A few more photos...

There are a lot of pedestrian underpasses in Istanbul to allow people to cross the busiest streets. Being the commercial freakland that this is, all of these underpasses become shopping centers of a sort. Also, Istanbul has a sort of shop genre ghetto set up - Mark and I live in the pharmacy/lighting fixture district, meaning that almost every shop sells either drugs or lights. The underpasses are the same way. The one in Karakoy that I go through on the way to the ferry every morning on my commute is the electronics/gun underpass. That's right, guns. Now, I have heard all sorts of conflicting reports as to whether these are real guns or just air guns, but there are certainly a lot of them. And I can't imagine the market for airguns would be strong enough to support such a supply. A little bit scary...




Speaking of scary, I went with Martin and Michelle to a place called Miniaturk. All the monuments of Turkey...in miniature. It's supposed to be a pseudo-dignified tourist attraction, even a sort-of museum, but really it's just feels like a wildly intricate putt-putt course. Very high rank on the scale of glorious ironic entertainment.

The great thing was that they also had this giant chess set. I'd say that, according to the scale of the rest of the place, the king is representatively 200 feet tall. Oh, and that's Michelle, playing with her pawn.

Me, Galata, and Michelle.
There is also the Victory Museum, a sort of panoramic display of 10-inch people comprising the Turkish military kicking ass and taking names to protect the wholesome Anatolian villagers on the other side of the room. This exhibit is complete with the sound effects of explosions and artillary fire, though there are no voices, unfortunately.
Miniaturk also includes some relics of what they call "Ottoman History", including the Dome on the Mount in Jeuruselam. What the Turks won't try to take credit for...

Here I am conquering Istanbul's city walls.

There is a park in Taksim. It's not a beautiful park and it's not very big, but it's alright, and it has benches and a playground and a fountain (and plenty of litter). The highlight? Some of the benches, like a good many benches around the major commercial districts of the city, look like books. Famous authors on the back/outside cover, and you sit on an open page and lean back against the text of their most famous work. This is one thing I can really love about Istanbul.