Topkapı Palace and a Bosphorus Cruise

This section was written yesterday, Saturday, August 10.

Today, we visited Topkapi. Unlike with Ayasofya, I was suitably impressed by the palace!

Little models of the palace near the entrance.

We woke up very early (well, very early for us, 7:30), and I was quite sure I would die. But I did not! I showered and made myself presentable, then we went down for breakfast. Mostly standard fare, but there were some delicious phyllo/croissanty rolls with mild cheese on the inside, which I thoroughly enjoyed and anticipate will comprise the main part of my breakfasts henceforth. Then we trekked to Topkapi, which is of course up a big hill, and waited in the already-long ticket line before figuring out we could use the automatic machine instead. We got through security at about 9:10 and headed straight for the Harem, which cost another 15 TL, bringing the grand total up to 40 TL each--yeesh. But guys, the Harem was *totally* worth it. It was actually my favorite part of the whole place. Here are a thousand pictures to show you why. (I decided to just collapse all the pictures of the whole palace into collages, but once I get around to uploading stuff to Facebook you can see better what things were where.) You should probably click on them to make them big.

There were lots of ceiling domes. Here are some of them.
The one at the bottom left is the original painting from
the 1700s! Crazysauce.

There were flat ceilings. These are some of them.

There were doors. The inlaid mother of pearl ones were stunning.

After soaking up the glory that was the Harem (with conflicted feelings, as it was home to many enslaved women, and we all know how I feel about forced sex--but they did get an education, which is something!), I ventured out into the main areas. Topkapi is very, very large, and today it was quite hot*. But I managed to walk around and see almost everything, I think--I missed out on the Physicians Rooms, but I'm not positive they were open anyways. 

A courtyard, complete with under-eaves gold filligree.

I was particularly fond of a lot of the junctures between walls, doors,
and ceilings, because they so rarely had anything carry over. I love
the mix of patterns and colors!

Very opulent

I just adore all the detail here––definitely worth enlarging. 

This was a small room offset of a large, domed room (you
can see part of the dome at the top of the photo). 

The last room I visited.

Compared to the British castles I've been to, Topkapı was airier and more open; there's no way to get to all the parts without going outside, which also meant better airflow. It's a very different style from English castles, unsurprisingly, and I was quite fond of it. Not quite as ostentatious (well, the contents of the Treasury were pretty over-the-top, but I wasn't allowed to take photos, poo), but still quite luxurious. It did have a bit of a summer getaway feel, though, with all the tiles and floor seating, but that is just my Western-centric upbringing talking. I really like the blue and gold and hope to purchase something (probs jewelry) with similar colors.

There were tiles

Upon tiles

Upon tiles.

There was one other section besides the Treasury where photos were forbidden. It was where the religious relics were housed, and hot damn, it was pretty awesome. In an air conditioned room (only part of the reason I liked it) was housed the sword of David (as in King David), and the staff of Moses (as in burning bush, parting seas Moses), and the turban of Abraham (as in father of Isaac Abraham), and the sword of John (the Baptist), and the footprint of Mohammed (as in the founder of Islam). Also contained were some relics from the Kaaba in Mecca, and several bits of Mohammed's beard, and part of his tooth, which was enclosed in the most gloriously jewel-encrusted velvet box. All in all, it was quite impressive, even for little non-religious me.

There were walls, and beautiful stained glass.

There was a lovely gate, which I thought looked very French (but
I've never been to France, so...). A number of rooms in the palace had
a similar feel.

The front of the kütüphane (library)

The Audience Hall

Gangway between the gate to the Third Court
and the Audience Hall

A nice courtyard around a pool with fountain

I took about 2 hours at Topkapı, at which point I was very, very tired, so I made my way back to the hotel. Upon arrival, I discovered our room had still not been cleaned, so after investigating cafes nearby, I headed back out to have some baklava and tea. I got chocolate baklava, which is probably sacrilegious, and it was fine but not particularly awe-inspiring. I had to get at least 3 pieces, so after eating all that I was quite full, and have been writing this post while sipping my tea. Soon I shall return to the hotel and lie down and ultimately nap, though I also hope to do some work. And shower, because y'all, Istanbul is a wee bit hot. Now's a good time for that star!

*Istanbul's temperature has been hovering in the mid-high 80s with considerable humidity, but it's not nearly as bad as New York, contrary to what others may say (but yes, it is still humid--my dandelionesque hair can attest to that). Today there's a nice breeze, which helps, but there's only so much a breeze can do when the city never really cools down. The lows are in the low-mid 70s, and at 8:30 this morning it was already 78 degrees. Contrast that with Ankara, where the highs are roughly the same, but the lows are 10 degrees cooler, and Ankara clearly comes ahead in the weather department.

