Call to Turkey, Day 01

Just as a heads up, this blog will be used for personal stories as well as logging exploratory research observations. Feel free to read both, either, or neither :) Also, I'm not one for fluff so here's the basics of today:

05.16.2011 – (Fatih) Istanbul, Turkey

Personal
- Dwight Howard at LAX
- Very hospitable on airplane; gave kids a bag with coloring book, gave adults mini bags with toothbrushes and socks
-  Ryan was bit in the passport line by a 5-year-old
- Byzantium citadel on way back from airport, city built around & within; ruins blend with architecture
-    Hotel Arcadia Istanbul
-   ***Candle-lit dinner on roof of hotel overlooking Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Bosporus Strait, Greek Isles and Asia from the European side of the Marmara Sea
-  Grand Bazaar – shop owners recognized my Texas-style belt, has store in the Heights as well

Security, Religion, Identity and Democratic Society
- Limited English spoken on flight; assimilated Turkish dialect
- Call to Prayer five times a day, played over speaker-phones throughout city
-   Religious attire in public – mixed
-  Eye contact + Smile = invitation for pursuit
-  Hand gun on civilian - what are the gun control laws in Turkey? concealed handgun licenses?
- CHP (Republican People's Party; center-left Kemalists) campaign with flags zigzagging across streets