Last full day in Istanbul

---

Geo: 41.1075, 28.7079

Yes, we are starting to lose steam. Today our plan was not very ambitious. We only had the Istanbul Archeology Museum left on our to-do list. We also needed to come up with a way to get the the airport on the Asian side of the city in time for our plane tomorrow. After checking Turkeytravelplanner.com, we went to a recommended agency and arranged for a shuttle. They usually only have two per day so we were resigned to arriving at the airport many hours early (again), but luckily someone else had arranged for a shuttle to pick them up about noon so we are going to fill the shuttle going in the other direction. It's a win/win.

After checking that off the list we had the rest of the day to spend at the museum. Theoretically it is possible to spend most of a day there. It's not as impressive as the one in Ankara, but there are still significantly more ancient artifacts there than you will see anywhere at home. I think our favorite part might have been the floor that they have devoted to the various levels of the history of Troy. Each level that you dig down deeper, the more things you find from earlier eras. Since I don't think we are going to make it to Troy, this was the next-best thing. As an added bonus, they had a model of the Trojan horse that you can climb inside.

According to the guide book, the tile museum that is also part of the larger museum complex is not usually open. We lucked out and it was. We looked around for a bit and it was pretty and the temperature was cool. We would have appreciated it more if we hadn't been really hungry. There is a little self-serve cafe in what I would call the column garden outside, but we needed something more substantial.

For lunch we stopped for the last time at the Lalelim restaurant just off Cemberlitas near the movie theater. We ate a number of meals there and they were all excellent and reasonably priced. We especially enjoyed watching the cook making the bread and the pide in the open oven in the back. We considered posing for a picture with him, but felt a little weird about it. Before we left we gave the staff one of the Virginia postcards that we brought to Turkey.

---

Photos

Ancient Bureau of Weights and Measures
The old standard for a foot is not much different than the one we use today. We also found out that a talent is much heavier than we thought, about 60 pounds.

Another eagle/serpent
No sign of the Illuminati or the Masons though. Both eagle images were at the Istanbul Museum of Archeology.

Josh is not alone
I told Josh when he was learning multiplication tables this year that everyone has to learn them. This proves me right!

Josh's Istanbul babe
Our hotel is in a textile and clothing district and Josh has enjoyed the many female manequins that spend their days posed on the street looking (and many times dressing) like "friendly" women.

Medusa head in "column park"
We've seen many very large medusa heads here. This begs the question, why Medusa? Why not one of the beautiful godesses? Maybe snaky hair is the easy way out. Throw a few snakes on top of her head and she is instantly recognizable.

Rapunzel Alex
Alex used to have long, beautiful golden tresses, but his hair has been rubbed so much by passers-by on the street here that it's all gone.

Road construction in Istanbul
I've never seen road construction that looked like this going on before. We've been watching them for the last week and they seem to be making good progress.

The eagle and the serpent
We found two examples of the eagle and the serpent in ancient art here. This is the earlier one and may date as far back as 400 BC. We pulled out a couple dollar bills and made the point that the US Treasury was not the first outfit to use the symbol.

The statues come alive
I don't want to know how many people each day do this picture. It would make us feel very unoriginal.