Strollling Across the Galata Bridge

A couple days ago I took a break from language school and typical studies and played “tour guide” to a father of an Iraqi baby with all kinds of heart and circulatory system problems that were operated on here in Turkey. So, I went and visited this new friend and was amazed at how well this nine month old boy was doing after such an intense surgery. He was even smiling responsively at me whenever I would smile big at him. His father had been seeing a lot of the hospital, but really wanted to see “Istanbul”- so, I volunteered to show him around, since I basically know the transportation and how to get around Istanbul. We started out by taking the free inter-hospital shuttle. That got us up to the richest street on the Asian side. We walked around a bit and stepped into a few of the shops. My new Iraqi friend was looking to buy something for his wife and son. A unique situation would happen in some of these shops when I would end up translating between the Turkish-speaking shopkeeper and the five-language speaking (including English, but excluding Turkish) Iraqi. We both didn’t care for the expensive neighborhood, so we headed towards the market at the Golden Horn via train, ferry, and a nice stroll across the Galata Bridge. By the way, when we were on the ferry, we saw dolphins. It was a very nice day sharing the sights of Istanbul.