Thursday: the Blue Mosque at night

Thursday was a busy day, meetings-wise.  We met with Hewlett-Packard in the morning, and then had a meeting at the US Consulate in the afternoon.  Pictures were not allowed at the Consulate, so the day was pretty picture-less for me. 

A quick snapshot as we drove back.  Whenever there was slow traffic, we saw people walk out into the streets, selling anything from bread to water to chain saws.

That night, Wil and I went out for a photowalk on the streets of Istanbul at night.  We picked a place to have dinner, and lo and behold, Ben and Raminder were also eating there!  Small world, that Istanbul.  I also decided to try a chicken kabob again, and bleh.  No more chicken kabobs for me!  Anyway, some pics from our photowalk:

We walked back to the Blue Mosque, which was still open but far, far less crowded than it was the day.  The inside part of the plaza -- not the mosque itself, but the outdoor plaza -- looked so amazingly different than it did during the day that it was just stunning.  I was in awe.  The plaza was lit with soft blue and yellow lights, the birds flying overhead were illuminated by all the lights below, and it was so quiet and serene. 

Inside the mosque:

It was funny.  When we were in the outdoor plaza minutes before, I realized that I could tell which camera shutter snapping was Wil's.  So even if I was busy taking pics, I could tell exactly where Wil was by the sound of his camera. (Like sonar!  Sort of.)

Now, in the mosque, I was standing there taking pics, and saw this figure sitting on the ground, intently taking pics.  I went into sneaky mode, to try and take a pic of him, and when I got around to his left, I saw it was actually Wil!  So much for my sonar.

This gentleman carried around Turkish tea with him, and sold it to cab drivers who were waiting for passengers: