Dancing Madness

Have any of you heard of Pina Bausch? 

If you haven't, you should. 

Go and look her up...NOW. 

She's amazing. 

And as more than a few journalists have put it, "Pina has done for dance what Shakespeare has done for English".

Which obviously means she's amazing. 

I heard this movie was coming out back in March, and I was upset to learn that it wasn't happening in the US. 

But I've been told by multiple websites that it will eventually be out this Fall, and in 3D. 

I.MUST.SEE.IT.

AND.SO.SHOULD.YOU.

Istanbul

Have I mentioned that Istanbul was amazing? 

I probably have, but I'm going to say it again to make a point of how amazing it was. 

ISTANBUL.WAS.AMAZING.

Okay...I can move on now... 

We were only in Istanbul for a little over a day, but we managed to get in almost ALL of the major sights, plus stay in the most beautiful hotel. 

Our hotel was the Pera Palace, and back in the day it was the last stop on the Orient Express.  This brought in a huge amount of celebrities and other amazing people.  It was also the first building in Istanbul to have electricity, the first building with running hot water in the bathrooms and it also had the first electric elevator (the first in Istanbul, the second in the world to the Eiffel Tower). 

The Pera Palace has stood through World War I, the Occupation of Istanbul, the Turkish War of Independence, the Founding of the Turkish Republic & World War II.  

It was a sight to be seen in and of itself. 

Oh, and the most famous people who slept in the rooms were Ernest Hemingway, Greta Garbo, Agatha Christie, King Edward VIII, Queen Elizabeth II, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Sarah Bernhardt, Alfred Hitchcock and many, many more.  

The sights we saw were also amazing.

We visited the Blue Mosque, which was completed in 1616, and has a colorful 260 windows to bring in the sunlight, and has blue Iznik tiles covering the walls. 

Second was St. Sophia, the Church of the Divine Wisdom and it was built during the reign of Emperor Justinian (AD 537) and remained the greatedst church in Christendom until the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.  Sultan Mehmet II ordered the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque.   All of the domes were covered in gold mosaics, which many are still there today. 

Topkapi Palace, which was the residence of the sultans for almost three centuries.  They had jewels and cloths belonging to the sultan's on display, which were unbelievable.  This is also the place where they have been reading the Koran for over 500 years without stopping.  As soon as one man's done, another takes over. 

The Underground Cistern is about 210 feet wide and 420 feet long, with a capacity of 80,00 meters of water.  They were able to salvage the beautiful columns that support the cistern, and two of the columns are carved with the head and hair of Medusa.  :)

And finally, we visited the Grand Bazaar!  Plenty of shopping was done here.

Sail Away

Here's a little glimpse of K&I sailing out of Istanbul. 

Please Note: This video contains cheese-tastic music, loud wind & shaky hands.  

Otherwise, feel free to give it a look - Istanbul is AMAZING.

Farm Crushing

OMG, Swoon...

I never thought I would swoon over a giant pig, but he looks so sweet and darling. 

My friend introduced me to this sweet blog about a couple farmers who move around from place to place, and it has created this urge in me to be a farmer! 

I don't think that will be happening anytime soon, but I can live through their sweet pictures and stories for now. 

Cappadocia Part 2

So, after the balloon ride and a little relaxation, we made our way to the underground city. 

Can you believe thousands of people could live underground at once, for months if not years? 

It's believed that people built these cities during the Bronze Age, but they were mainly used during the Byzantine period because of the invasions due to religious views. 

Cappadocia has over 40 underground cities, and only 6 of them are open for visitors. 

Can you imagine how eerie it would be to venture into one of the other cities? 

We then made our way to a town called Avanos, which is famous for it's hand painted pottery. 

We were told there was a rule many years ago that if you were a man, you couldn't get married unless you could make a perfect pot. 

Luckily, Kris already had lots of practice because they put him to the test! :)

It was wonderful, and they even me put on the silly pants and give it a go as well. 

Can you see the rabbit head?

We took a walk through some more amazing rock formations before heading back to the hotel relaxed for our last evening in Cappadocia.  Kris and I both agree that if we ever get the chance to, we would love to make it back here. 

Cappadocia Part 1

Getting here was hard...really hard.  

We spent a total of 22 hours in transit to arrive into Istanbul, then we hopped on another plane and headed to Eastern Anatolia.  All in all, we spent around 26 hours in transit before we landed at our final destination. 

The company I work with in Istanbul took amazing care of us.  They had a guide, driver and air conditioned minivan ready and waiting for us, then they took us on a short drive around before heading to our hotel.  

This was the first thing we saw, and needless to say...we were speechless.

The amazing landscape was formed over 3 million years ago by 2 volcano eruptions that created layers of ash mud and lava.  Weather has eroded the softer material and left the stronger material standing in curious rock formations or as locals refer to them, Fairy Chimney's. 

Then we finally made it to our hotel.  

And to get straight to the point - it was the most amazing hotel either of us have ever stayed in. 

And not just that, the wonderful woman I work with in Istanbul had surprised us with a rose-petal covered room and an amazing bottle of wine...among other things. 

And do you see that big pot in the second picture?  Yeah, that's over 1000 years old.  

As if it wasn't cool enough that our room was technically a cave.

We had a bunch of pottery in our room that was older than anything we have in the US. 

You know...just for decoration.  

With all of our excitement, we forgot to set an alarm for the next morning.

We had a hot air balloon ride, and we were supposed to be ready to leave the hotel by 4:30AM. 

That was okay, because we were woken up by the call to prayer. 

I don't know how either of us didn't think about this, but we were in a Muslim country and they call out to prayer 8 times a day.  

Even if it is 4:30 in the morning. 

It was quite enchanting, really.

Out hot air balloon ride was crazy awesome. 

The perfect way to start the first day of our trip. 

K might have been a little scared...note his hand in the first photo. :)

And they finished it with 4 bottles of champagne! 

At 7:30 in the morning!

That's our kind of finish to a balloon ride.