An air show at the Istanbul airport extended our 2 hour flight an extra 40 minutes, but none of us seemed to care as we were passed out most of the flight (see Day 1). Upon arrival, we were unable to locate our party scheduled to deliver us to our hotel; however, we asked a kind stranger for help contacting our hotel, and the problem was mitigated quickly. It was a beautiful drive into town (~30 min). The highway was well manicured. We passed some sort of military base, followed by a beautiful fountain round-a-bout. Then we drove most of the rest of the way east with the Sea of Marmara on our right (Mediterranean side) littered with shipping vessels, and some sort of old city wall on our left. Both sides of the road were littered w/ parks and walkways.
Hotel
Our hotel is really nice. It is on the small side (tiny elevators & rooms), but it is very clean, friendly, and full of ammenenties. Some included free bottled water when we arrived, free high speed wireless access (17mpbs down), and a fancy pool Complimentary breakfast included. And there is a fancy roof top terrace restaurant with great views! Reservations required w/ fancy meals in the $12-$20 USD price range. Not bad. We'll definitely have to eat up there at least once.
I decided that I would try to build a panarama shot from stills rather than make another spinning video like I did on Lake Zurich, but before I could figure out how, Google+ already had already identified the similar photos and built it for me... nice
Dinner
We strolled down the main strip, and it was full of eateries. We sat down for a meal of kababs and wraps. They were quite tasty! My orange fanta tasted quite a bit different than what I'm used to... and it was yellow! They also brought us out bread, sauces, and teas that we didn't order... then they charged us for them on the check. Seems shady to me, but they weren't too expensive and they tasted good, so I could deal.
Crash Early and Crash Hard
After dinner, we wandered the main strip/shops, then headed back to the hotel & passed out early (10:30pm) to prep for our next day of adventures. Istanbul is definitely much noisier than Zurich in general, at least from what we have seen so far. Music can be heard from our hotel room, and the street goers are far less quiet & reserved.
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