so many stupid salesmen

Since we were fortunate enough not to have the world end, today we explored the Taksim neighborhood and main street, which felt a lot like any other major European street--lots of retail, Christmas decorations, many people, etc. 

although it did have some slightly less typical sites like this church (not a mosque--very rare)

and lots of Turkish fast food, which is cheap and super unhealthy of course, but it's not American fast food so we are willing to eat it!

Then we briefly visited a fish market, where one seller told Ali, "Hi, Lady Gaga!" Also someone else earlier today asked her if she was from Japan... The market was impressive though, because all these people (including the fisherman especially) spend all day, every day, outside working. The culture seems like an extremely hard-working one; most restaurants have a person standing outside to talk to passers-by and invite them in and they're outside in the literally freezing weather.

While I have lots of respect for that, I HATE it because I don't want to be rude but I don't want to go in your restaurant, I don't want to tell you where I'm from, and I don't want you to flirt with me! I very much look forward to coming home and blending in. I really do think that most of the people here wish us well and are genuinely excited to share their culture (and, let's be real, get some of our money) but it's so overwhelming. Not a fan.

 Anyway, we crossed a bridge and had some nice views.

This is an underpass under a major road and apparently is also a popular shopping destination. #clever.

We finally found the spice market! Really cool, and good for clearing my sinuses since I've actually been rather sick for the last few days... I'm sure I've blown my nose at least 100 times in the last 36 hours and gone through plenty of cough drops in the two preceding days...

These street vendors are everywhere and they sell roasted chestnuts, which were my favorite food in Spain! I bought some today and they were much easier to open than the ones in Spain, but not nearly as good. Guess I need to go back!

The best part of the day (for me, at least) was going up this tower because it afforded some beautiful views of the city, which still has lots of snow on the ground, although luckily not on the streets! I think this city would be absolutely gorgeous in the summer because I'm sure the Bosphorus (the straight of water) looks really blue; here, it's not as grey as the sea, which I could see from the other side (well, kind of, since it did blend in with the sky...)