A few more images

of some of what we've seen and done in our very, very short time here (in no particular order). I take about zero pictures, so the following are thanks to the photo skillz of Juliya, Elizabeth, Janelle, and Laura. Or Google.

Unlike the Hagia Sophia (Museum) and the Palace, the Blue Mosque didn't charge admission. 

Turkcell is the largest cell phone carrier in Turkey. This is the Turkcell headquarters in Istanbul. The toddlers in the pictures all over the window are dressed up as the Turkcell slug/snail thing, which is yellow and wears a tuxedo:

Iiiiiiiiii dunno.

Good morning, Istanbul - view from the exterior stairs at the hostel, four floors up.

Delicious bagel-ish sesame-covered bread, the price of which declines dramatically as you get farther away from the Galata Tower area. I may or may not be eating one right now...

(Free) hostel breakfast.

Turkish tea. Like cats and Turkcell, it is everywhere.

Catholic church off the main street north of the hostel.

Candles around the periphery of the church. Just looking at this picture it could be anywhere in the world--but, everything about it makes me think of Istanbul.

Right? RIGHT???

At Galatasaray University, right on the Bosphorus. We couldn't help it!

A couple days before that we took the ferry across the Bosphorus for kicks. It was just like taking the ferry to Bainbridge...

...except that it looked like this.

First thing we saw as we drove up from the airport, and last thing I see from my bed in the hostel before I go to sleep - Galata Tower all lit up with white birds flying around it. Goodnight!

TURKISH KITTENZZZ

Istanbul seems to have a serious stray cat problem. They are everywhere. On the street and the sidewalk, under cars, sitting on window ledges, under your table as an outdoor seafood restaurant, kicking it in the grocery story on the corner. EVERYWHERE.

Thanks to online comics' thorough documentation of human behavioral phenomena when in the presence of kitty cats, I can visually demonstrate to you my reversion to a five-year-old mindset whenever a cat enters my field of vision...

...and further my increasing inanity as said cat's cute furry wonderful soft cuteness get closer and closer to me.

So, I've spent the last two days being kind of stoked by the constant presence of cats, especially because they make me think of Mineu the Cat (also sometimes referred to as The Most Amazing Cat in the World) and, of course, Bike House's warrior kittens Tomahawk, Ranger, and Coconut the Enterprise. But while Mineu the Cat is relatively straightfoward in her unrivaled beauty and inspiring grace (i.e. she eats, sleeps, and rolls over, never straying far from the safety and warmth of inside my parents' house), the Istanbul kitties tell some different stories. They are very beautiful, and very sad.