Istanbul for the weekend

We had two days off from school this past week, so Jenna and went to Istanbul with our new guidance counselor, Rona. Neither Jenna nor Rona had been to Istanbul, so it was a great opportunity for them to see the city. I'm posting the pictures on my photobucket site.


I never tire of seeing the Hagia Sophia. It is one of my favorite buildings in the whole world. (It's behind me in this picture.) We meet up with some friends on Friday and went to the Suleiman Mosque, built by Sinan, the greatest Ottoman architect.

I'll be taking the 10th - 12th grade to Istanbul for a field trip in April. I'm feeling brave taking 40 high schoolers to a city of 15 million! The majority of my students have never been to Istanbul. And how can a I teach about the Byzantine Empire and not take my students to the best example of Byzantine architecture since it is only 5 hours away?

The weather is cool here. Thursday was warm in Istanbul, but it turned really cold on Friday and Saturday. It's in the 30s and 40s during the day, but no snow. We are very low on precipitation, which will make for a very dry summer. Life is busy. Not sure if it ever slows down! I wonder how I ever worked two jobs in America!