Merhaba from Istanbul!!
Does anyone know how to start a blog? We have writer's block and we have only written one post!

We arrived safe & sound from London on the 24th. We had a very eventful drive from the airport to our hotel. I will never again complain about Sydney drivers after witnessing how people drive in Turkey. I have never before seen buses get in such tight streets and spots. It was a little hair raising. Aside from the crazy driving, Istanbul is a beautiful city. It is so busy and full of life. We are staying in the middle of old town, right around the corner from the Blue Mosque. Around here it is almost a home away from home, there are so many Aussies and Kiwis around (most of them seem to be Fanatics & Beige Brigade). We have heard so much John Farnham, Men at Work, Crowded House and John Williamson being played it's easy to forget where we are. Walking the streets of Istanbul is a very interesting experience. Sometimes I was wondering what all the women do, it is very male orientated. We have never had so many people tell us they love us in one day! And all just to sell us carpet. Although we did get some free tea out of it, which makes it all worth it!

The second day we were here we had an early wake up call to head off to Gallipoli. Up at 5am, a little brekkie than on the road. All up it took about 6 hours on the bus to get there. Arrived at Anzac Cove at about 1.30pm. Somehow our bus (& 4 others) got through a security check point without getting stopped. This caused a fair bit of confusion as no one was sure how we got as far as we did. And once we were there, they weren't entirely sure what to do with us. Eventually that got sorted and we got to go. It's hard to sum up the whole experience of Gallipoli in one paragraph. Needless to say, I think it was very different than what we all expected. It's actually a pretty stunning part of the world. We had no idea how beautiful the whole area is. And it really wasn't as cold as everyone makes it out to be. There was about 7500 people there all up. Everyone was very well behaved, thanks to the ban on alcohol (a very good idea, I think). We all managed to get a little bit of sleep through the night. Katherine got a little more than most, but she was sick so she needed it! After the dawn service, we trekked up to Lone Pine for the Aussie service. It's about 2kms up the hills. Than on to Chanouk Bair for the Kiwi service, another 3.3kms. So lots of walking and not much sleep makes for a whole lot of very tired people! We did run into a little bit of luck on the way back down though. Somehow our bus was about the 10th to arrive to pick us up. Someone said there was 700 buses there, so glad our bus wasn't number 700! After we got picked up, it was off back to Istanbul for a well earned sleep.

After Gallipoli, we have spent another 3 days here in Istanbul. We've been doing all the touristy things. Yesterday we went to the Blue Mosque, as well as the Grand Bazaar and Spice Markets. I have to say that the Grand Bazaar does put Paddies Markets to shame! I read that something like 30 000 people work in there. It would be very, very easy to get lost and wander around in there all day. We did a spot of shopping, bartering with the best of them. Today's highlight involved going to a Turkish Bath. Let's just say that it was fun but if you worry about being nude, it's not the place for you.... We all felt very clean afterwards though!

So we are off to St Petersburg tomorrow. Istanbul has been great but looking forward to the next stage of the adventure now. Now that writer's block has hopefully been broken, we will keep you up dated.

Two Kats and a Nat