Travel Tuesday: Istanbul

Illuminated Interior of the Blue Mosque

I know I mentioned Forum-Nexus in the first Travel Tuesday post I made…and now I shall mention it again.  While travelling around on my study abroad trip to many different cities, we completed our journey in one that I had 1) never been to, and 2) never thought I would ever visit: Istanbul.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, though is not the capital (that would be Ankara).  It is huge and beautiful, and is probably the most astonishing city I have ever visited; I really did not anticipate that it would be the way it was.  This is what I took from Istanbul:  

Travel Tuesday: Paris

La Tour Eiffel

I’ve travelled quite a bit in my lifetime.  Most of this is due to my competitive skating career, which has taken me literally to the other side of the world (Japan, China, Taipei), though I have also travelled quite a bit for fun as well.  Therefore, I’m going to try to introduce a weekly posting about a different city I have visited and will call it ‘Travel Tuesday!’

So let’s start with Paris, France!

Paris is known as “the City of Light,” or “La Ville-Lumière” for those of you who speak French.   And it truly is absolutely full of lights!  The most striking beacon of light in the entire city, though, is (you guessed it) the Eiffel Tower.

I highly recommend visiting the Eiffel Tower if it’s your first time to Paris.  This structure is absolutely incredible, though I have to admit that my first thought upon seeing it was “Why did they ruin such an architecturally and historically gorgeous city with such a huge metal stack of bars?”  

Serenity

Lamplight Reflected

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

This quote is one that I’d forgotten about until a close friend reminded me of it just yesterday.  Which is slightly ridiculous to me, because the journal in which I do all of my personal writing and jotting-down-of-thoughts has this prayer written on the back of it!  Apparently I don’t read what’s in front of me sometimes.

This prayer, widely known as the Serenity Prayer, is one that is speaking to me very loudly right now.  I mean, it’s practically screaming at me: