in the same area once inside.

Me and my friends stayed at the visitor side while their parents prayed at the other end.  For the most part, the carpet in the Blue Mosque was rich and plush.  Although in person the lighting was not as bright, my iphone did capture the blue tiles inside.  It was a lovely experience and one I will remember in the years to come.

Afterwards, we grew hungry.  We passed by the café I had dined the night before and decided to have lunch there as well.  My friends loved the food and we even made a friend with the local cat.  We figured we still had time to hit one more spot.

We went back to our rooms to freshen up and headed out to find the Spice Bazaar.  This time, we needed to take the tram and that was an obstacle itself.  Luckily, someone explained to us where to purchase our metro cards and how to use the machine.  For the most part, people were very helpful to us.  We jumped on the packed tram and headed to our stop.

It wasn’t too bad of a ride.  But with all of the people walking around, we knew we our chances of getting there quicker were better off on the tram.  We slowly got familiar with the new area, and my friends’ family wanted some Turkish delights.  They stopped at a café to rest up before we all made our way to the Spice Bazaar.

Upon entering we had to go through a security check point, but once inside we decided to part ways.  Her parents wanted spices and I wanted to look around.  My friends were looking for souvenirs to bring back to their family.  The Spice Bazaar was a great place to find interesting goodies.  They even plastic sealed their spices!

We stayed there until it closed and then made our way back to the tram station.  We had a funny moment not knowing that some trams operated at both sides.  We witnessed a tram come to a complete stop, and then the driver got off and walked to the other end to jump on and drive the opposite direction.  

We decided to stick around our neighborhood off of the hotel to check out that local bazaar.  We found a wonderful store selling Turkish lamps and I knew right away I wanted one for my place.  It took us a while to find the combinations we wanted since they were all so beautiful.  

We walked over to our hotel, but my friend grew hungry again and went to a local restaurant nearby and picked up some food.  We stayed up talking most of the night and made some wonderful memories.  I miss them now that I’m thinking about them...

New York City Day Two

I had the scare of my life at my hotel room.  Someone knocked on my door at 3am!  I must have jumped out of my bed.  I asked “Who is it?” and heard a mumble at the door, but then I yelled back “Ummm.  I think YOU got the WRONG ROOM!”  I heard another mumble and then complete silence.  By the time I got the nerve to check the peep hole, he was gone.  Talk about a New York moment!  I was scared shitless!

In the morning I slept in later than I wanted to, mostly because of the door incident.  I didn’t realize that my friend had already messaged me that he was waiting for me by Battery Island.  I jumped in the shower and got ready as fast as I could.  Apparently he was waiting for me at a Starbucks, but I ended up at the wrong one.  I felt bad because I knew he had been waiting for a while.  I jumped in an Uber to save time heading to the other Starbucks.  Luckily it was the right one and we went over to the ticket booth to purchase our ferry tickets.  It was set to sail in 15 minutes!  Whew!

I grabbed some coffee and we found a spot outside on the boat.  Obviously I was getting anxious again.  I had to sit down when it took off, but I did manage some courage to get up once in a while to take some pictures once the Statue of Liberty was closer.  My friend was at the end of the boat snapping pictures himself.

We docked and then walked over but found out the hard way that we couldn’t get to the Statue.  We had to purchase tickets online and it was sold out.  So much for that.  At that point we took some pictures surrounding Lady Liberty and went back on the boat to head to Ellis Island. 

Ellis Island was very informative!  We spent hours there, learning about how the United States came about.  They also included where most of the migrants settled in the U.S.  We even watched a short movie about the conditions the boats were in for traveling to the New World.  It put a lot of things into perspective for me, especially since my family came from Guatemala.  

Afterwards, we headed back to the boat and discussed what to do next.  By this time, it was 2pm and we were getting hungry.  We decided on Italian food and a fellow passenger suggested we head to the Upper East side.  I yelped a couple of restaurants, but we decided to check again once we arrived in the neighborhood to get a better idea on where to go.

We settled on Via Della Pace restaurant and luckily there weren’t too many people inside.  We were taken care of right away.  My friend enjoyed his pasta and mine was absolutely delish!  I ate the whole bowl!  We knew we weren’t too far from Soho and my friend needed to purchase some headphones for the marathon.  We found the Apple store and while he spoke to a sales rep, I had the opportunity to charge my phone.  I was having the worst luck with my phone the whole time I was there.  I needed to charge it constantly.  I hardly used the data!  Sometimes taking photos drained my phone.  It was becoming a nuisance.  The sales rep suggested for me to purchase a new battery, but I figured I would do this when I got back to Chicago.

My friend decided on some earphones, but he still needed a sweatband for his forehead for the race.  We found a Nike store and looked around.  I didn’t realize how many people were at Soho!  There were so many tourists shopping around.  My friend was surprised I wasn’t shopping myself, but I wanted to make sure he got what he needed for the marathon.

We headed back to his hotel in Times Square to rest up for a bit.  His roommate was there and he was getting his things together for the marathon.  Unfortunately, it was Daylight Savings weekend, and the time was going to change at 2am.  They had to get up at 4am to get ready and have a marathon breakfast buffet the hotel was hosting.  Then their charter bus was going to head out at 6am to Staten Island. 

My friend got his things ready for the marathon as well.  He then grew hungry again (since we had the pasta early afternoon).  He knew he had to sleep early tonight, so we headed to Mamma Mia pizzeria down the street from his hotel.  We ordered a margaritha pizza to share and then called it a night.  I went back to my hotel but since I wasn’t doing the race myself, I took time to walk into some souvenir shops along the way.  I also got a chance to pass by Radio City Music Hall.  Their Christmas Tree was already up!