(Note: This is a repost from a blog posting on http://letstalkcigars.com/mjg/ on 2/13/2007)

I keep thinking of the They Might Be Giants tune about the name change from Constantinople to the current name of Istanbul (I think based on a Cole Porter song).

Even old new york was once new amsterdam
Why they changed it i can't say
People just liked it better that way

So take me back to constantinople
No, you can't go back to constantinople
Been a long time gone, constantinople
Why did constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the turks

Istanbul (istanbul)

Tom and I made it here OK after spending a great deal of time in airplanes. We left LAX at 0730 PDT on Monday the 12th and arrived at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul at 1030 on Tuesday the 13th. With a 2 hour layover at JFK in NY, that amounts to about 14 hours in the air.

Don't have time for a full posting now but wanted to get some pictures up for those back home. Hope to have a few more posts put up tonight when we get to Eskişehir.

View of the sidestreet leading up to our hotel.

The main entrance to the Grand Bazaar, the world's largest covered market and perhaps the worlds first indoor mall.

A view looking down one of the streets in the Bazaar. If you look far enough down, you will see an archway that leads to the Old Bazaar.

A view down one of the major streets. This is the gold street. Many of the streets and sections in the Bazaar specialize in different types of items for sale.

Here we are in such a beautiful and romantic city and Jerry and Harris are stuck at a computer dealing with Ebay troubles caused by an employee getting "phished"...

Ok, many of you know how much I dislike cats but thought I would close out this posting with a picture of one of the hotel cats making itself comfortable in the hotel Lobby. This is a great place and I hope that we'll have a bit more time here when we return from Eskişehir later this week.

Type at you all soon!