Quotable

We went to Istanbul this past weekend. I know that many of you might be jealous of that statement, as you would love to have a weekend jaunt off to an exotic(?), fascinating(?) place for the weekend. Not us. I could care less if I ever see Istanbul again in the next decade. "Why?" you ask. Several reasons, really, but the #1 reason being a scene like this: You're in your car preparing to cross over the Bosporus River. While there are 12 actual driving lanes painted on the road, somehow 21 lanes of cars have managed to form. It would be considered chaos except for that no is going any faster than 2 miles an hour (when they're moving, that is). There is a car just inches from your right side...there is a car just inches from your left side....and in front of you is a utility truck with 8 (rough looking) men jammed into the back. The truck has covered sides so the only place for them to look out is straight back. AT YOU. And now it's raining. And despite the lack of room in between cars there are still men on foot weaving in and out. They're selling flowers, simit (bagel like things), bottled water (that has probably been filled up at the tap), even bubble blowers for kids. You wonder how they can go in and out of such tight spaces and not get their feet run over by someone's tire. You sit in agony wondering when the bridge will appear in the distance. Go. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. Stop. and so on and so forth. Finally, TWO HOURS LATER you have crossed the bridge (THE BRIDGE: one of the few ways to get back from European side into the Asian side of Istanbul so you can drive back to the rest of Turkey). And then you think about all the people who do that on a daily basis...because that scene is a DAILY thing.

Anyway, enough of my Istanbul woes. I will post some pictures later once I've crossed off some things on my to do list. But, I will leave you with some "Please let me hide, I don't know who's kid this is" quotes.

1. While eating breakfast one morning a lady wearing a full burqa sat down near us. Eli shouts and points, "MOMMY, THAT LADY CAN'T SEE!!!!"

2. Again, while eating breakfast, a German man with a massive amount of dreadlocks sat down next to us. The dreadlocks were wrapped up into a massive bun on the guy's head. Eli walks over to him, points up at them, gets a really confused look on his face and says dramatically, "WHAT - ARE - THOSE?????"