We made it to Istanbul! Our wonderful guide, Ata (pronounced At-ha, as in the beginning of Ataturk) picked us up from the airport, gave us a brief intro to Istanbul (nee Constantinople, nee Byzantium) and got us settled in our hotel. And wow, what a hotel! The seven hills hotel is a lovely old house nestled in a back street next to the Four Seasons. Though our rooms are lovely (mine even has a view of the water), the highlight has to be the roof terrace. When you go up the stairs to the left you see the Bosporus straight, then you look ahead and see an uninterrupted view of the Blue Mosque, then you turn around and see Hagia Sophia. My neck is getting tired from craning around trying to see everything at once (I know, life is rough).
Once we unpacked, we set off to explore a little. We found a great little bazaar, built into old royal guard stables and discovered our first carpet shop at the end. The man invited us in, promising to show me more pursed like the one in the window, and suddenly we were in the middle of a carpet show.
Out of nowhere, what felt like the entire male side of the family had materialized to help hurl carpets about and bring tea. "Mr. Sultan (aka my dad), please, you and sultan wife (aka Mom) sit, sit. You are like Charlie and his angels (aka us three girls)". We all sit as carpets whip open and are spun around to show us how drastically different the colors look from different angles "Mr. Sultan, sultan wife, look, two different carpets for the price of one! And, a flying carpet". At this point they had brought us some hot apple tea. Apple tea is essentially like instant apple cider on steroids, or as Natalie said, a liquid jolly rancher. After seeing what felt like the entire shop, we thanked them and continued browsing, promising to return.
We meandered up some small street and Natalie gets sucked into a purse shop, which so happens to be the entrance to a carpet house (shop would be unfair since it extended up another story, and down to the basement). While we browsed purses, sultan and sultan wife got another carpet demo. "Mr. Sultan, sultan wife, look, two carpets for price of one!" Anyone else sensing a theme? Once again, we extracted ourselves with thanks and praises and promises to return. Then we stumbled upon the hippodrome, and, surprise, another carpet shop! This time we were lured in by a scarfed lady demonstrating silk carpet making. She invited us to sit next to her and try it. 
She demonstrated so quickly it took me a few tries to get it right, much to her amusement. Tori and Nat were much quicker than I was (I like to think it was because they got to watch me struggle first). I honestly have NO idea how they know which strand to string which colored knot onto. And the man's answer of "well she sees the pattern, see the cartoon?" really did not clear it up for me.
She demonstrated so quickly it took me a few tries to get it right, much to her amusement. Tori and Nat were much quicker than I was (I like to think it was because they got to watch me struggle first). I honestly have NO idea how they know which strand to string which colored knot onto. And the man's answer of "well she sees the pattern, see the cartoon?" really did not clear it up for me. 
So we went in the shop to see her completed carpet, and suddenly were once again receiving scalding hot apple tea. Did I mention it was muggy and quite warm (especially for these Oregonians), and that all we wanted was an ice cold drink? None the less, Charlie (aka Sultan) and sultan wife and the angels were getting another carpet demonstration.
Skip to today, after we had seen the cistern and palace while waiting for midday worship to be done to go see the Blue Mosque, our guide took us to a whole different breed of carpet shops. This shop was in a old trading post, manned by the same family that had been trading carpets hundreds of years and many generations ago. This time we got a quick lesson/show-and-tell background in Turkish carpets. After getting apple tea (cold this time, already showing you the caliber of this establishment) and turkish coffee, we were shown a progression of styles, ranging from primitive mountain shag, to embroidered tribal designs, to Ottoman palace designs, to haram designs.
Carpet after carpet was unfurled and our knowledge of Turkish carpets grew. We walked on them, touched them, asked a million questions. One of my
questions was about a very rough geometric carpet he had not pulled out. He laughed when I asked the price and said "that carpet is peanuts compared to these others!", and pulled one out to show me. After much deliberation, Mom and Dad came away with a beautiful, old carpet, and I came away with a peanut rug. Not bad for a day's work.
Now I absolutely have to go to sleep (my sleep was interrupted, as my mom warned me it would be if I left my window open, by the first call to prayer), but someone seems to be busily pounding away on a construction project next door...
Katie
