Snow-days continued

Thanks to a little snow and ice I found myself in the middle of a 5-day weekend. It started our very quiet and peaceful as I read and napped snuggled in my warn apartment with the snow coming down. Since it snowed all that day I only got out a couple times to walk to the store and, later, to a friend's house to play games.

There Roomie and I found out that Friday was also a snow day (day 2 of our 5-day weekend). We decided to make more of a plan for that day and since the roads were clear we set off to visit friends in a different part of the city, which took most of the day.

Saturday I woke up to another adventure we'd planned with some non-school friends last week.

They've been living here about 5 months but haven't made it to Ulus yet, the oldest part of the city, or the 'cable cars' (still unsure of what to call these in English). We set off this morning for a very cold day in the city. The high today was 27F with lows in the single-digits. It wasn't supposed to snow but I light dusting came down most of the day.

Much of the snow that melted yesterday is now re-frozen in slippery spots on the pavement. However we braved the cold and ice and I enjoyed showing off one of my favorite areas.

Our main destination in Ulus was the castle, it stands up on a hill and gives a beautiful view of the city.

It was beautiful to see Ulus in the snow but climbing on the castle was a challenge with the ice. There were a few minor slips but, thankfully, we made it up and back down without serious injuries.

We stopped for lunch at a charming traditional-style restaurant where we sat on traditional cushions in a renovated ottoman style house. We had the room to ourselves and could even choose whether we wanted to sit on the floor or the raised benches along the wall. At the door the owner handed us shoe-covers, I opted to leave my boots outside and walked to the upstairs dining room in my socks. It was an excellent meal and the perfect place to warm up before heading back home.