Eggplants and Dervishes.

Well its 4:40 am and I just heard the first call to prayer coming from the Blue Mosque and guess what...I'm up and wide awake. Jess is in a coma and it looks like there is a sleeping pill missing, hmmmm. We have things to do and places to see! Maybe the sound of me typing will wake him.

I'm awake (this is Jess). I'll write my comments in red.

Yesterday we had our cooking class and it was great, much more hands on than our class in Italy last year. There were 10 of us in the class and even one girl from Saskatchewan who Jess immediately bonded with , of course. We cooked for just over 2 hours then sat down to eat the 5 courses we had prepared. The lady who runs the course is from Holland was trained at Le Cordon Bleu in France, worked at the St. Regis in New York, helped open the Four Seasons George V in Paris (probably the nicest hotel in Paris) and then ran a hotel here in Istanbul for 11 years and now just runs the cooking school. My favorite dish was the pan fried (of course) zuchini pancakes and the eggplant stuffed with tomatoes and onions....actually it was all really tasty... even the lamb in grape leaves.
I'm pretty sure, in a former life, the lady ran an all girls school or something. She didn't mess around. We were at a table with a mother and son, all on 'tomato duty.' She walked up to the mom and sternly said "What are you doing? These are huge." She then went on to loudly call out that she needed a volunteer to come and fix these tomatoes." The mom just sat there stunned. It was hilarious in that 'It's funny cause it isn't me' kind of way.

Me mixing the lamb, tomatoes and onions with my bare hands. My hands still smell.

After all that cooking, eating tonnes of food and wine to go with it we went back to the room to crash for a couple of hours. I always feel guilty when we waste time relaxing in the room but with the heat outside it almost makes sense to venture back out in the evening. It is amazing how quickly it cools down once the sun goes down and there is always a nice breeze off the sea.
Notice how he describes taking a nap as 'wasting time.' Do you see what I have to work with people. Never ending.

In the evening we went to watch the Whirling Dervishes (as seen in Madonna's Bedtime Stories video *thank you Patrick*, and on The Amazing Race *do you remember that mom?*). Those suckers whirled non-stop for over half an hour. (Boooooooooorrrrrrrriiiiiinnnnngggggg) I kept waiting for one of them to put on the brakes bend over and hurl. To be honest there is not much to it but just whirling and after 5 minutes and 20 photos we were ready to slip out (but didn't). Nope, we sure didn't. We sat there and listened to the *lovely* traditional music which was about 75% of the show. Traditional TURKISH music. Cymbals, warbling voices, glorified recorders. It was wonderful... cough, cough. I'm SO BUMMED we forgot to buy their C.D. on the way out.

Today we plan on taking the ferry up the Bosphorus Strait that separates Europe and Asia and then hanging out in the new district which is supposed to have tonnes of funky shop and restaurants. Who knows we may even try to squeeze that Turkish Bath in yet. (He means WILL be squeezing in a Turkish Bath).

Tomorrow we move to the Four Seasons on the Bosphorus which just opened one month ago. The hotel looks amazing as it is perched right on the ocean with an infinity pool and a gorgeous outdoor terrace. I hope it lives up to expectations. Apparently we are supposed to relax while we there (hi Tracy). Ya... Here's my opportunity to relax. I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to do that, walking around with my rolls cinched into the ridiculous bathing suit I bought (only one I could find the day before we left... purple horizontal stripes) but I'm certainly going to give it a go.