istanbul

ben & i flew to istanbul on friday night for a weekend get-away. we had some things to do, including shop for wedding bands & a dress for me to wear to our upcoming engagement. we also just really needed to get out of ankara for a bit. so on saturday we lived it up- hit up the best of istanbul, found our wedding bands, and generally just enjoyed being in the big city in each other's company.

first stop on saturday morning was tiffany's, where we picked out wedding bands. this was my first time ever going to tiffany's... loved it! i snapped this picture as we drove away, hence the blur...

two of the most expensive dresses i've ever tried on... ever! while i would never pay that much for a dress it was fun to feel like i could, for about 5 minutes. the salesman brought me shoes and accessories so i could get the 'full look.' verrrrry fancy. i'm getting the hang of this : )
inside istinye park- the hoyty-toyty-est mall in istanbul- we stopped for a bite and some cocktails to clear our minds from the overwhelmingly expensive stores surrounding us. it was interesting to find the mall pretty much devoid of locals (most that live in istanbul would go to the sea for the weekend), but instead filled with arabs who were most likely spending a holiday in turkey from dubai or the likes. boy, do THEY know how to shop! we even saw one family with a servant trailing behind, carrying all of their bags. innnteresting.
fancy drinks
me, trying to look fancy sipping on my caipirinha. failing miserably.
outside were the high-end shops. and the high-end cars. this is a convertible bentley. kind of ridiculous.

later at harvey nichols, i was given an entire room to try dresses on in. they even brought me this pair of christian louboutin heels to go with the dresses... making it a total day of firsts: first most expensive dresses AND heels i've ever worn. i felt like julia roberts in pretty woman, but not as tall.
outside of our hotel we saw another couple getting ready to wed- but in a more immediate sense. this was their car. ain't it cute? it's typical in turkey to decorate the couple's car with flowers, sometimes ribbons wrapping the entire vehicle. i thought this was more tasteful than most i've seen.
and at the end of a long day of shopping with money still in our pockets (because we didn't buy a damn thing), we headed to our favorite istanbul restaurant, cok cok, for some thai food. all in all a great weekend!