Time to Play Tourist

It is really not my nature to play the typical tourist. I don't sign up for the annoying flocks of tour groups, I do not do cruises, I do not stay in the normal safe touristy places, I don't take annoying "Here's me at __" pictures (usually I catch myself thinking that I want to shove those people face first into the ground).

But today, just because my bearings are skewed and I wanted to soak in much of Istanbul quickly, I took one of those look-at-me-I'm-a-scared-Westerner orange double-decker sightseeing buses. I'm glad I did, I'm not sure I would've ever been able to locate cool things like the Byzantine city walls, erected by Theodosius II in the 5th century and stretching for several miles along the Sea of Marmara.

Of course I had to tour Hagia Sophia, once the third largest human construction on the planet (behind the Egyptian pyramids and the Great Wall of China), reconstituted in its present form by Emperor Justinian between 532 and 537. The central dome is absolutely breathtaking, bigger than a building really ought to be, supported by hemispherical concrete ribs -- a true architectural marvel. I'm not sure exactly what CAD software they were able to use way back when, but the wireframe alone must've been several GB of data and taken forever to render.

Of course, one of the world's most famous mosaics, only partly restored, peers down from one of the secondary domes. This is just about the bossest portrait of Jesus from the Dark Ages.

Unfortunately that may be all I've got in me for awhile. I acquired a nasty bug somewhere betwixt Antalya and Istanbul and that, coupled with the 105 degree heat, is grinding me down. Just like in the War of the Worlds, the one thing that ultimately destroys me, not the wild dogs of Romania, the crazy buses of Latvia or the roofies of Moscow, not the bad food of Siberia nor the mosquitos of Antalya. It is the common cold that has taken me down.

Hopefully tonight I'll feel better and get the chance to see some whirling dervishes or hang out with weirdos, the thing I do best when abroad. Or at home.