Turkey, day one (effectively)

After getting sidelined for a day by a nasty stomach something (joy of joys), today I managed to make it out and about in Istanbul! Grandma and I hopped on the metro and took a gander at Dolmabahçe Palace. It was built by the Ottomans in the mid-19th century and was used off and on for official Ottoman administrative purposes until the end of the Caliphate. At the start of the Turkish Republic, Ataturk used the palace as a residence on occasion and actually died there--at 9:05am, the time many of the clocks in the building are permanently set to. According to our charming tour guide who kept calling us "dear guests" (you can't enter without a tour guide), the palace is still used for fancy state events, such as visits by Bush Sr., François Mitterrand, and Bill Gates. There are no pictures allowed inside, which is probably good because otherwise I would have a lot of pictures with no real purpose behind them right now. It seems like everything in the place is gilded. The parquet floors, many of them complex mosaics of several different types of wood, are incredible. And because Dolmabahçe was built in a world that was slowly beginning to globalize, foreign influences are also visible. Chinese and Japanese vases are plentiful, and much of the porcelain is of English or French origin.

Me chillin' outside of Dolmabahçe with the Bosporus

I would be highly remiss, too, if I didn't mention the MASSIVE and BREATHTAKING chandeliers. Specifically, the English chandelier in the ceremonial hall that weighs four and a half tons and is over 30 meters from top to bottom. And at the top, the ceiling dome is so intricately decorated you have to wonder how it was possibly planned and executed. Once you make it out of this hall to the outside, you're struck by the natural beauty of the Bosporus. In sum, a feast for the eyes.

After quitting Dolmabahçe, we walked up a gigantic hill (I feel like there's probably a more specific way of describing this, but I'm a bit shaky on geography) and had a lovely late lunch. It's been quite a while since I've been a city tourist anywhere, or even really spent more than a day in a world-class city, and I very much like getting back into the swing of public transportation and walking everywhere and crowds. I hope my health will soon restore itself completely and the adventures can continue at an even snappier pace. And I can express more complicated thoughts than simple recaps of my day!

Anyway, here is what I have learned about Istanbul so far:
1a. There are a lot of stray cats.
1b. There is a lot of construction.
1c. There is a lot of traffic.
2. Like most cities, its charm makes up for these things.