First full day in Turkey

September 17th, 2012 Today was a super solid day! we had breakfast in the hotel (Kent Hotel), which was super nice, then we walked down the street a ways to the Hippodrome. As we walked down we must have passed half a dozen domes that I though were going to be our destination, they were all so beautiful, well I was wrong about that one. The first Mosque we went to after seeing the three monuments of the Hippodrome was literally next door and was the Süleymaniye or Blue Mosque. This thing blew me away! I don't have the time not energy to describe this beautiful building but breathtaking will do for now. Both inside and out were absolutely gorgeous. We the took some pictures outside and made our way to the Topkapi Palace. This was a long palace with four courtyards, the front gate looks like the Disneyland Castle, which brings me no personal excitement, but helps explain the physical appearance of the palace. There were some exhibits that were interesting, one claimed to have the staff of Moses in it, which was a small bamboo looking stick, I took one look and said in my head...nope. I did however enjoy the couple strands of The Prophet Muhammad's beard that were on display, very interesting. Saw an 86 karat diamond. Took some pictures of the view across the Bosporus Strait over to the Asian side of Turkey. We then went to the Basilica Cistern. This place was super sick, it was a Cistern for a palace and could hold an unreal amount of water in it. I was really impressed with the structural integrity and engineering. We then left for lunch. Before the busses arrived though, I was sitting by myself a stones throw from the group on a bench looking at the Blue Mosque. A girl sat next to me and asked if it was ok she smoked, I allowed it and started a conversation. She was from Uzbekistan visiting with her mum for her mums 50th Birthday. We talked a bit, she gave me some gum, then she gave me her phone and had me find myself on Facebook so she could add me, I did and then she added me. She then said," maybe we can hang out in a few days?" I said I can't get on Facebook, so she said we'll chat then left. Ha ha it was a funny/interesting exchange. We went to lunch, our meals here in turkey have been very posh, I feel like I'm at a wedding reception at each lunch and dinner. We then has an hour to shop in the Grand Bazaar, which is this huge shopping mall, like ginormous! I got a turkey flag shirt, guitar pick, and some postcards. This place was crazy, I had to pay close attention to where we went. I was with three girls so I spent a good amount of the time waiting for them to look at jewelry. We all gathered together and walked through the grand Bazaar and through the crowded market streets of Istanbul to the harbor. We all got on a tour boat and had a well needed relaxing boat tour on the Bosphorus Sea. There were some breathtaking sights to behold, so many mosques and old castles and walls! The hills were green and there were Turkish flags everywhere. We all took hundreds of pictures and played games. It was really enjoyable. I keep saying that, but truly today was a solid day of enjoyment, the entire day. We went to dinner which was super nice, we had like 6 small courses of good meat, hummus, and peta bread. After which we went home and I crashed. Such a wonderful day. Im so grateful for this absolutely wonderful experience.