Architecture, cats, and superman

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I made it to Istanbul! I got here very late on Saturday night and I think Ive still got a bit of culture shock. The busy streets, giant mosques, and women with covered heads are so different from Montana, where I was just one week ago. So far three things stand out about Istanbul:

1. Obviously the architecture. I took a boat trip around the Bosphorus and many of the hillsides were covered with the beautiful giant domes of mosques. Yesterday we went into the Hagia Sofia, which is enormous, It's one of those places that you can't apprecite it's size until you are actually inside. But I think my favorite building so far is the Blue Mosque. We spent quite a while this afternoon just sitting next to a pillar taking in all of the the impressive arches and beautiful caligraphy that decorate the interior. Although there were many tourists, sitting in the mosque and taking everything in was quite relaxing,

2. Cats. There are cats everywhere here. There's a cat that no one claims that just hangs around the hostel all day. When we were in the Hagia Sofia, there was a cat just prowling around up front where the altar would have been when it was a church. Everywhere I look in this city I see cats.

3. Superman T-shirts. I first noticed this on my fight into the city. There was a large Turkish school group and a couple of the students wore superman T shirts. Walking around Istanbul the last couple of days I've seen a number of Turks wearing superman shirts. I'm not sure what the obsession with superman is about.

That's all for now. Tomorrow we are likely off to Ephasus.

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