Turkey Day Two ((Angelina Jolie's Lips))

Michelle and I left the ship around 10:30AM, and headed to our one planned destination for the day: The Topkapi Palace. Apparently, this is where the Sultan lived with his many wives and concubines and everyone of the highest importance between the 1600’s-1900’s. I was in awe walking around. There was a huge courtyard in the middle of the palace and we made our way into every little nook and cranny. The rooms were set up kind of like a museum, with jewelry and clothes locked away in glass cases. It was really cool. I paid a bit extra to go into the living quarters of the Sultan and the concubines. I got to walk through their private bathhouses, and wedding ceremonial halls, and their own private courtyards.

We stopped at this really cool restaurant where we sat on overstuffed pillows and enjoyed Turkish music while we ate. I sipped my Apple Tea (which is the most delicious tea I think I’ve ever tasted…it’s very well-known in Turkey), and ate most of my chicken Penne. The whole atmosphere was simply awesome.

Afterward, we stopped in a bakery and ate éclairs because they looked delicious and they completely lived up to our standards, let me tell you.

Around 5ish, I met Jill for dinner and a walk around the city. I’ll do my best to explain Jill to you. During the first week on the ship, I signed up to be adopted by a family on board. This could mean a Life Long Learner, or a faculty member, or a TA of some sort. It was supposed to cure homesickness or whatever, but Jill just received my name and we met for the first time about two weeks ago over a very random dinner. But let me describe her. She stands exactly my height, with red hair and black-rimmed glasses. She’s 28, but doesn’t look a day over 20, and she teaches Russian Lit. on the ship. She has two Masters in Russian Literature and Russian language, and she’s still in school for her doctorate in something...she told me she never wants to leave school, clearly. She’s traveled to Russia during college, as well as backpacked through Europe the summer after she graduated college, by herself. I can’t tell you how much I admire this woman and today was only our second meeting. I’d be lying to say she isn’t one of the most interesting people I’ve met thus far on this voyage.
So, I met Jill and she showed me the Spice Bazaar, which blew me away. I’ve never seen so many delicious looking spices and teas in one place. We sampled Turkish Delights at every stand, and it was a pretty good dessert, I might say. I found the famous Apple tea almost immediately, and bought a half kilo of it…and as they vacuum-packed it for me, I realized I don’t have anything to even make tea…so Jill and I both bought those metal tea balls and you can only guess how excited I am to use that in the morning. ;}

We walked down alleys looking for cheap cafes to eat dinner in, and this one guy with beautiful green eyes roped us in because we were tired of walking and being hassled by every other restaurant owner. He brought out free hummus and bread (which was so yummy…I’ve never tasted hummus before) and we ordered what he recommended as the best Turkish dish: Turkish ravioli, of course. I ate every bit of that ravioli…it was incredible, so full of flavor! Yogurt mixed with what tasted like Pesto and olive oil was the sauce, and the ravioli was filled with cheese and lamb. It sounds pretty nasty, but it was delicious. The beautiful-eyed guy kept coming over and talking with us about life on the ship, and how he’s never been out of Turkey before. Then he moved on from just talking to hardcore flirting. He sat down and kept touching our arms and getting close to our faces. At one point, he looked me in the eye and said, “Can I tell you something?” and I said, “Sure”, and he said, “You have lips like Angelina Jolie.”

…I might have spit out my ravioli a little from the shock. I don’t have lips, and he just compared me to a woman with bigger lips than anyone else I can name at the moment. He made me laugh, I’ll give him that. He brought out free dessert (two slices of banana with walnuts, whipped cream, and honey on top), and free Apple Tea. He must have been crushing hard on us because I’ve never been given more free meals/drinks in my life. He invited us out to the hottest club in Istanbul, 360. He told us he would pay for the taxi and our drinks, and he was very polite about it. I got a picture with him before we left.

Lips like Angelina Jolie’s?

*Smirk*
A.