Everything henceforth was written Sunday, August 11.
I went back to the hotel and tried to nap, but my body was not having any of it––probably the tea I got (for free, from a waiter at a cafe on my way home) had just enough caffeine to screw me up. Marcos got back around 4:00; he'd spent about 6 hours at the palace, and found it not nearly as lovely as I had. He preferred Ayasofya, I preferred Topkapı––how can our love survive?! We went out later for cheap foodz and then stopped at Hafiz Mustafa, which is the #1 restaurant in all of İstanbul on Tripadvisor. They have tons of kinds of baklava and Turkish Delight (aka lokum) and börek (filled pastries) and rice puddings, but I just got a half kilo box of assorted flavors. Marcos and I have tried a few, and I must say, some of the kinds of baklava are a wee bit weird. We plan to go back tomorrow to try the kinds that weren't included in the box, and I want to check out the rice pudding. And probably get a couple boxes to bring back home :)

Topkapı from the Bosphorus

Today, we went on a short Bosphorus cruise, which was 2 hours and involved only one stop, at Ortaköy to pick up more passengers. It was nice to see the city from a different angle, and we got to see a lot of summer palaces (selection below, plus a bonus mosque, and a castle, and some rather ramshackle houses).

We did more stuff this evening, but I am tired and haven't uploaded the pictures yet, so you will have to wait for those tales until tomorrow (or, more likely, yet longer). In the morning, we're going to Süleymaniye Mosque, which is less popular than the Blue Mosque but supposedly even grander, and then to the Grand Bazaar, where I will purchase all the gifts, for hopefully somewhat less than all the money. Then we pack, and the next day we fly out! It's crazy how quickly it's gone by...

Berlin

We're done with Berlin and are now in Istanbul. It was really nice being back in Berlin, not least because I could understand what people were saying (not all of it, but a lot, and certainly more than in Turkey!). Also, döner kebaps! Are delicious! The bread is different from what we've had in Turkey, and the addition of sauces really takes it to the next level––and the fact that they're no more than €3,50 apiece is just icing on the cake. We ate them nearly every day! (I did not take any photos, though I will be sure to post them when Marcos uploads them!)

But I do have photos of the
Ampelmännchen! He's so cuuuute

The conference was good, though extremely hot; none of the rooms at Humboldt Universität have air conditioning, and apparently no one in Berlin has heard of fans? It's also a huge conference, with thousands of attendees from wide-ranging fields, so there's not necessarily a ton of networking that can easily be done. I did make some connections, though, including with one of the people I hope to meet with in Ankara, so that was good! And most of the talks were interesting. It has me excited about my own research! Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy linguistics and experiments, but the conference did help inspire me to make lots of progress on my own stuff, so that I have cool and interesting things to talk about, too.

Flying cows! Part of an art installation we walked by

I didn't do much sightseeing this trip, since the conference took up most of my time and energy, but Marcos saw quite a bit!

We did see Checkpoint Charlie, though! Also, the Kremlin flag:
is a fake. They stuck the real one in a museum to keep it from
fading.

Including:

Clockwise from top left: some random crazy-sauce building, Brandenburger Tor,
tank from the Soviet Memorial, the Soviet Memorial, top of the Französischer Dom,
front of the Konzerthaus, front of the Reichstag capital building

And the Pergamonmuseum, which is where lots of the best stuff from Pergamon resides. I'd gone 3 years ago, but seeing his pictures brought it all back––lots of really cool stuff!

It looks like the library from Ephesus!

Lolz, look at that lion's face.

Pretty mosaics! Even though they're of birds.

This mask is supposed to be intestines, for some reason.

Some super intense hair pins

A rapping cow?

This has 58 different kinds of pork
described on it, apparently.

I'm really amused by the description for this carving

This fellow was rather well-endowed in the
nasal area

Astrolabe! Used by some olden Arabs to predict where the sun and moon and stars would be

Some nice stucco wallpaper (just for you, Mom)

A pretty box of ivory!

Insanely detailed picture frame

Some nice tiles

More insane detailing, this time on a wooden doorframe

Yagh, so pretty!!

I saw this too! Probably in some Facebook album...

An old map of Istanbul

Look at the little houses!!!

Slaughtering in a Palace 

We can't figure out what the slaughterer is holding––
it looks like a gigantic lollipop, but that can't possibly be right.
We also like the expressions of everyone watching: so very
nonchalant.

Some nice vases; the one on the left looks like a fish ship, and

the one on the right like little eye stalks.

A model of Pergamon city, back in the day: would have been
handy to have one of those at the site!

He also went to Tiergarten, which was one of the places Ric and Peter and I would go to for a relaxing afternoon, and found a gross creek:

Yummy.

Just like the cotton-covered one from this post, only green!

Some of the murals around Siegessäule

He also went to Siegessäule, in the middle of the park, which I'd never been to (too far to walk for my taste), and because he's a crazy person, he walked all the way to the top. Carrying his big camera.

Impressive view, though! That's the Fernsehturm off in the distance

Also, how great is this warning?! Hahaha.

