I love the sun

Haha to all of you - it is 28 degrees, beautifully sunny with a light breeze so it's not too humid. That's right, I am in paradise and you're not. Sorry, had to get my gloat over with. Peggy and I are staying at Second Home Hostel in Istanbul and have made good use of our first morning in the city. We explored Sultahnamet, which is the older part of the city. We saw Hagia Sophia (1500 year old church converted to mosque converted to museum) which was stunning. Some really detailed frescoes and mosaics on the ceiling, 50 metres up. How did they do that in 500ad? A couple of the mosaics are of Jesus with emperors and leaders of the time, it reminded me of people who put up pictures of themselves with famous people. "This is that time I met that guy off Shortland Street in the supermarket and made him pose for a photo." Since I guess the only guy bigger than Constantine at the time was Jesus a detailed mosaic was the best alternative to a camera phone picture.

Then the Blue Mosque, oooh, where we had to cover our legs and shoulders but not heads. The Basilica Cistern, still the closest to a holy place I've been but it's just designed for water storage. The Hippodrome which has neither horses nor race course but some big pillars stolen from Egypt and erected in honour of whoever was emperor in 400ad. Because why build your own when you can steal something cool from someone else? That's always been my philosophy! (Disclaimer for future potential employers: this is a joke.)

Now we're escaping the heat of the day (Peggy has a low melting point) to update this, read some books and plan the next bit.

This afternoon we'll probably head to the Grand Bazaar or the Spice Bazaar and over to the Asian part of the city on the ferry.

Still no postcards but that's on the list of things to do.

Hope you're all healthy and happy. Or as happy as its possible to be when you're not in paradise ;)