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Hello, Istanbul.

Two years ago, we were getting ready for our wedding. This week, in celebration of that week, we’re spending some time in the magical and mystical city of Istanbul. Sure, we’ve been up for 35 hours (with a few more to go tonight)… yeah, we flew out of Tbilisi in the middle of the night, arriving here at 6 AM… no, we don’t know a bit of Turkish… but the week is already off to a great start. The hotel is wonderful (including daily free breakfast on the rooftop terrace overlooking the Bosphorus Strait), the calls to prayer that echo off the walls are haunting and what little food we’ve had so far has lived up to expectations.

Our plans for the rest of the week should find us at sights like the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, on a cruise up and down the Bosphorus, at a private cooking class in a Turkish woman’s home kitchen (thanks, McKinze!!!), getting scrubbed down at a Turkish bath or two, visiting a school, learning how to make traditional Turkish paper art, taking in a modern art exhibit, eating and drinking at many, many restaurants, and who-knows-what-else.

Anniversaries are fun. It’s going to be a great week.