Playing Catch Up in Istanbul.

What the other girls drink in the mornings. Turkish coffee. Notorious here. I overheard someone say (thanks Lyle),"If you like caffiene, it's like nectar." They come in teenie little cup and saucers and evidently pack a punch.

What I drink in the mornings. Afternoons, or heck, whenever it's offered. Hot apple tea. It reminds me of the wassle that my English friend makes every New Year's Eve. Minus the rum. And not near as good. The weather has been chilly and damp so far and apple tea seems to make it a wee bit better. This comes in also a teeny container. But a small curvy shaped glass. I see servers carrying these on a tray frequently and very randomly throughout the city. I wonder where they go as they are not in a restaurant!

The food here is quite wonderful so far. I am a very picky eater with a limited palate and I was grateful to find meals here to be a small step in adventure instead of the leap of faith I had feared.

Nikki and I ordered a late dinner via room service. Chicken kabobs.

Tea time every day at 4. Be jealous.

Seriously fresh honey. They don't mess around over here.

Fresh pomegranate juice. Sold everywhere in the restaurants and as street food. To. Die. For. You'll never find this in the stores in America. Truly a travesty.

Chicken Testi Kabob. I know. Right? Not actually in a stick, this chicken is prepared in amazing spices and served in a clay pot with rice. Not hot spices as you might assume. Really flavorful ones.

Baklava is a Filo dough pastry with Los of honey and pistachios. Nikki loves it. It was ok. The ice cream was better. Besides, I prefer chocolate. Chocolate anything. And this doesn't contain it. Although it should. Sigh.

Food is clearly the theme today and I feel sure may be repeated again this week but I do want to mention our adventures yesterday and today. We met with the director of the ISTANBUL academic (see me for the Rome summer 2015) study abroad program here in Turkey and she was a wealth of information for not only her program but the "New City" portion of ISTANBUL as well. We received a walking tour that was beyond amazing. Cold rain and all.

All the streets in the New City part of ISTANBUL are this delightful.

Ponies. Just because.

No. Not a modern sculptural piece. The sink where you wash your hands in the ladies room. In the SALT Center.

Be sure not to miss Nikki's blog posts too, as she is a wonderful writer and is very detailed and articulate with our experiences. She'll even use correct grammar, complete sentences and sometimes uses correct spacing.