Late-night çiğ köfte run at the legendary Ali Usta. If you wander far enough through the winding streets behind the Hagia Sophia, you eventually end up in Sirkeci, that in-between pocket of Istanbul where locals rush to work, tourists drift toward Eminönü, and street vendors battle over who has the best smell wafting across the tram line. (Corn or chestnuts, anyone?) And right there on a side street is Çiğköfteci Ali Usta , the man, the myth, the döner-speed wrap-rolling lege

Bustling Römerberg with Christmas Tree I had a nine-hour layover in Frankfurt and decided that sitting in the airport wasn’t an option. My mom is traveling with me for the first two weeks of this trip, so we grabbed our bags, rubbed our eyes, and tried to figure out the train system while our brains weren't properly working. Buying the first ticket took longer than it should have (the machines weren’t intuitive, it was too early for staff to be around, and half the buttons fe