Russia Part 0: Istanbul

So I decided to post here, copying wholesale from my photo album in Facebook, which might turn out to be more comprehensive anyway.

Before my trip to Russia began proper, I first had to navigate 18 hours in Istanbul. "Why?" You may ask (but more likely will not, and do not care). It was because my Russia visa started in October 1, but I didn't have any flights in on that day.

Having been in Istanbul just last year, I thought it would be really easy and not so interesting. Going by my record of being right, I was of course, without a doubt, proven wrong.

It was however, made a lot easier, by being offered a hotel by Turkish Airlines, to drop my luggage, and walk around with just a backpack. Then I realised my luggage had gone straight to Rostov while I could prance around Istanbul like a happy little(fat) bird. Istanbul promised to be rainy in the morning, so, expecting her to keep her promise, I went to bed in the free hotel room, because come on. So I napped for 3 hours and hot-footed it out of the hotel room, intending to see the Turkey Biennale that was going on at that time.

Before I go into what I did for the afternoon, which was actually pretty boring, I need to first say that I did not actually see any part of the Biennale, despite setting out to see that. The main reason was because my hotel was near Sultan Ahmet, and I decided that it was reasonable for me to walk to the Biennale at Taksim (I had some 14 hours to walk around after all). However, I was easily distracted and could not focus on my goals, and instead wandered about the street, wondering where I was, and heading straight towards whatever I thought interested me, which most of the time happened to be the same thing I thought was interesting that I saw (what I thought was) 2 streets ago. I later realised I was just wandering about in circles.
So I gave up trying to find Taksim, and walked the straight path to Sultan Ahmet, because at least I knew that place from last year. So I thought. Long story short, I didn't. So I walked in more circles until I came to a Hamam Museum, which I could see for free. So Hamam Museum check? (Even though I didn't plan to see it, nor knew of it's existence). The nice lady also pointed the way to Sultan Ahmet, my new destination after all but giving up on Taksim.

So I arrived in Sultan Ahmet without much happening along the way, enjoying the cool Turkish air, saw the Basilica Cistern (quite cool but expensive), met a 17 year old Peruvian traveling solo and then proceeded to Corlulu Ali Pasa for 5 cups of cay and shisha, just to rest my feet a little.
After that, I decided it was time to go back to the hotel, in case I got distracted/lost again. It turned out I didn't, and I got back with 2 hours to spare. So, shower, dinner, and on towards to airport, and Rostov in the middle of the night! It was pretty uneventful. A lot was going on in my mind, but nothing much with reality.

TL;DR
I am travelling alone, got lost a lot in a place I was before, and didn't see what I planned to, which would be an ongoing theme of this trip. Not that I knew.