Turkey Day one

After landing late at night the night before, our next day started early and was packed full of the delights of Istanbul. The first stop we made was to the famous Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque is the only mosque built with six minarets. It is known as the Blue Mosque because of the glazed tiles decorating its interior.

Blue Mosque



Topkapi Palace

Mehmet II constructed Topkapi Palace atop the Byzantine acropolis 1500AD. The palace was the residency of the Sultan, his harem and all his wives. Through the gates led to a nice park where you went to go to the museum. There were quite a few dogs and cats around the park, there were some puppies playing in the park it was very cute!!!



Inside the museum - the minbar

Inside Aya Sofya museum

Picture from inside the Aya Sofya.

Next stop was the underground cistern, it was very eery down there!!

Underground cistern

Underground cistern

Underground cistern

The weeping column - this is the only column in the cistern that has water running down it



Looking into one of the entrances to the Grand bazaar. Inside the bazaar are hundreds of shops selling carpets, ceramics, jewellery and a lot more!

This concluded our day and we were tired from absorbing all the information and navigating our way around the extremely busy streets of Istanbul.

Lion king

We were told this is another must see theatre show and it is a movie we remember watching as little ones. The costumes and props were fantastic and it is definitely a must see.

Outside the theatre

Wicked

We went to the theatre show Wicked. This is the untold story of the witches of Oz and how the Wicked witch of the west became wicked. We had to see this before our night at Wizard of Oz. It was a wicked night out.....

Outside the theatre

Colchester

Trying to make the most of our English Hertitage cards, we headed to Colchester where we saw the St John's Abbey Gate and went to the site where the story of Humpty Dumpty was believed to have started.

Colchester castle museum

Me walking around the park at the castle museum

Humpty Dumpty was believed to be a large cannon!  It was used during the English Civil War in the Siege of Colchester. In 1648 the town of Colchester was a walled town with a castle and several churches and was protected by the city wall. Standing immediately adjacent the city wall, was St Mary's Church. A huge cannon, colloquially called Humpty Dumpty, was strategically placed on the wall next to St Mary's Church.

St Mary's church



St John's abbey gate



Just call me the squirrel whisperer :)

Day out at Tate modern

We headed to the Tate modern museum to have a look around.  It was interesting to see the art there, including Ai Weiwei exhibition of 100 million sunflower seeds. The seeds were recreated from ceramic and hand painted to look like sunflower seeds.

Walking over bridge with Tate modern in background

Side veiw of the bridge

The sunflower seeds

A cool looking street performer (he had no head!!)

Priscilla

Paul and I went to see Priscilla tonight as it was on our list of shows to see. It was very funny and we had a good night. There was a special guest in the show, he plays Alf on Home and Away so it was very cool to see him in it.

Palace theatre

Oxford

We made our way to Oxford by train which took around an hour. Unfortunately the weather wasnt that great however we still had a nosey around. We hadn't eaten breakfast so went for the traditional english breakfast at a pub, it was delicious! From there we walked through Oxford, saw some of the sights including the Bodleian library which is being done up, Christ Church College, Bridge of Sighs and more.

Paul standing on the bridge as you enter Oxford (well from where we entered Oxford)

Saxon Tower dating from 1040 and Oxford's oldest building

Our hearty breakfast which set us up for the day!

Street performers doing a mix of dancing

One of the colleges - unfortunately I can not remember which one but it is a nice picture

And again

Bridge of Sighs - It is said to be a replica of the bridge in Venice

Nice cafe where we had tea and scones.. mmmmhhhmmm