Turkey  is an amazing full of rich culture and history.  Our trip there was for the junior grand prix event in Istanbul.  The hotel accomodations were fantaastic and we were a 10 minute walk to a little mall which had a great place to eat typical turkish fare.  The pizza was more lke a tortilla that had a tomotao and onion spread and a huge bed of lettuce and lemon on the side.  It was delicious. 

On the way to the rink we drove by the sea of Mamar I believe and it was truly majestic.  Ships were everywhere and were in line to go through  the Bosphorous.  We went through a wall that was supposedly the original wall from like year 200 ad.  IT was incredible to see and within the walls was the rink.  It was brand new and I belive just finished when we got there, literally.  There were exposed outlets the first day.  The standsd were made of granite with little seats on them.  It isn't too often you see a rink with marble and granite everywhere. One funny experience we had was when we left the rink on the way to the team dinner.

Our bus we were in was a little higher than normal and we got stuck going out through the wall.  The bus driver instructed all the passengers to go to the back of the bus to weight it down.  The plan worked and we were able to get through the exit.   Even a bus full of Americans couldn't take that wall down.  Hah. 

The team dinner was in a little area between the rink and the blue mosque.  It consisted of about 20 restaurants that resembeled the French Quarter in New Orleans. Restaurant after restaurant serving similar items and all amazing.  The server brought out 5 different dishes before the main course ranging from veggies in olive oil to couscous to salad.  All amazing and delicious.  I had a sea bass that was served whole for my main entree and it was fantastic. 

The sites around Istanbul hold amazing value not only for their beauty and symbolism, but because of purely how long they have been around.  There are buildings dating all the way back from 200 AD and after.  More to come soon.