I've added some photo's from the inside of the Sophia Mosque, it's very incredibule. The mosiacs and artwork. Lots of stained glass windows. They say that you could stand the Empire State building inside the dome area, it is so tall.
Good Morning Istanbul! I'm up and full of energy. It's amazing what some sleep will do for the body. I managed to get about 5 hours. I arrived at the "Amiral Palace Hotel" (my sister Trish abd her husband stayed here last year and said it was a great location). The hotel sent their shuttle to the airport so I didn't wander around in the middle of night by myself, it was really great to see a friendly face to meet me. My flight fromAmsterdam was 3hours and again I had an aisle seat with no one else in the row. I love these aisle rows. 
I started my day with a very nice full breakfast here in the hotel. It was set up buffet style so you could help yourself to as much as you wanted. Plenty of hot coffee western style, not the Turkish style. After breakfast I set off for the Blue Mosque, but just as I arrived the Inman was calling all the worshippers to prayer in the tower. There are so many mosques and each one has someone calling you to prayer that it sounds like surround sound plus stereo. The mosque was closed for the prayers so I headed on over to the Haghia Sophia, it started as a Christian Church, around 537 and then was converted to a Mosque during the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. It is now a museum and you can see the early Christian mosiac icons on the ceilings and walls, plus the changes made during the time it was used as a Mosque. The small building with the gold roof was the Ablutions Fountains built around 1740. The other is of the entire grounds the Haghai Sophia.
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