Our latest adventure took us to Istanbul, Turkey during the second week of April. After Andy's trip to Israel, we were inspired to go to some place a little more "foreign" and while Istanbul is still in Europe (well, half is in Europe, half is in Asia), it has a decidedly different feel than the other European countries we've been to. The city was beautiful, with a lot of lovely and very historical buildings, delicious foods, and great markets.
Here we are outside of the Blue Mosque... and below was a guy dressed up in an odd outfit outside of the mosque.
To go into a mosque, women must cover their heads...
And everyone has to remove their shoes before entering the mosque.... which Claire LOVED.
The Turkish Delight and baklava all over the city were amazing. Even though we'd had it in England, and we hadn't been very impressed, in Istanbul, it's a totally different story. Delicious!
One of the places we visited was the Basilica Cistern, an underground water storage facility below the city. It was very beautiful in a spooky sort of way.
Two of the columns in the cistern had the head of Medusa on the base. One was upside down and one was sideways.
Here is another picture in front of the Blue Mosque.
The Grand Bazaar was probably my favorite place in Istanbul. We went several times. It was amazing how many beautiful things were in there. I ended up buying two cotton and silk pillow cases embroidered with pomegranates.
Pomegranate stands were everywhere and for a few Turkish Lyra, you could buy a glass of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. Yum!
We also visited the Toptaki Palace which was a very expansive and beautiful palace with a colorful history.
Here is the view from the edge of the Toptaki Palace.
One of the typical foods is a pita-like bread that they serve with most meals in Istanbul. When they bring it out to the table, it is full of air and bigger than a football. On the first night when we went out to dinner, the waiter brought one out to our table and put it near Claire. Her response was unbelievable. She freaked out and started screaming and crying. It was shocking (and kind of funny) to see her so scared of this bread. I had to take her out of the restaurant to calm down and we had to deflate it immediately. Eventually, I was able to convince her that it was just bread, and even though it was "scary bread" she was able to laugh about it later. The other diners in the restaurant got a good chuckle out of the situation too. Ha!
Here is a picture of Claire, facing the "scary bread".
Here are two more loaves of the bread, fresh out of the oven, before they were deflated.
Here is a picture of us in front of the mosque that was across the street from our hotel. In the water in the background, you can see all the tanker ships waiting their turn to go up the Bosphorus Strait to the Black Sea. At any given time, we could see at least 30 huge ships waiting. Pretty amazing.
Having breakfast on the roof of our hotel.
We also visited the Aya Sophia, which used to be a church, was converted to a mosque, and now is a museum. It has lovely architecture and amazing mosaics.
Here are some of the beautiful mosaics inside the Aya Sophia.
Because Italy doesn't have Starbucks (but every other European country does) I make sure to get my fix when we travel. Here is Claire with my Frappuchino. She'll learn quickly, I'm sure. Yum!
My freshly squeezed pomegranate juice.
The girls in front of the Blue Mosque... now they can never say they haven't been to Istanbul!
On one of our days in Istanbul, we took a ferry up the Bosphorus Strait to the other side of Istanbul so we could visit Asia. We got off at the last ferry stop and hiked up the hill where we had a good view of the Black Sea. So, here we are in front of the Black Sea, on Asian soil.
The hill also had the ruins of a cool old castle, but Claire, of course, mostly enjoyed the rocks and flowers.
Then we had lunch in a restaurant a little ways down the hill, which had a great view of the Bosphorus Strait.
Eloise and Claire enjoyed the playgrounds and hammocks along the way.
Here is a picture of Andy and Claire on the ferry back to the main part of Istanbul.
The ferry terminal in Istanbul had a lot of interesting things to see, too. This is a picture of a boat that cooks and sells delicious fish sandwiches. The boat was tied up to the pier where people sat at tables to eat the fish sandwiches.
This red drink was actually pickle juice with a variety of pickles and pickled cabbage. People ate it with the fish sandwiches. Interesting...
One evening we had dinner at a restaurant recommended by our guide book which was across from the University in Istanbul. It was a lovely setting and the food was amazing.
There was no menu at this restaurant, simply a few pots of food on the stove that were being cooked. The waiter took me into the kitchen to show me what was cooking and we just ordered a little of each thing. It was all delicious!
During dinner a man selling bananas and another selling watermelon walked by. Later, we saw the banana man again and bought some (kind of expensive) bananas from him which he weighed with a beam balance and small iron weights.
All in all, we had a great time.
To go into a mosque, women must cover their heads...
And everyone has to remove their shoes before entering the mosque.... which Claire LOVED.
The Turkish Delight and baklava all over the city were amazing. Even though we'd had it in England, and we hadn't been very impressed, in Istanbul, it's a totally different story. Delicious!
One of the places we visited was the Basilica Cistern, an underground water storage facility below the city. It was very beautiful in a spooky sort of way.
Two of the columns in the cistern had the head of Medusa on the base. One was upside down and one was sideways. 
Here is another picture in front of the Blue Mosque.
