Exploring the Freedom of Travel
We walked. We tried to eat enough calories to replenish those we used walking. We stood among history, built on top of history. We drank lots of tea. We were in Turkey. It was a whole new world. Shining, Shimmering, Splendid. It began with a snow storm in Istanbul. We somehow managed to time our flights perfectly, mine from B. (with a lay over in Amman, Jordan) and Julia's direct from Chicago arrived in Istanbul Attaturk Airport within a few hours of each other, and a few hours before the city was covered in snow and slush. Over the next 3 days we trekked through slush and snow and ice to explore the old city, the Byzantine walls, the Topeka Place (home to the Ottoman Sultans and where we had a memorable exchange of snowballs with a security gaurd), the view of the city's many beautiful mosques, the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, and more. We spent New Years Eve having a snowball fight with our wonderful host on the way back from a nighttime icy walk through the city to t...