Istanbul!

Hey readers, Genevieve here.

So I guess I had better tell you all about our first day in Europe. After about 24 hours on three different planes and bus’s we finial got to our hotel and collapsed, our body clocks screaming at us to sleep. We did so. The next day was fantastic then cold then annoying. We were picked up by our tour guide wearing a blue jacket, in a crowd of people wearing blue jackets. We started the tour by going to the Blue Mosque. A gigantic building with huge, domed roof that was capable of making a giant feel small. But it smelt slightly of musty feet, as your weren’t allowed to wear shoes. Men were required to wear long pants, and women to cover their hair (Good thing too, it was freezing.)

After that we went and wandered around the Sultan’s palace. Every wall covered in blue tiles, all floors lavishly carpeted. Most rooms equipped with a huge fireplace, which would have once roared with flames, heating the chosen room. After we walked around all the rooms, we went and saw an exhibition on clocks that dated back to the18th century. And after that, a showcase on some of the Sultan’s gold and jewelry, It you would like some imagery, imagine glittery sheriff badges from old western movies. (But it would cost around the price of your new born baby)

Second to last we went and saw the Haiga Sosia. It was basically a Catholic Church built around 1600 years ago. The roof was multiple domes, all falling onto each other like god-sized scoops of ice-cream.   And this building was massive! The second floor went only half the way up, and the ceiling was still hundreds of feet above your head. And if you’re still having trouble picturing its size, there was scaffolding the height and width of a sky scraper. And it only took up a quarter of the room.

After we had gawked at some amazing mosaics and paintings, we realized we had lost dad. So we freaked out a little bit, but we found him again, and went off. We stood in the rain, looking at some wet sculptures, and then finished up for the day.

It was all very exciting and cold.