Last Day - Goodbye Istanbul

It's my last night in Istanbul and I still feel awful from my 3 AM return from the tour to Bursa.  I slept from 4 AM to 4 PM in the grip of a 24-hour bug.  Made myself get out of the hotel and went to the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya (known to westerners as Hagia Sophia), but couldn't appreciate them.  At six I met Lucy and Valentina back at the hotel to wish them bon voyage for their 10-hour bus ride to Cappadocia.
I ventured out to find a restaurant with something other than kabaps (it's spelled with a "p" here) on the menu, and walked in the opposite direction from the hotel because I just can't be "on" with Mesut at the souvenir shop and the wonderful staff at House of Medusa.  I settled on one on a bustling little off-the-beaten-path street, closed to cars, and everyone is having a fun evening. I had tomato soup, which tasted like Campbell's, and Fettuccine Alfredo. The pasta was good, I guess, but I just couldn't eat it and pushed it away after four bites. The restaurant owner was concerned that the food wasn't all right, and offered to bring me something else, but I reassured him it was fine.  He brought me some watermelon "on the house."  I wandered aimlessly and took a few photos of some of the cafe side streets. The one in these photos has cushions instead of chairs and shishas.

Eventually, I ended up on one of the busiest streets in this part of Sultanahmet.

I bought a couple of fridge magnets, then found one of the ice cream vendors wearing a fez I read about in Sally Buchanan's "Talking Turkey."  This young man put on a great show, like one of the chefs at a Benihana. He handed the cone to me, but then pulled it back and did a juggling act, pulling the cone with the ice cream out of an empty cone, then another empty cone out of that, then pushed the ice cream onto my nose.  What a surprise!

By this time I was feeling a bit mellower, so I walked back to the hotel via my usual street.  The owner of Medusa was standing in front, and he asked me how the tour was.  When I told him when I got in and why and how tired I was, he said, "Yes, you look tired."  When I walked by the souvenir shop where Mesut works, the owner was sitting in a chair, leaning against the building.  He had tried to sell me another tour and two Kilims earlier in the day, but this time he just waved.
The night manager at the hotel is very nice and his English is pretty good.  I asked him if I can get a taxi from the hotel to the airport for 35 lira and he said that I could.  He's going to leave a message for the woman who's here during the day, whose English is practically non-existent, to call for me.
Though I had planned to pack tonight, I just don't have the energy. Instead, I edited the photos from the past two days and posted this.  Maybe I'll have time to go to the Spice Bazaar in the morning and still have time to pack since my flight isn't till 4. Now to bed.