San Sambea

This beautiful church is in Tbilisi Georgia. If you didnt know, Georgia is the first christian nation in the world. It is also the fabeled land of Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece. Georgians are proud to say that this church was built using only donations and not from some organization like the vatican. Maybe you have even heard of Gregorian chants? This is where its from... the country of Georgia.

Georgian Breakfast

This delicious breakfast was served up at our local Georgian eatery. Its bread shaped like a boat filled with cheese and eggs. The perfect heavy heart-attack way to start the day.

Sounds of the City

In Istanbul they have many sounds. Every day, five times a day the call for worship rings out from singers who remind the faithful its time for prayer. I caught this one around 11pm one night. It sounds just like in the movies.

The Hookah

On our last day in Istanbul, Derrick and I tried Turkish apple hookah from a local water pipe cafe. We also tried the outrageously strong Turkish coffee and absolutely delicious apple tea. Our cafe friend, who was Kurdish, wanted to get in on the photos. While there, Derrick also taught me how to play backgammon, where I beat him two of the three times.

The Obelisk

This obelisk doesn't look Turkish at all - and that's because it isn't. It's Egyptian and was brought to Istanbul around 350 BC from the Luxor regıon of Egypt. It's located in the Hippodrome (the area near the Blue Mosque and Haggai Sophia). It just seemed a bit out of place there.

The Beach

Yesterday, we visited the Black Sea in a part of Istanbul called Kilyos, which is a 1.5 hour bus ride away from the city center. The beach was not quite as salty as the ocean, but salty enough to refrain from submerging your head in too many times. We opted for a private part of the beach owned by a restaurant, whıch was actually cheaper than the rest of the beach and allowed us to have some drinks and a table wıth an umbrella. The Turkish cabernet I tried wasn't half bad, and we ate a snack of "maedia" again. Despite my pleas for him to stay out of the sun, Derrick got an unpleasant sunburn on hıs shoulders -- not the best when we're back to backpacks this afternoon and evening.

The Palace

While this place from the outside may seem astonishing, the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul was a bit of a letdown. After you have seen real three-dimesional decorations on walls and ceilings, this place (in most of its 450-ısh rooms) were painted, not hand-crafted like in other places we have seen. True, it was grand, but not the sort of grand we were expecting. Also, the tour guides moved fast and got angry if we wanted to look at a room for more than a millisecond. But a sight that was interesting to see nonetheless. (My favorıte part was when they said the harem was where the "family" of the Sultan stayed.)

Derrick Says:
I did not like this palace and would not recommend it to anyone. It wasnt worth the 20 Lira to get into. The rooms were old, broken and dirty. I was expecting to see some really neat ornate old furniture but instead it looked like plastic cheap and right out of the trash. The palace was cheesy. In pictures it appears that the ceilings are very nice with all sorts of molding but when you see the real thing, you can see it is just a painting of molding. The tour that we were required to take moved so fast that it was not possible to hardly glance in a room before the tour moved on. Note: the guided tour is required to see the inside. The furnature looked like it was moved around and not in its original place. The carpets on the floors were tauted as the largest carpets in the world, however they were so worn it was difficult to even make out the pictures on them. Its a tourist trap where the turkish government gouges tourist and does not deliever.

The Soldier

While waiting in the hour-long line for the Dolmabahce Palace, there was a guard standing very still in the courtyard. At first, Derrick didn't think he was alive, but then another soldier came to wipe the sweat off of his face. We made sure to do the touristy thing and get a picture with him.

The Million Pillar

In Istanbul, near where we devoured the muscle snacks, we saw this pıllar. It's called the "Million" pillar and was surprisingly hidden from view unless you wanted to see it. The pillar ıs from the 4th century A.D. and was, at one time, the reference point that was used to measure all distances throughout the empire from thıs point. It used to be an arch, but all that remains is thıs stone pillar and an English plaque to commemmorate it.

The Bosphorus

All of the tour guıde books encouraged us to take a cruıse on the Bosphorus. It ıs that lıttle peıce of water between the Black Sea and the Medıteranıan Sea. A fabled story tells of some general that refused to go across water so they buılt hım a pontoon brıdge. Poınt ıs, ıts narrow. We took a cruıse around and saw some neat sıtes. A really old castle and a bunch of expensıve homes as well as the Ottoman Palace were on the ıtenerary. It only cost abot 6 bucks for a 2 hour cruıse.

Maedıa?

