Various Short Stories from Istanbul

Cab Drive to Galata Tower:
On the day of excursions (Thursday) we went to Taksim Square- a shopping area. After the hour long walk to the square (a trip in which we made friends with many, many stairs), we decided to go to Galata tower, an old tower that provide a panoramic view of Istanbul. We decided to catch a cab. Despite being numerous no smoking signs, the cab driver brings out a box of cigarettes and offers one to Alex (who declined). The cab driver decides to smoke the entire trip. He dropped us off at the beginning of a street which was still a five-minute walk to the tower itself. The 5-minute drive cost about 32 lira while was a ripoff as the drive back only cost us 7 lira. The view from the tower was great and many pictures were taken.

End of MTT Tournament:
None of our teams broke (but we still did better than in the 1st tournament). The standards were higher as there were no octo-finals, team had to break into quarterfinals. My team Per Aspera Ad Astra was 3-2 (in terms of wins) and 8-7 (in terms of judges who voted for us). The 5th round was closed and I do not know whether we won or lost.

Maiden's Tower:
Today we went to Maiden's Tower- famous for being in the James Bond film: The World is not Enough. It is not as large as the movie depicted and looks nothing like it on the inside. The tower is mainly a restaurant and has a panoramic view atop the tower. The boat we took to the tower was small and was rocked and tossed about by the Bosporus on the journey.