Everyone and every guide book seems to say that the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya are the important mosques in Istanbul; however, what no one says is why. There are 10,000,000 mosques in Istanbul, and most of them look every bit as impressive. