Flashback to Friday night

I apologize in advance for any formatting issues with this portion of the blog. Both Barbara and I seem to be experiencing problems in aligning photographs in a reasonable order. In any case, last Friday night, our friend Aysem (who is a native of the city) invited us to accompany her to another portion of Istanbul that's referred to as Taksim. Up to that point, we'd really only explored the most historical part of the city. Riding the Metro to the central square of Taksim, we began our walk along an amazingly busy street, the likes and energy of which I don't recall ever having experienced previously in any location. The street was boisterous, full of life and very nearly packed with amazingly cheerful people for as far as the eye could see. There were thousands and thousands of people taking part in what we understand to be more or less a regular social event during each evening...and even more particularly weekend evenings. I've seen some reasonably serious social scenes....but never anything on the scale of what we experienced in Taksim. You'll find pictures above and to the right....and there's more even further below.

Along the way, we also encountered a peaceful demonstration which was already in process. We don't really have enough knowledge to talk about this....but it seemed an interesting encounter as we continued to acquaint ourselves with Istanbul.

After making our way to and being seated at the restaurant Aysem had selected, we were joined by her friend Pinar. Both Aysem (seen to the right) and Pinar (to the left) can be seen in the following photograph. Even after dining and then stopping later for dessert, the streets still remained almost every bit as packed and lively as before, despite the fact that it was nearing midnight as we made our way back to the hotel. I remain dumbfounded at the life and energy Istanbul has!