The Grand Bazaar was probably my favorite place in Istanbul. We went several times. It was amazing how many beautiful things were in there. I ended up buying two cotton and silk pillow cases embroidered with pomegranates. 
Pomegranate stands were everywhere and for a few Turkish Lyra, you could buy a glass of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. Yum!
We also visited the Toptaki Palace which was a very expansive and beautiful palace with a colorful history.
Here is the view from the edge of the Toptaki Palace.
One of the typical foods is a pita-like bread that they serve with most meals in Istanbul. When they bring it out to the table, it is full of air and bigger than a football. On the first night when we went out to dinner, the waiter brought one out to our table and put it near Claire. Her response was unbelievable. She freaked out and started screaming and crying. It was shocking (and kind of funny) to see her so scared of this bread. I had to take her out of the restaurant to calm down and we had to deflate it immediately. Eventually, I was able to convince her that it was just bread, and even though it was "scary bread" she was able to laugh about it later. The other diners in the restaurant got a good chuckle out of the situation too. Ha!
Here is a picture of Claire, facing the "scary bread".
Here are two more loaves of the bread, fresh out of the oven, before they were deflated.
Here is a picture of us in front of the mosque that was across the street from our hotel. In the water in the background, you can see all the tanker ships waiting their turn to go up the Bosphorus Strait to the Black Sea. At any given time, we could see at least 30 huge ships waiting. Pretty amazing.
We also visited the Aya Sophia, which used to be a church, was converted to a mosque, and now is a museum. It has lovely architecture and amazing mosaics. 
Here are some of the beautiful mosaics inside the Aya Sophia.
Because Italy doesn't have Starbucks (but every other European country does) I make sure to get my fix when we travel. Here is Claire with my Frappuchino. She'll learn quickly, I'm sure. Yum!
My freshly squeezed pomegranate juice.
The girls in front of the Blue Mosque... now they can never say they haven't been to Istanbul!
On one of our days in Istanbul, we took a ferry up the Bosphorus Strait to the other side of Istanbul so we could visit Asia. We got off at the last ferry stop and hiked up the hill where we had a good view of the Black Sea. So, here we are in front of the Black Sea, on Asian soil.
The hill also had the ruins of a cool old castle, but Claire, of course, mostly enjoyed the rocks and flowers.
Then we had lunch in a restaurant a little ways down the hill, which had a great view of the Bosphorus Strait.
Eloise and Claire enjoyed the playgrounds and hammocks along the way.
Here is a picture of Andy and Claire on the ferry back to the main part of Istanbul.
The ferry terminal in Istanbul had a lot of interesting things to see, too. This is a picture of a boat that cooks and sells delicious fish sandwiches. The boat was tied up to the pier where people sat at tables to eat the fish sandwiches.
This red drink was actually pickle juice with a variety of pickles and pickled cabbage. People ate it with the fish sandwiches. Interesting...
One evening we had dinner at a restaurant recommended by our guide book which was across from the University in Istanbul. It was a lovely setting and the food was amazing.
There was no menu at this restaurant, simply a few pots of food on the stove that were being cooked. The waiter took me into the kitchen to show me what was cooking and we just ordered a little of each thing. It was all delicious!
During dinner a man selling bananas and another selling watermelon walked by. Later, we saw the banana man again and bought some (kind of expensive) bananas from him which he weighed with a beam balance and small iron weights. 
Last Friday we were so sad to say goodbye to our good friends, Sarah, David, Sadie and Liam Mack. We have been so lucky to get to know them over the last two years here in Italy. It has been wonderful getting to know them and watching their children grow. It has been especially wonderful seeing Claire develop one of her very first friendships. 
On their last night in town, the Macks organized a dinner at Pepe O' Russo's and then later came back to our house. 
Last week we were so lucky to have Margie and the Beck family come to visit us. It was so wonderful to have them here, to show them around Italy and to have the kids all play together. Jessie had been planning her trip for several weeks, but Margie's visit was a last minute surprise. She was able to fly in for just the weekend, which was amazing.
When everyone arrived, we spent some time hanging out at the apartment and we went to play at the park. Claire and Zoe had a great time getting to know each other again and playing like they meant it!
It was so wonderful to finally meet Tristan, Eloise's birthday twin. It was awesome seeing the babies play together and interact with one another. Tristan is such a wonderful and happy baby!
During that first full day, we all went to Capri to see the sights and we got to visit the blue grotto, which was very cool.
We then wandered around Capri, ate some lunch and enjoyed the views.
The birthday triplets... only people born on July 30th were allowed to be in this picture. ;)
Here is a picture of Claire with Sadie and Zoe. The girls had way too much fun together.
And, of course, there were Pinkalicious cupcakes for the birthday girl.
On Thursday, the Beck's last full day in Italy, we went to downtown Naples to seek out the famous "original" pizza restaurant, which was delicious. When we came back, the girls hung out eating Popsicles on the deck and later had fun in the bath.
And I loved hanging with my friend, too!
