Today I took the three youngest for a walk in Sultanahmet and down to the Istanbul Archaeological Museum in Gülhane. It is on days like this I remember what allure Istanbul had for me long before I arrived. Thanks to my Dad's love of history I had wanted to explore this city for a couple of decades before I fell in love with a Finn in England, whose home happened to be here. It's great to see our children galloping the length of the Hippodrome with their fine Roman horses, and clambering over the assortments of stones and uprooted columns that were planted in times Matti loves hearing about in long conversations with Ville. Just like the conversations I had with my Dad.

The Arcaeological Museum was a favourite of Matti and mine in the days before Anton, when we were still getting used to each other. Up until Anton was a few months old there was a great children's section where Matti would happily spend a couple of hours. Hopefully when the current renovations are finally finished it will be back. It's still a lovely place to take kids because it's never busy, reasonably cheap (10TL, kids free) and has a kind of dusty mystery. I love the Tiled Kiosk with its glowing stain glass, and the red velvety carpets in the rooms of sarcophagus and skeletons make it an ideal setting for a Gothic horror. Neve had a great time today crawling through the galleries and giggling for bored security guards. Even Anton handed me his cars so he could better peer into the cabinets though I do think that Anton and Matti's favourite discovery today was that, around Sutanahmet, you can have your simit or açma (simit's fluffier, softer sister) filled with chocolate spread for an additional lira. There is some evidence of this on Anton's face in the pictures!

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