Istanbul-ievable!

Excuse the title.  While I acknowledge that it is equally as terrible, I couldn't bring myself to use the lyric that They Might Be Giants made famous with my generation (the song was actually written in 1953).

However, I am getting all up in this Turkish city's business.

It's not as different as I thought it would be, truth be told.  Aside from the calls to prayer, hijabs, and ablution stations; I feel there's still a lot of West in here.  Probably because there is.  It's been a melting pot for thousands of years, after all.

It's still not like any place I've been before (a category which almost all of the places I'm going will fit).  And, as Europe transitions to Asia here on the banks of the Bosphorus, so does my trip.  The West meeting the East. And I'm pumped!

It does reveal a need for some work on my communication skills though.  They are seriously lacking which leads to a fair amount of comedy.  (If I don't laugh, I'll cry...)

Given that I'll be in very few English-speaking places this year, I really need to sort out a method for this.  Living out of a backpack means that I'm going to need really simple things, as well as more complicated ones.  Case in point: Getting passport photos (No, I haven't lost it already.  They're for my Tanzanian Work Visa.).

Well, it turns out that I'm just not that good at charades.  At least not with the Turks.  I went to tourism offices, hotels, "English" pubs, and camera stores.  Eventually my persistence paid off, but not without needing to remind myself that to the poor souls who I'm approaching, I'm just some gangly American who is flailing his arms and hands.

Further to the communication skills, I've found they're important for directions too.  While it hasn't been that big of a deal, yesterday it did result in a in a hilarious 4.5 mile trek with an Aussie named Freya that I met on a boat ride up the Bosphorus.

Needing to get away from a chatty woman from North Carolina who wanted to do nothing but talk about her 29-year-old and wayward daughter, we opted to get off the boat at an earlier stop.

Well... let's just say it looked closer on the map.  And the map not showing the area's topography, it also meant that we went up a couple of big hills only to find out that we needed to walk back down them when we got to the top.

Luckily, our third attempt was a success, but not before I had earned the nickname "Sweaty Parker" (Note: I didn't leave for this trip is tip-top shape, but something tells me I'll leave it much closer.  Plus, it's hot!).  It was a great time nevertheless, and nice to meet a new friend to talk with for a couple of hours.

I surely wouldn't have made it otherwise.

It hasn't been all a comedy of errors.  Here's some photos:

The Blue Mosque

Lights inside Hagia Sophia (There's tons of these type of pictures, I was fascinated by them for some reason)

Basilica Cistern

One more day in Istanbul and then on to Cappadocia via overnight bus.  Should be interesting, but will definitely be nice to get out of cities for a little while...