The Istanbul Archaeology Museum

Last week, Jenny, Cyrus, Kit and I went once again

to the European side of Istanbul to visit the Istanbul

Museum of Archaeology. It is known as one of the

best in the world. I forgot my camera this day and

was very unhappy about it. So I pulled some pictures

from the internet to at least have a history noted about

this day.

Entrance to the museum

This doesn't show the entire building, but just one

of the front step entrances. This is a huge museum

that contains many old artifacts.

One item that we had read about was the Alexander

Sarcophagus. We had read about it and thought that

this was the burial coffin of Alexander the Great. Once

we saw it, we admired the beautiful carvings on the

sides. Then we read the sign that said that some King

was actually buried in the coffin! For many years they

thought that it was Alexander the Great, but that was

a mistake. The carvings around the outside depict

many battles of Alexander, therefore, the reason for

the mistake.

There were many old artifacts outside the museum.

This one is a Christian sarcophagus.

The museum also has a Children's Museum. This

replica of The Trojan Horse stands at the entrance.

Troy, where the epic occurs, is located not too far

from Istanbul. It is quite a historical area which is

still under excavation. It is too far for us to visit,

but maybe someday!

This is the head sarcophagus of Sidonian King Tabnit,

It had previously belonged to an Egyptian General.

I guess that they reused these things long ago?????

The skeleton of King Tabnit! Yes, this was on display

and we really saw it. Weird for us, but I guess that

Dr. Brennan on the TV show "Bones" would love it!

This is a kiosk of tiled artifacts from Sultan Mehmet

the Conqueror, 1472. We didn't go inside, but I'm sure

that all of the tiles were beautiful.

This museum also had a floor totally devoted to artifacts

discovered at Troy during various periods of time. All

of these old, historical relics were impressive.

A Day at The Sultans Home - Topkapi Palace

Jenny, Cyrus, Kit and I had another outing for the day on

Friday - May 29. Once again we walked, caught the "blue

bus" (as Maddox calls it), walked again, rode the boat

across the strait, walked again, caught an above ground

electric train, then walked again to enter the Topkapi

Palace where for 400 years, the Sultans lived, who reigned

over the people here.

Cyrus showed his excitement for the day trip while he was

nestled in his Bjorn baby carrier. He's a great little traveler!

Jenny is explaining something to her Dad on the boat.

Once we disembarked from the boat, we walked to an

overpass walkway to cross the highway. This is a busy

area of traffic. This picture was taken from the top of the

pedestrian bridge.

Another picture from the pedestrian bridge.

This is an example of the train that we have ridden several

times to see the historical places.

More traffic where we catch the train, or get off of it.

See anything familiar? There are numerous McDonald's

and Burger King restaurants in the city. What would I do

without the Coke and Pepsi products in a foreign land?

Jenny, Cyrus and Kit at the entrance to the Topkapi Palace.

Kit was discovering old relics on his own!

This is a building guilded with gold on the outside and it is

beautiful. This is where many dignitaries of other lands

would come to meet to discuss affairs. The Sultan who

reigned at the time was in the building, but didn't sit with

the others due to his high presence. Instead, he was in a

room above the meeting room, where there was a gold door

that had small openings. He could listen, speak his mind

and tell them when the meeting was to end when he was

tired of them.

This is one of two front doors to the meeting place for

dignitaries.

An inner courtyard with flowers, trees, pathways.

There are a number of various courtyards that had specific

purposes. There were gates that would open into the next

courtyard. This is the Felicity Gate that led to the inner

courtyard where the Sultan lived.

After passing through The Felicity Gate, the next area

was an example of how the Sultan rested.

One of many Turkish rugs

A fireplace in the back of the room on the left and a huge

canopied bed of a Sultan on the right.

Entrance to the Chamber of Petitions or The Audience Hall

Once inside the building in the picture above, we realized

that it was a display of the many caftans and other clothing

of various Sultans and some children's clothing. I took this

picture before seeing the signs and one of the security guards

asked that I not take pictures. But he didn't make me

delete this one! Most of the clothing looked very large and

maybe some of the Sultans were big men. Most were very

colorful too.

