Ahhh, a Sunday in Istanbul. VERY different from a Sunday in America. No one is heading off to church, not even me :( I haven't even SEEN a Christian church nearby. 99% of Turkey is Muslim and their holy day is Friday, so today is just like any other day of the week in this city. This was especially clear to me when we had our second class today. I'm thinking, "class on a Sunday? That's strange!" but we will actually be having our classes with Professor Legler (the St. Olaf prof leading our trip) on Sundays most of the time. Anyway, we had class on the roof of our hotel, sitting on pillows and discussing the book we've read, "Behind the Beautiful Forevers." It talks about life in an Indian slum (and it's non-fiction; a woman actually lived there for 4 years just to chronicle the lives of the people) and it's a great read. I'd totally recommend it. After our two hour class we all headed out to get lunch and then went to the Basilica Cistern, which is one of the most popular sight seeing expeditions in this part of Istanbul. Like everything else, it was only a 10 minute walk from our hotel. The cistern is a gigantic underwater reservoir that was built by a Byzantine emperor in 532 and held 80,000 cubic meters of water that were used in the Byzantine palace and close buildings. There were 20 km of aqueducts built with it too that delivered water to it from another reservoir near the Black Sea. This place was forgotten for a while after it closed and then was rediscovered in the 1500s and opened to the public. It was truly magnificent. You walk underground and are immediately in awe of the towering hodge podge of pillars that were taken from ruins of other buildings when it was built. These pillars hold up domed ceilings high above your head, and you realize you're walking in the spot that used to be filled to the top with water. There is still water in the bottom and carp swimming around creepily. In the back of this immense space there are two columns that are famous for the Medusa heads that are on the bottom, and I took some pictures of those. After this fun tour we went to buy some pants and then to the spice bazaar, which is an overwhelming beehive that smells great. Mounds of spices and teas, as well as dried fruits, were everywhere you looked! After the spice bazaar a friend and I went across the street to a dock with restaurants and ate seafood by the Sea of Marmara. On the roof above us, people were fishing, so we'd see a wriggling fish being reeled in right next to us every once in a while. It was beautiful over there. Afterward, we went out with some friends and then all headed back for an early turn in. Only one more night in Istanbul, and then off to Egypt!