though is what left the couple speechless again. The deep blue of the Bosphorus Strait lay out flat before them. To their left, northward, they could see the massive span of the First Bosphorus Bridge impossibly suspended between two towering peaks and long spans of cable, connecting Europe and Asia. Enormous freighters passed full and empty in both directions, hauling cargo between the Black and Marble Seas. City ferries shuttled passengers in each direction, rocking in collision with the freighter wakes. Beyond the boats lay the skyline of Asian Istanbul, rising away from the water on a short but lengthy hill. From the table you could make out the minarets of infinite mosques tucked into those neighborhoods. To look to the south, though, was to see the Istanbul born of history. The mouth of the Golden Horn dividing the new city, where they sat, from the old city. Dividing the promise of a secular, modern nation-state from the longtime center of world power. Topkapi Palace, the home of the Ottoman Sultan for over 400 years, clung to the hillside. To the right of it was Aya Sofya -- the 1500 year old Byzantine church and later Ottoman mosque. The domed roof supported on the organic orange structure seemed to rise out of the Earth as naturally as a tree in a forest. Locking eyes on the old city, Matt started to laugh at the impossibility of the scene he now found himself a part of.

"Holy Shit, I just never thought I'd actually make to this."

"We'd make it to this," Tay said.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, guys," Chris interrupted. "But, I've got to do some business and we've gotta move on to work."

Matt dismissed this thought, still lost in the city and in his head. "Mimar Sinan," he trailed off. "Wasn't he the Ottoman architect?"

"Yea, his mosques are all over this here city. This is a fine arts university. But, how'd you know that?"

"He reads books," Tay laughed.

"Books?! What, TV's not good enough for you? Elitist snob." And for the first time Chris's stocky frame erupted into a full-bodied and good-natured laugh that would come to define his every quip.