I'm mostly taking a lazy day today. Isn't that what you're supposed to do on New Years Day? Of course, I don't have the excuse of having partied last night. I did hear Istanbul's fireworks at midnight. I looked out my balcony, but couldn't see anything. I think if I had gone up to the roof terrace, I might have seen them in the other direction. You can see The Blue Mosque in the distance from the roof and I think the fireworks are done from there. But I was already in my pajamas and didn't want to get dressed to leave the room.
The main purpose of coming to Istanbul was to have a comfortable to adjust to the time difference before heading to Beirut. I had to fly through their airport, anyway and I love the Saruhan Hotel. It's in a great location and the people are so nice and friendly. It's my 3rd time here and it feels like coming home.
As for the time adjustment: the first night I was very tired and fell asleep at around 7:30 PM. I thought that would be fine since I hadn't gotten a real night's sleep on the plane. But I woke up again two hours later and about every hour after that. I took melatonin at 11:30 and made sure I kept the room very dark and didn't look at screens, but I'm not sure how well it worked. Last night I fell asleep at around 10 and woke up several times, but I think I slept from midnight till morning. Tomorrow I need to get up and be ready early. My airport pickup is at 8:20. I went downstairs to arrange it, but Farah told me it was already set up. I don't remember doing that at all, but I must have done it from the US by email when I booked the room. Breakfast is at 8, but he says I can go up at 7:45 if I want. I think the same may have happened last time. One thing that helped this adjustment is that I've finally gotten my ears under control when flying. I always used to have terrible trouble adjusting to the air pressure when landing. It would be difficult for me to think because my ears would feel blocked up for days. Now, I take a decongestant before getting on the plane and chew gum on take off, landing, and for a couple hours after landing. I force myself to chew a lot and it definitely helps.
This morning, I went to the ATM to get more money to pay my bill. I walked back to the same area I went to yesterday to buy the fruit and yogurt. It's amazing. I got so list yesterday. I walked around the same streets going past the same places over and over for more than an hour. Twice I asked people for directions, but they had very little English and would try to explain, but I never could get it. I knew I was always in my neighborhood. Finally, I looked down a street and saw the soccer court that's across the street from the hotel. This time I was careful to remember where I turned. The ATM and food store are only about 4 blocks from here. I could have done the whole walk in five minutes!
As for money, I got 800 TL at the airport on Wednesday and 400 more today. It's plenty. I'll have money left over. The hotel was 949 for 3 nights with breakfast, airport pickup and drop off and one bottle of water. Lunch yesterday was 100 TL (with the hot spiced wine). The ticket to Topkapi was 30. (the price goes up in 2016, but I don't know how much.)
Yesterday, I emailed Saifi Urban Gardens, where I'm staying in Beirut to ask if they have airport pickup. I gave my booking number and said I was arriving on 1/2. I forgot that only Americans write dates that way. They wrote back that my booking is for 2nd January, so I need to change the booking. I wrote back clarifying the date and time, but they never answered. Finally, I called them on the phone. They seemed to have the correct date, but thought I was coming at 1AM. I arrive at 1PM. I think we have it right now. We'll see tomorrow. Being able to just call people on the phone makes things much easier.
I just got lunch in a little restaurant in my neighborhood today. Yesterday's lunch was 100 TL. Today's was 15. It was just a little place. They had a heater, but no fireplace and no wine. Still a good lunch.
I had hot tea. They always say "Turkish tea?" But the tea always seems no different from home - just in a glass. Maybe they mean no milk. I will just have yogurt and fruit in my room for dinner - and I bought some baklava. There are several pastry shops on every street and they look so delicious.
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