skyring

It's best I don't look at the keyboard = this one has all sorts of funny bits and I had to get the bloke to change the layout to english, otherwise I can't log in to nothing.

Well, here I am, and this has got to be one seedy Internet cafe with an amazing view. Haga Sophia {sp} is just out the window, all floodlit up.

And I'm out of battery power in just about everything I own. Taking pictures tomorrow might be interesting or expensive.

The flight out was pretty decent, though British Air's ideas on comfort and service are a world away from Cathay Pacific's. Slow coming through immigration - had to pay $US20 for a visa before getting in the passport line. I think I might have been conned into taking a shuttle bus into the city, rather than a more interesting taksi. I'll fix that up tomorrow.

The hostel is seedy in the extreme. But cheap and cheerful. I'm going to go back and get some sleep soon. I'm exhausted.

But it's amazing being here in Istanbul. My room mate was astonished that I was only here for the night. Wow, you aussies get around!" I told him that I was in Hong Kong on Monday and he thinks I'm mad.

He's probably right, but I'm having a lot of fun.

Tuesday was fun. I hit the internet in Starbucks for a couple of hours after brekkie, and then hooked up with SemioticGhosts, taking in the amazing wildlife picture exhibition at the Natural History Museum. And after a brief kip, I navigated my way to the Artichoke and Camel, where I had a few beers with my BookCrossing mates. Wonderful to see WistfulDragon again, this time not quite so wistful. Indeed, an extremely happy Dragon. FuShMuSh from Sydney was a pleasant surprise - she's spent the winter in England. I gave her a couple of Tim Tams to tide her over.

CaffCaff, Firedragon, Weebly, Netstation, many others. An absolute delight to be with them again. There were books around, but when you are among such amazing BookCrossers, books come a distant second!

I went past St Pauls this morning, but impressive though that is, it hasn't got quite the impact of Haga Sophia, a building that was a wonder of the world fifteen hundred years ago, and has been the object of fascination by the Romans, the crusaders, the Ottomans and just about everyone else. And here it is, leaning in the window! The Blue Mosque, a building even more impressive, though considerably more recent, is out of the other window. I'll stroll around Topkai tomorrow, see the Golden Horn.

And then take a taksi back to the airport and fly back to London.