Again, we called Havas in the morning to ask about our bags. We were told the driver came to our door the night before, but no one was home. We clarified that four people were home after nine o’clock, plus two dogs, both of which bark (a lot) at strangers. They told us our bags were on their way. We asked how many bags. We were told two. We were told to wait until 1 or maybe 2 for them to be delivered.
Only one arrived.
Unfortunately, it was mine. Andrew was going on day five in the same clothes. When Andrew called back (again) about his bag, he was told his missing bag was not on file. He was holding his copy of the missing bag report. He was told to email it to them. Going a bit stir-crazy, we decided to get out and make the most of our third day in Istanbul. We headed to Taksim Square and walked down the infamous Istiklal Street.
Juliet is vegan. Daniel is on his way to being vegan. I gushed over how sweet Daniel was to give up cheese for Juliet.
“Would you give up cheese for me?” I asked Andrew.
“No! You wouldn’t give it up for me. You like cheese MORE than me!” Andrew yelled back from the kitchen to me and Daniel sitting in the living room. Daniel laughed, looking at me for a reaction. I laughed, shaking my head that he was right.
On Istiklal, we passed a chain take-away shop. It had cheese and tomato sandwiches the size of my face. We got one to share and walked down Istiklal nibbling on our first taste of cheese since touching down in Europe. I wandered in some shops to lust after pretty dresses that would never in a million years stay wrinkle free in my backpack and Andrew grabbed a coffee that was big enough for his liking.
“So this is the Myeongdong (in Seoul) of Istanbul…” Andrew declared as we walked down the super busy main street full of stores and sidewalks full of vendors. I agreed and then when we rolled up to a church in the middle of it, it all felt vaguely familiar even though it was half a world away from what we’re used to in South Korea.
We people watched outside of the church, and then we made our way back towards Taksim. We wandered through the flower vendors briefly before heading down into the metro, making our way “home” to Juliet and Daniel’s place. That night, Juliet and Daniel had invited some friends over for dinner. Daniel is an expert at making falafel (from scratch!) and Juliet is an expert at pouring wine. It was a lovely evening albeit a bit of a blurry one.