Our overnight train to Istanbul via Thessaloniki began at 8pm Wednesday,and at 9am, we are beginning to enter the fringes of this massive city of 16 million. The train ride consisted of initial hopes of meeting new and exciting people (nope), and finally giving up and going to sleep. Here's a rough intinerary:
11:30pm-asleep
2:30am-Awoken by Turkish official for passport
2:40am-asleep
2:45am-awoken by Turkish official to return my passport
3:00am-asleep
4:45am-awoken by Turkish official to exit train and purchase visa in God knows where.
5:00am-asleep
5:15-awoken by Turkish official for luggage check (this consists of me opening the top of my pack, very thorough)
And 5:30am-glorious uninterrupted sleep.
So we are in Istanbul right now, and things got a little hairy last night...more on this later.