Through one of the areas, there were lots of patio views of

the Bosphorus Strait, and to the south, The Sea of Marmara.

On this particularly warm, sunny day, in the distance you

can see fog hanging low over the sea.

The Bosphorus Strait

The Bosphorus Strait

Jenny and Kit...Daughter and Dad...little Cyrus too, but

he's hidden in the baby carrier!

Mary Ann posing for a shot!

Mary Ann and Kit

Below was an outdoor restaurant. Attractive and smelled

good, but was too pricey for our lunch!

This was a private area for the Sultan with a fountain

and pool area.

The Sultan's relaxation area.

Long, comfortable couches lined each of the four walls inside.

Jenny and Cyrus taking in the Sultan's rest area. There was

beautiful blue tile all over the inside.

Kit posing in front of a very tall fireplace. That is not

Kit's European bag (Seinfeld)! It is Cyrus's diaper bag!

More beautiful blue tile! We didn't get to visit the

family living quarters called The Harem. This was where

the many wives, children and servants of the Sultan lived.

It cost us 2o lira to get into the Palace grounds, then to

visit The Harem, it cost an extra 15 lira. We decided that

we'd seen enough without The Harem! Maybe another time!

Outside Topkapi Palace, we hopped aboard the train once

again. Then before riding the boat back across the strait,

we ate lunch at a neat little cafe.

Jenny and Cyrus

While riding the boat, we saw this huge cruise ship. Can

you count how many floors there are to this giant water

vessel? We figured that there were 8-10 floors for guests!

We had a great day and learned more about our world of

long ago.

Fun with the Children - Playground and Lunch

Kit had a good idea on this day, May 27th, for us to take
Addi and Maddox to a different playground, that we'd
been to already with Jenny. We wanted to give Jenny
and Matt a little quiet time. They still had Cyrus to take
care of, but the care for a newborn is much different than
caring for a 3 and 4 year old!

Here's the train at the park and you can see that Kit enjoyed
riding it as much as the children did!

Maddox questioning Grandad about something!

Our precious blonde hair/blue-eyed little boy! And he is

definitely all boy! Rough, tubble and brave! He reminds

us of Uncle Adam so much!

Our precious Addi, engineering the train!

We love our only grandaughter! She's so easy to love and

gives that love back quite often with hugs.

Gran pushed the camera into Grandad's hands to get some

shots with Maddox. I'm rarely in any of our pictures.

Maddox and Gran...my oldest grandson! Love that I have

two more precious grandsons! I miss Turner so much.

Addi and Gran

Addi loves to take pictures! She took this one of Maddox

sliding down the slide. Pretty good for a 4 yr. old!

Addi took this picture also of Gran and Grandad.

Addi and Maddox on the exercise machines.

For lunch, we ate at a nearby cafe and had pida, pronounced

pee-day. The bread and cheeses here are wonderful. This

dish is similar to pizza. We all enjoyed our lunch after playing

at the playground.

Addi ate all of her pida, leaving only some of the crust!

Grandad is studying the menu, although he doesn't read

Turkish!! He looked at the pictures and that helped!

Here we are enjoying time with Cyrus. He is sporting his

first pair of shorts, much too big, but fit okay with his big

cloth diaper on. He's so cute!

Look at that sweet face!

Eyes bright and open, observing all around him!

This evening after dinner, we took a taxi to Coffee World,

a coffee/dessert shop featuring all kinds of chocolate

candies and desserts! Here Addi is showing us her chocolate

hippo. It is similar to those chocolate Easter bunnies that

you see every spring.

Maddox enjoyed his chocolate hippo too along with other

candies that were given to us.

My dessert, chocolate brownie with chocolate sauce and

vanilla ice cream. Mmmmmm!

Matt enjoyed an expresso. Cyrus enjoyed his Mom's

chocolate cheesecake later during the night. :-)

Addi enjoying her chocolate!

Kit enjoyed his brownie and ice cream too!

Jenny and her chocolate cheesecake

Here is one of the chocolates, like a truffle, that we enjoyed.

Mary Ann had her fill of rich chocolate for that night!