Saturday, January 23, 2010

A Day at the Cinema—Turkish Style

By Claire
What do you do when it's 1° and snowing outside?



We go to the movies!



We had heard good things about Avatar and spending time in a movie theatre for 2 hours and 42 minutes sounded perfect. We loved the movie--the special effects were spectacular even if the story was predictable. Talk about eye candy!

It was so easy to get to the theatre--at least it was after Ebru helped us find one that was showing Avatar in 3-D and was close enough and easy enough for us to find. The Istanbul metro and tram system is the best I've ever ridden. Clean, fast, and mostly easy. We got a little lost on the 3rd leg of the trip (tram to funicular to metro) but these foot prints helped. If only they had had these at the Customs Warehouse!



Helpful people steered us in the right direction and we made it all the way to this incredible shopping mall housing a megaplex of 14 movies. The best part was that each line of transport connected to the next and we didn't even have to go outside except for the walk to and from the hotel.

Avatar was in salon 11 and we were able to choose our seats beforehand. With time to spare, Chuck headed directly for a bakery with me at his side. It's amazing how many baked goods come with pistachios. This cookie looked like a work of art.



The mall was incredible; six stories of shops and entertainment including a bowling alley, a roller coaster, indoor amusement park,video game pavilion, restaurants serving wine and cocktails and a home improvement store, much like Home Depot.





The theatre was deluxe with really comfortable stadium seating and a beautiful, large screen. Fortunately, they screened it in English with Turkish subtitles. Coming out, Chuck saw a Turkish movie that looks like a version of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He wants to see it.



Walking home was a bit treacherous but we made it without mishap. We just hope our flight isn't canceled tomorrow.



Snowmen fall from heaven... unassembled. ~ Author Unknown

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