Today

First, let me say that I just had the best stuffed grape leaf that I have ever had! OMG! And it was at the hotel restaurant. Their food is really good. Breakfast is scrumptious.

So this morning, I went to Taksim Square and walked down the urban, pedestrian street called Istiklal Cadessi. It has a very European feel to it. Actually, other than the Ottoman architecture and music, the whole place has a European feel to it.

Istiklal is a part of the new district and the street is lined with clothing shops and such. There are no pushy sales people here! More my kind of place. I went to one of the outlet-type markets, which was ok. I had lunch at Barcelona cafe, which was good. They put dill pickles on my vegetarian pizza. It was really weird, but really good.

This is also where a lot of the famous belly dance costume designers are...It crossed my mind to just go and look, but I decided that would be too hard.

I got lost too, trying to find the funicular. It's this tram that goes up and down a big hill. It was so frustrating to be lost. And when I finally found the stop, I realized I had passed by it a couple of times without even realizing it!

Then I went to the Turkish Bath, called the Cemberlitas Hamam. I got lost looking for that one too. But, Audra was right, it is a place not to be missed. I didn't get the full massage because I thought I wouldn't have enough time..next time, right? So at the bath, you go into this marble room where there are fountains and basins of water. There is a large octagonal marble slab in the middle where you get washed and scrubbed.

First you rinse yourself off and chill for a while, and then a practically naked Turkish lady signals you to lay down on your pestimal. Then, she scrubs you with a thingy and rinses you off. It felt so good and it was gross to see my dead skin cells pill up. Next she takes this pillowcase and fills it with soapy water and she soaps you up and gives you a short massage. It was awesome and the soap smelled so good. Finally, after your rinsing, she takes you over to a basin and washes your hair. I hung out for awhile afterward under the dome. It is not for the shy...don't worry it is completely segregated. Anyway, I'd like to try another one while I am here, if there is time. I will say that it was a big tourist place. I didn't see any locals bathing, at least not in the women's section.

After that, I walked down to Sultanhamet and did some more shopping and browsing. I found a baklava shop and ate some delicious pistachio baklava.

I've been back at the hotel for awhile. I am still trying to decide what to do tomorrow. Adam is at the closing dinner, which I was not allowed to go to. :( I ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. As I mentioned before it was good. OK, I'm done, Adam is back. We need to spend some time together since we don't get to see each other much.

I decided that I am not going to post anymore pictures for now. It is pain to do it on Blogger. I'll get a Picasa album up soon.