Outsıde of somewhere we went, we sat down for a break ın a park and started to make frıends wıth some local drunks hangıng out there. They were eatıng somethıng ın mussle shells so we asked what ıt was. Before we knew ıt we had a peıce of paper full of our very own park snack. One guy told us ıt was called "medıa" or "maedıa" but another guy told us that was not correct. The snack ıs a mussle suffed wıth spıcy rıce. It was really cheap so we joıned ın. Sadly we had to leave the park soon after because the bums were askıng us for money and tellıng us how poor they were.

The Grandest Bazaar

Wednesday we went to the Grand Bazaar ın Istanbul. It was the typıcal tourısty place sellıng all number of ınterestıng ıtems. One thıng I can say about thıs country ıs that they are more than wıllıng to rıp you off and take advantage of some "language barrıer". That ıs... untıl they want to sell you somethıng. One ınstance was a man tryıng to charge us to use the bathroom. Of course we got the tourıst rate to use the bathroom. Anyways we both bought some cotton lınen pants and I also got Chaz a really cool bırthday present. Also got mom some neat Turkısh tea made from apples. Its delıcıous. I would say that ıf you want to go to a good market wıth actually hand made good and cheap prıces ıt would be advısable to vısıt the Russıan market ın Phnom Phen Cambodıa. Danıelle and I both agreed that market was the best one we have been to yet.

The Hagıa Sophıa

Rıght next door to the Blue Mosque ıs another one of Istanbul´s treasures. The Hagıa Sophıa was a Chrıstıan church buılt ın 5 years to appease some later Roman emperor. The emperor wanted to be crowned ın a church so he put a rush on the buıldıng of ıt. By no means ıs ıt unımpressıve though. Some years later the cıty fell to Arab ınvaders and they just happıly turned the church ınto a mosque. İn wıth the new out wıth the old. Read more about the hıstory on Wıkıpedıa.

The Blue Mosque

On Tuesday we vısıted the Blue Mosque. It has very detaıled desıgns on the entıre ınsıde of the buıldıng. You have to take off your shoes and women have to cover theır shoulders and legs to enter. You can fınd the hıstory about ıt on Wıkıpedıa. It was a very ınterestıng and culturally ımportant sıte although not quıte as ımpressıve as some of the churches ın Italy.

The Apartment

When we fırst got to Istanbul we needed to fınd an apartment or a hostel or somethıng. After takıng the bus from the aırport to the cıty center we walked around for a few mınutes. I know that shop keepers know where everythıng ıs so I asked the fırst shop keeper where we could fınd a room to rent for a few days. He turned us on to a really nıce place owned by some local guy. We would have been payıng nearly as much for a dorm room wıth a shared bathroom but ınstead we have our own apartment for the week.

Mans Work

Do you remember that story in the bible where Jesus built himself a huge palace filled with golden statues and imported marble? Me neither. Funny how the church to end all churches has just that. Today we also visited the Vatican. Its interesting to see all of relics in the Saint Peter's Basilica. Most would agree that a trip to Rome would not be complete without seeing it. We decided to bear the steps and climb to the top of the cathedral (551 steps) to get a great view of the rest of Rome. Below in this picture is Saint Peters Square where the sheep gather to be addressed by the pope.

Ruins

Today, Danielle and I went to see the Collesum and other Roman ruins. A card that cost 12E pays to get into the site of the ruins and the Collesum. Its amazing that the site is still this intact. No surprise though, is the many hijackings that popes and other christians have done to graffiti up the place. At the entrance, a huge cross was erected some years ago to declare the place as a holy shrine for christians "martyred" in Flavians Amphitheater. Anyways, it is still a neat site to visit.

The Vinyard

On the left is a photo of the winemaker from the vinyard that we visited near Lucca. Six people crammed into a sub-compact car drove around the Italian country side looking for a winery to tour for a few hours and finally we found this one. Tucked back in the hills, This vinyard only produces around 30,000 bottles of wine a year. Milko, the winemaker, told us that 30,000 bottles a year is more than average for vinyards in that area. If you ever want to go, the vinyard was called Fattoria Colle Verde. The wine was cheap and delicious.

Bagni di Lucca

Today we took the train from Bagni di Lucca where we stayed with my dad's cousin, Kathy. They live in a nice little house up on a hill in a 10 house village called Riolo. We tried to go to a Roman bath but it didnt work out because we needed resevations in Bagni di Lucca so instead we went to a vinyard and sampled so local wines. It was so picturesque and away from the business of Florence. The house is super nice. All we did was go around with Aunt Kathy and her entourage to restuarants and bars. With Aunt Kathy is Mike, Mike's son Michale, and Mike's whitty old uncle Dante (93 years old). Dante still speaks a little Italian from his childhood because his parents emmigrated from Italy around the turn of the century. The house that Mike restored is actually Dante's parent's house from before they moved to America. It is a really neat place. If you have the time to visit you should.

The Human Statue

Sorry for thıs delayed post ... We were walking down by the 'fake David' in Florence when we saw three of these guys, who dress up in costumes and makeup and stand in statuesque poses for hours. For 50 Euro cents, this guy broke his pose to pose with me.

The Engagement

On Monday, Derrick and I decided to put a lock on the famous 'lovers' locks' at the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy. The tradition is to put a lock with both lovers' names and the date of their journey to Florence on the lock, then lock it with the others and throw the keys into the Arno (the river right next to it). We bought a lock at a local hardware store and headed to the spot. I had to clear out a dirty sock and push around other locks, but we found a spot to lock ours onto the chain. As I was struggling to get the lock closed among the huge string of locks, Derrick asked me if we'd be together forever. I said I believed we would. After finishing getting the lock closed, I turned to him and he was on his knee with a beautiful ring in his hand. He put it on my finger and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes! We then turned to throw our keys into the Arno. Derrick easily threw his into the water, but in all my nervousness, I accidentally threw my key onto the ground right next to the Arno. We had to venture down to a private club's riverside area to pick up my key - and this time, I made it into the Arno.

We're both so excited to be together and engaged on the first leg of our epic summer abroad!

Pizza in Pisa

I have been in Pisa for nearly a week, and I am enjoying Italy a lot! My first night here, I indulged on a pizza ai fungi (with mushrooms) and some house red wine. You cannot believe how tasty the cheap wine is here. I will be very sad at the quality of US-available vino when I return. All the food is fresh - nothing has preservatives, from the pistachio gelato to the espressos to the pasta, it's all great.
I have made it through one week of class. While it's only four hours a day, I need consistent espressos and cappuccinos to keep me going (don't worry, their coffees are tiny compared to American coffees and they're much stronger). One more week of classes and then come exams. It's so hard to stay alert in class when Italy is literally right outside the window.
Since coming here, I have visited two sites: Lucca and Livorno. Lucca was a nice little town full of a lot of little sites and miles of walking. Livorno was a nice town, but we were told there would be a beach there. Instead, there was a patch of harsh rocks and unswimmable waters - nevertheless we stepped into the Mediterranean Sea and took pictures :)
I have yet to take my touristy leaning tower picture that everyone takes here (every single tourist who visits takes one where they push the tower or try to hold it up or some other variation). But it's nice that my hotel room has a view of the tower from right outside my window.
Tomorrow, my friends and I are visiting Cinque Terra (the place of five lands) for some hiking and beach relaxing. Salute!

Ridiculous RyanAir

My flight from Stockholm to Pisa was, at best, crazy. Yes, I paid far less by booking a flight through RyanAir, but RyanAir is a free-for-all airline - no assigned seats. But what was worse was that out of 100 passengers, at least 40 were children (about 80% of whom were under 18 months old). As you can imagine, it was a very noisy, cry-infused three-hour flight. It didn't help that I missed Derrick already and the couple sitting next to me were sharing way too much PDA (as a binkie was consistently being thrown at my face by the toddler across the aisle). But this much is true - you get what you paid for.

Stopover in Stockholm

I made it to Stockholm last Thursday after a nine-hour layover im Toronto, Canada and a 45-minute layover in Ryekyavik, Iceland. I was surprised that my first idea of Stockholm was unhelpful people. I spent nearly two hours trying to find a phone to call the guy who was supposed to host me through CouchSurfing. Though the locals all spoke English fluently, they were very unhelpful. I couldn't find a payphone anywhere, the businesses around wouldn't let me use their phones, and the locals did likewise, though I offerred to pay to use them. Eventually, I was able to use a phone in a public library after saying it was an emergency, and I met up with my CouchSurfing host. Since he was a masters student and had been there since last fall, he was able to show me a lot of great things in Stockholm. We even went to an Indian temple there for a traditional southern Indian meal. I also took the time to visit several museums and got my picture taken with a Salvador Dali and a Pablo Picasso. I also walked much more than I thought I could in a day (which would later prove to be wrong - they really know how to walk in Europe). The last day, before boarding my RyanAir flight to Pisa, I grabbed some Swedish fish, which they actually do make now.
(Since I didn't bring my laptop to Europe this summer, as I am living literally out of a backpack, I don't have any pictures up yet.)