Istanbul, not Constantinople...

Day 3 1/2 here. The first one didn't really count. Me and C. are pretty good travelling together. I've been enjoying it. We have a pretty good groove. Light breakfast at the hotel before going out. Turkish breakfast is like sliced cucumber and tomato and olives. Slice of bread. Maybe butter and some honey. Tea and coffee.
Yesterday we went to Topkapi Palace. Holy shit!
So, firstly: I like sharp things. Knives and daggers and swords. Boy at heart. You know. Well, apparently, Sultans like pretty, sharp things too.
This is the Topkapi Dagger. Those pretty green things are emeralds the size of fucking chestnuts. Its actually kind of stupefying to see something like this. I mean, I didn't know there were emeralds this big. For reals.
In the same room, is the spoonmaker's diamond. Legend has it that some few hundred years ago, a beggar found a pretty shiny rock in a rubbish heap and traded it to a spoonmaker for three wooden spoons and the spoonmaker traded it to somebody else for 10 silver coins and that person got it cut into what it is today. An 86 fucking carat diamond. It was gigantic. The most valuable treasure in the Turkish treasury.


Ok, so. Blah blah. Pretty shiny things. Then we go into the religious artifacts room.
Now, as probably all of you know, I'm not religious. Far from it. A heathen by some standards. But this stuff really floored me. So according to Islam, they respect all of the Prophets of God, right? Prophet Mohammed. Yes, yes. What I didn't fully realize is that they figure that alot of the guys from the Old Testament and I think Jesus, are considered Prophets as well. But Mohammed is the one True Prophet and more importantly, the most recent one, so his word is the most recent direct link humanity has to the word of God. Right? So. Back to the Old Testament.
This room.
They had Moses' cane. Like the one Moses used to lean on. Back during the Old Testament.
And Abraham's drinking bowl. So um..yeah. Hard to verify, I imagine. Hard to prove. But still. Makes to think.
Then they have St John's arm. Like his arm. Off his body. They have this mummified little arm on display there.......huh? An arm? A Saint's arm?
I won't go into listing all of it. But there are tuft's of the Prophet's beard. And his footprint.
So yeah. The brain kind of just shuts down and you don't know what to make of all that. Alot to take in.
So I should probably pack.
We are going to a hostel down the street today. See if its as good. Maybe come back. This place we've been at has been nice. Our own room and bathroom. Wireless. I'm guessing this is the last access to wireless I have for a while.

Oh yeah. Dinner last night?
We went to this cute little cafe/ hotel and had Mucver, which is aubergine, carrot and zucchini, grated into patties and fried. Zucchini pancakes. Amazing. Efes beer. Walked down the street to another little cafe. C. had a glass of Turkish white wine and I had a pomegranate/ vodka. Tasted like a cape codder but lighter and more refreshing. And we split an order of grilled calamari. Seriously. Think she's thinking we should go back and try out the entrees. It was decadent and amazing.
Ok, now I gotta pack.