No posts in some time, as I have been fairly busy over the past several days. The last of the days we spent in Rome were very enjoyable, and I feel as though the knowledge of how soon we would be leaving made me redouble my efforts to really enjoy all that the city had to offer. My last day in particular had a bittersweet tone. After class in the morning, during which we had the chance to see the absolutely beautiful church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, which was a lovely, airy and light-feeling space for all its decadent splendor and small size. We also heard the very last of the Art History presentations, which was given by Molly on the topic of Rome's street shrines, small portraits of the Virgin Mary that are found on what seems like just about every street corner in Rome.

After class I took a leisurely and winding walk over to the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, which was I think one of my favorite sites from this entire trip. I took pictures to the best of my camera's rather limited abilities, and sat for some time in a pew absorbing the atmosphere in this special place and contemplating the beautiful gilded murals around the main altar. Afterwords I stopped into a couple of small shops on the way back to buy some gifts.

The rest of the day was taken up with the Trevi Fountain and more gift shopping, followed by an excellent, several-course group dinner during which we all shared our favorite memories and insights from the trip so far. Food-wise, it was paralleled only by the dinner some of the guys had the night before at a very nice (and inexpensive) restaurant, where I ate a platter of delicious mussels sauteed with tomatoes in some kind of spicy broth, and a plate of veal cutlets in a white wine sauce with fresh tomatoes and arugula.

Istanbul has been truly amazing so far. I love the feel of the place, and the sheer scale of the city and the sight of historic sites mingled in with modern apartment buildings is appealing somehow, and in a way overwhelming at the same time.

We had an absolutely amazing group dinner last night at a local restaurant, during which course upon course of excellent meats, vegetables, breads and sauces was brought in one after another, followed in my case by my first cup of genuine turkish coffee, which was delicious.

We had the opportunity to visit the grand bazaar today, and I had a wonderful time just walking around and seeing all the new and interesting sights, as well as actually buying stuff. I am most looking forward to visiting all the mosques, in addition to the byzantine cistern, which is also on our schedule for tomorrow. Tonight we had burgers at a spot right on the Bosporus, which was rather pricey but which offered truly outstanding service and food - I was not in any way disappointed.