A Random Weekend in Istanbul

As promised (although a little later than promised) here is the story of our random trip to Istanbul last weekend. To begin, the Bulgarian Ministry of Education blessed us by upgrading a three-day weekend into a four-day weekend. Why? We don't know and we didn't ask questions. With such a long time without work, the question then became, "What are we going to do?" For a week straight we asks ourselves this question and came up with many answers. On Saturday morning of the four-day weekend we were still undecided. Derek called Pete at around 10am in the morning and ask him to go with him to Hit (the local supermarket). Pete agreed, and off they went. At around 10:30, Derek calls Jenn and I from the grocery store and says we should start planning. Well, with no input from the boys, Jenn and I decided we would do what WE wanted to. After several attempts looking up flights to various places, I finally brought up the Sofia Airport webpage and looked at every out-going flight for the rest of the day. As I scrolled through the list, I would shout names of cities to Jenn and she would "Yeah" or "Nay" them. If the city was a "Yeah" then I went to the airline's website and looked up the price of the ticket. Most of the time the tickets were like $600, BUT, I finally found one within our price range - you guessed it - Istanbul. So, long story short, the boys get back from the store, we tell them to pack their bags because we're flying to Istanbul in three hours. In awe, they agreed. At the Istanbul airport, we picked up one of those phones that has a list of hotels, found ourselves a place to stay, and our random weekend was set. We had a great time. The first day we went to Takcim and walked around the stores. At one point during the day, Pete said, "Let's grab a burger and go to Asia." So we did. We ate lunch and then hopped on a ferry across the Bosporus to the Asian part of Turkey. We spent a few hours there and then came back. The next day was filled with shopping at the Grand Bazaar, then dinner at "The Cozy Pub" - a place that quickly became our local hang out. Later in the day we went to the Blue Mosque and then back to the hotel. It was a quick trip, but super fun. Oh - let me explain the picture of Pete and Jenn - It was pretty sunny out the first day we got there and I went to pull out my "really cool and hip Euro sunglasses" I bought on the street in Plovdiv a couple of months ago. Well, my 20 Leva "Channel" glasses didn't really hold up to the travel test. So, Pete and Jenn each took a half for a laugh. The other pictures are of the Blue Mosque and some of the other sights in Istanbul. What a cool city.
Around school we're nearing the end. Only two months left! The seniors graduate on the 23rd and I think both Pete and I will be happy to see them go. Pete is in charge of the Senior Independent Honors Project, a requirement for all graduates, and it has been the bane of his existence lately. But, he's doing a great job and it's almost done. I've started meeting with Juniors to talk about next year and college plans. It's kind of fun to work with a new group. Most of the time, however, I'm just ready for summer. Hope everyone is well. - Grandma, I love you! I am sending you a big hug through cyber-space. Same goes for you Grandpa!!!