This is SO cool!!

Istanbul is the most different city I have ever experienced. Last night we went to the Blue Mosque and had to take off our shoes and wrap our heads in scarfs. It was strange but cool walking around barefoot. Then we had a 3 hour dinner at a rooftop restaurant looking over the Bosphorous with the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque on either side. I had lamb kebabs and Trina had fish that we're sure was swimming in the Bosphorous that morning. We finished with amazing baklava and Turkish coffee. As the sun set, the lights on the mosques came on and our waiter wrapped us in wool blankets. From there, we listened to the call for prayer being piped out of mosques all over the city.
This morning we went to Topkapi Palace. It was really beautiful. We toured the harem, which actually means "family living area." They said that the 300 concubines were considered part of the family. And the harem was like a wife training program that when you graduated, were married off to important people. They also had the hand and skull of St John the Baptist. And an 86 karat diamond. Then we went to the Aya Sofya. It was built by Emperor Justinian as a church, but was converted to a mosque when the Ottomans took the city in 1453. Everything Christian was destroyed or painted over. Now it is a museum and you can see Christian mosaics right next to Muslim symbols.
Now we are headed over to the Grand Bazaar. I wonder how we'll fare. The salespeople here are incredibly agressive! And they keep asking how many camels for me. I bet they think they're so clever! Trina discovered a brilliant way to get them to leave you alone. She says "Peace be with you" and runs away! They honestly don't know what to say to that and just laugh.