Istanbul is Constantinople

As promised, here is the Istanbul post.  Obviously, we have loads more pictures but I'm only going to put a few here.  Gotta save something for the family to sit through.

We arrived in the afternoon and our hotel picked us up.  It is almost an hour to the old town where we stayed.  The hotel was really cool and what a view!  We had three days and two nights in the city, so we got moving immediately, wandering the streets.  We happened to be there right in the middle of Ramadan and it was a huge party as soon as the sun went down.  All of the families came out and gathered in the park around the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque to have picnics.  People and children everywhere, it was great!  There was even a festival area hightlighting the food and crafts of Ramadan.

As far as the sights, what can I say?  The Hagia Sofia is absolutely one of the most incredible things I've ever seen.  I studied it in school and was amazed by its age and its size and that it was a church and then converted to a mosque.  But, it seemed so exotic and outside of any possibility to see it.  I was awed that Mike had been there before we were together.  And now I've seen it too!  Something to check off the bucket list.  Everyone should go to see the Hagia Sofia

We went to the Bazaar, we walked across the Bosporus to the new town, we went underground into the Cistern and toured the Topkapi palace.  Everything was incredible with fantastic views!  It is an amazing piece of real estate that Istanbul occupies and I would go back in a heartbeat.  We'll go to the Asian part of Istanbul next time.

Next stop - Bulgaria.

Flying into the city

Ataturk Airport

Our hotel room

The Blue Mosque decorated for Ramadan (or Ramazan as we saw it written)

Women leaving the Blue Mosque, I love this photo because they look like spirits or something.

The Ramadan Festival

Festival entrance - so many people!

Breakfast at the hotel restaurant - what a view!

Inside the Hagia Sofia

Arabic medallions added after it was converted to a mosque

There were cats everywhere in the city and apparently this one likes to sleep right here.

When the Hagia Sofia was converted to a mosque, all of the Christian imagery was covered, but it keeps coming back.  See the crosses?

Aaawww...

View of the old town from the new part of town, the Asian part of Istanbul is on the far left

A vendor in the spice market - see the pyramids of spices?

Dinner on the way to the train station to catch the train to Sofia, Bulgaria

Fall in Maryland

Just had to put a couple of pictures up.  These were taken from the boardwalk/promenade in Havre de Grace this morning.  So pretty.

Istanbul post to come this afternoon!

Summer Review

Grant's Headquarters during the Petersburg siege

Hanging out with Ben

Museum of the Confederacy - Lee's tent

Bullet Rosette formed from a Northern bullet and a Southern bullet colliding - these are amazing!!  We actually saw several of them at various museums.

Richmond courthouse

Violet Bank - General Lee's headquarters for a short time outside of Petersburg

Museum of the Civil War Soldier historic buildings

Museum of the Civil War Soldier historic buildings

Museum of the Civil War Soldier - building exhibiting the line between the North and South

Virginia Battlefield

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington Cemetery

Okay, so let's catch up on the summer.  Mike was in Petersburg, Va all summer taking a class at Ft. Lee.  I stayed in Texas and then Sandra (his mom) and I drove to meet him in Virginia on July 4 weekend.  After that, we spent the rest of the time hanging out with Ben and seriously catching up on Civil War history.  Virginia is heaven for Civil War buffs.  We saw Grant's headquarters and we saw Lee's headquarters.  We toured the Petersburg battlefield.  Mike took field trips with his class to battlefields in the area.  We went to the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond and then we went to the Museum of the Civil War Soldier outside of Petersburg.  All of the museums were extremely well-done and I learned so much about the war that I hadn't known.  Now that we are in Maryland, there is even more to see including Gettysburg which is not that far from Havre de Grace.  And, we are in Revolutionary War territory now so that will be interesting as well.  So much history on the East Coast.  We also went to Arlington Cemetery on the way to the airport to fly out to Istanbul.  We were there in time to see the changing of the guard at the tomb and we visited the graves of several of Mike's classmates.  It was a very moving experience.

Back to Blogging in Havre de Grace

Havre de Grace lighthouse found here

Where did the last four months go?! After an extended hiatus (apparently), I am back and in full blogger mode. This summer has been a whirlwind of trips through Texas, Virginia, Istanbul, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine. And now, finally we have arrived in Havre de Grace, Maryland where we will make our home for the next few years. After being here for a week, I am getting excited about living in this small Chesapeake Bay town. Everyone has been super friendly and we have found a place to live right near downtown within walking distance of everything...except Mike's work, but that drive is only 15 minutes or so.

I will post some pictures of our trip soon, as in later today or tomorrow, I promise!  And, I have no idea why the formatting has gone crazy, but I will work on that too.