Istanbul

We arrived in Istanbul around 2 am and I finally made it to bed when call to prayer began at 5am.  We had to be up at 8:30 am and I promised myself I wouldn't take a nap today. We started the day with 3 speakers who talked to us about the state of freedom of speech in Turkey.  They are a pretty modern society by the Middle East standards, but they have the most Journalists in prison of any country, right around 95.  They talked about the importance of freedom of speech to keep the government honest and much more transparent.  She said the fear that Journalist have felt has caused them to be self restricting and that is bad.
When a girl asked what the US was doing or could do to help, the speaker stated that we needed to help ourselves first. I loved it.  It was a fresh perspective.  It definitely made me think twice.  Do we really have freedom of speech? Or are we self restricting? What do you think?

The city is amazing and I love seeing all the Turkish flags hung from every building.  It was Youth Day today, so the city was decorated in flags.  We went to the Spice Market and Grand Bizarre, but the guides were so nervous to lose us that we didn't really get to enjoy it. I got some amazing pictures and had a wonderful day in the end.