Two Tunnels and Three Stops makes a Ratio of 1.5 Stops per Tunnel - Carver

Today we took the bus 47, one of the buses we usually take to Eminönü. But we got off at Karaköy.

Note: Karaköy is not the same as Kadiköy. Karaköy is in Europe. Kadiköy is in Asia. Yesterday we went to Kadiköy. This post discusses Kadiköy: Continental Irony - Erich

At Karaköy, we got the Tünel. It is an underground funicular. We were getting more money on our İstanbulkart when we missed a train. There was a countdown. It was 0:08 when we came in. “We have 8 seconds. Let's hurry.” That's practically what I said. But we had to get more money. And I watched the train leave without us. So we waited 5 minutes. But funiculars work with two trains. Because they are uphill, one goes up as the other comes down. But there was only one track!

More exciting and untrue story: We crashed!

Less exciting and more true story: In the middle the track split and the trains passed each other. Then the track came back together.

In case you were confused, the more true story is what actually happened. But the Tünel (Tunnel in English) is the second oldest underground train in the world. The oldest is in the London Underground. Then we got off and ate at a place called Shake Shack. It was an American style restaurant where we got burgers and shakes and root beer floats. We haven't found root beer floats anywhere since the U.S. My burger was a chicken burger. The chicken was so like KFC chicken that I proposed that Shake Shack gets their chicken from KFC. Then we got on the Nostaljik Tramvay. That means Historic Tramway in English.

This picture of the tram is from the Shake Shack.

We rode the tram to Taksim Square. We walked to Taksim Gezi Parki and then to Dolmabahçe Saray. Saray means Palace. Someone else will have to cover that.

After Dolmabahçe Saray, we went to Inönü Stadi, a bus stop.

(No picture. Google Maps doesn't find bus stops.)

We took the bus 37T to Bilgi Üniversitesi (Bilgi University), the nearest bus stop to our house.

(No picture. Google Maps doesn't find bus stops.)

Do you think the title has something to do with the Tünel? No. On the way back we passed through 2 tunnels. It was an express bus. It was 3 stops home. That is how the title gets its name.

But the tunnels were super fast. It only took us 9 minutes. There was no traffic in them. And these were long distances.

Last thing. As I was writing this, I ate a green plum. Here they have plums that are green and sour. I like them and everyone else hates them. I like sour. But we get them for me. Apparently the way the people eat them is with salt. We learned this from our friend we met in Kadiköy (not Karaköy.) They take a bite out of them and then put salt on them. I tried that with this last green plum we had. I do not have Turkish taste buds because I didn't like it. I will continue to eat them plain now.