Day 5- Strolling

Among other things, the unrest in Egypt messed up our plan to spend two weeks with our good friends the Glausers. I was really bummed out about this. There's nothing like traveling around in a third world country together to really solidify a friendship. I was sad we didn't have the opportunity to travel with them, but the silver lining is that I didn't have to reveal how ridiculously small my bladder is right now and my overall slowness (waddle-ness?) to non-family. Thank goodness Istanbul had plenty of public toilets which were mostly free and mostly of the non squat variety. We took breaks and we took them often.

Even these boys with their short little legs had to stop and wait for me to catch up.

And it seemed like every time we stopped, we were surrounded by stray cats and dogs. Well fed and well kept stray dogs.

Our hotel was just around the corner from the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. They provided a nice backdrop for our frequent breaks.

I thought this roasted corn would be amazing. It was mediocre at best.

But don't tell Ike, he liked it.

I should name this baby Sahlep Proffitt since I drank so much of that stuff.

We also drank lots of freshly squeezed orange and pomegranate juice. Many of the cafes and public parks had free Wifi, which was often faster than the internet at our hotel.

Speaking of our hotel...

This is the crib they provided. One side was broken so Ike could crawl out and onto Clark's sleeping face whenever he felt like it. I love spending time with my kids and I will always remember this vacation as one full of family closeness and bonding, but MAN was I glad to get home and crawl back into my own perfectly-distanced-from-my-children bed. Heaven.