We went out to dinner with Matt and Volya several nights, the most memorable of which was at a subpar German place near Alexanderplatz, where I got into a yelling match with the owner at checkout. We'd ordered in English, because he'd talked to us in English, and he brought us food we didn't order so we didn't eat it, obviously. I asked for the check in German and gave back the food we hadn't wanted, and he got mad and said if I'd ordered in German, it wouldn't have been a problem (to which I wish I'd responded, if you can't understand English, don't talk to us in English! And if your menu is available in 4 languages, I expect you to actually be able to understand at least food orders in said languages!), and then he yelled more about how we shouldn't have brought in our own drinks––Marcos and I had bought a soda and water, respectively, earlier in the day, and brought the not-empty bottles in to the (outside) sitting area with us. We did not drink them during our meal, and still ordered (overpriced) beer, but apparently this fellow thought that nothing purchased outside of his business should be permitted on the premises. He asked if I would bring in my own drinks to a restaurant in the US, and I said I didn't need to, because our meals come with water! And also, YES. If I had been wandering around all day and had a bottle of water on me, you better believe I would bring it into a restaurant. I wouldn't drink it there, but expecting me to throw out perfectly good water is insane. Then he was like, that's not how we do it here (um, yes it is, actually) and if I was going to speak German I would need to learn that (but if I kept speaking English, it would have been okay?!), to which I said I would do differently next time and eat elsewhere. It was very stressful, but I think I handled it okay. No bullying me, no sirree! Especially when your food is so lackluster and overpriced. 

Much in the way of crazy sky 

We went to the Mauerpark Flea Market on Sunday, which was basically a gigantic Saturday Market, but with more beer. We had sausages with a bajillion kinds of mustard, a margarita panini, and Apfelstrudel with vanilla sauce, and watched some live music performances.

Nermz (= noms = yummy)

Afterwards, the boys went to Charlottenburg Palace, which was unfortunately closed, but they got to see the outside, while I went back to the hotel and did a bit of laundry and rested. Marcos and I finished off our visit with a meal at Maria Restaurant, a few blocks from my old apartment. It's Italian-German food, and it was delicious. Really slow, but reeeeally good. We got potato-mushroom soup with sausage slices, and even though Marcos and I usually dislike soup, we both loved this––it was thick and creamy and so, so flavorful. Then we got a Classic Flammkuchen, which is basically German pizza, only with a sour cream base instead of cheese, topped with onion and bacon. It was fine, but not particularly inspiring. I think sour cream on pizza is just too weird for me to be okay with on the first try. Fortunately, we'd also ordered the Spätzle, a kind of pasta, with chicken-tomato-mushroom cream sauce, and it was amazing. So rich, so flavorful, just … yummy.

In the same order

We were very full afterwards, but everything including 2 juices was less than €20. It's definitely someplace I would go back to!

Random Ecuadorian flag on
a building across from our last hotel.
Turns out, it's the Ecuadorian embassy!
Cool beans.

This morning, we got our last Berliner döner kebaps, which were less stuffed-full than usual, making them easier to eat and not quite as gut-bustingly filling, though we were still both quite uncomfortable for awhile after finishing. We took the bus to the airport 

(OH HEY, I almost forgot about the two times we had our tickets checked on the subway! Some back story about Berlin's public transportation: it pretty much works on an honor system, with infrequent checks by plainclothes officers. You're supposed to buy a new €2,60 ticket for every trip you take that's more than 2 hours apart, and you show the time you bought it by validating it right before you get on the first part of your trip, but hello, I am not made of money. In my two months of living in Berlin, I was never checked. Marcos and I tended not to purchase tickets, so the first time officers came on to our train on Sunday, en route to our hotel, we were panicked and managed to get off the subway before they checked ours (and found out we didn't have them). So once we got off, we purchased two tickets and validated them, and weren't checked again until later, on our way back from the flea market. We all just took out our tickets from earlier in the day (expired, by that point), which sufficed for the guy checking, which makes me think they may not check the fine print. Good thing we had tickets! If you're visiting Berlin, you should buy a couple, validate them when needed, and hopefully you'll be fine for any future trips!) 

and then waited in the very long Turkish Airlines checkin line. It got so long because, for the first 20 minutes or so that we were there, there was no one manning any of the booths. Good thing we didn't get to the airport any earlier! Tegel security is super weird; you give your passport to the guy outside your gate, and once you've been cleared to leave the country you go through the door for your gate (and sometimes one other) and go through the world's shortest security line. I have no idea how they pay for so many separate security lines, but it does make it easier for the passengers! Of course, once you get through security, you're stuck in a small waiting area that doesn't have much in the way of food or drink. Marcos and I were thirsty, but the drink machine only accepted large coins, which we did not have (we did a good job of using up all our Euros, though!), but awhile after we got there a dude came and opened a pretzel stand, where we bought sparkling apple juice for €2,70. Awesome.

And that's pretty much it for Berlin! Hang tight for a brief post about our trip back to Istanbul. I'm tired and it's late, so: we waited in line for 45 minutes for passport control, which was stupid (and I glared hardcore at the back of people who cut in line, who were rather numerous), but getting to our hotel was pretty straightforward. We got a cheap dinner of tost (paninis with pepperoni) and an equal-in-price dessert of baklava (but this stuff is shredded and wrapped in a spiral! It's difficult to cut, but the texture is really fun). I worked on this post after we got back while watching District 9 with Marcos, and now we will be going to sleep!