This was a fairy tale night. Jo and S. took us to an unbelieveable restaurant called the Banyan. It overlooks the Bosphorus. Our table was on the patio right next to the sea. We had nothing to block our view of the night lights. The bridge was almost overhead with its changing lights. The night couldn't have been more beautiful. We had a delicious meal...very oriental in presentation. I had orange beef with rice. Blaine had a chicken with noodles in a crust. I have never eaten in a more romantic or elegant setting. We truly felt like royalty. It was an enchanted evening.

After we walked around the area. There were all sorts of little shops and of course the mosque. People here come to life at 10PM. It is not uncommon to have dinner at 10 and then stay out till 3 or 4 in the morning. The streets were more crowded after we finished dinner at 9:30 than when we came.

A funny aside. We had our car vallet parked. (It's safer that way). On the wall of the garage there was a sign with an instrument that looked sort of like cross between a trumpet and bicycle horn with a red line across it. Jo said, "Why won't they let you play your trumpet in here?" Just a Jo. It meant no honking cars horns here.