New Years Day was a little rough- partly because of NYE activities, and partly because of travel delays. We were supposed to fly out at 1:45 pm, which felt kind of early honestly. Our flight was delayed over 7 hours because of snow and ice in Istanbul… which was probably a blessing in disguise. It allowed Jen and I to sleep and eat in the airport, which had surprisingly decent food options.
So we get to Istanbul and it’s covered in almost 2 inches of snow and ice. It was pretty hard to walk around without falling.
Thankfully, we had booked a room at a pretty nice place which was in the middle of the tourist area- Sultanhamet. (So that was super convenient for us, but… it’s super close to where the bombing happened like a week after we left.)
So we saw the important, beautiful places- Blue Mosque, Aghia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, a cruise of the Bosphorous, The featured image is from the Aghia Sophia. It was pretty cold out, and this little guy was all puffy and trying to stay warm in the basilica on a platform where I think people used to pray. Seemed kind of grouchy- don’t blame him.
I’ll be back to Istanbul again I hope- I’d like to spend more time there outside of the touristy areas. I’d also like to be there without gastrointestinal issues, so I can eat whatever I want without fear of pooping my pants.
I don’t know when or under what circumstances i’ll be back. I think… my bravado about travel has been deflated by a few near misses. The long story short is the shooting in Tel Aviv happened in the same neighborhood Marianne and I stayed in, and at a bar we had walked by a few times. The bombing in Istanbul was a few blocks away from where Jen and I stayed, and where we walked by almost every day.
As I said before, I think i’m done thinking about the political/philosophical shit.
I’m just incredibly thankful for my friends, that we got to spend time together in these places, and that we are safe and avoided some bad shit.
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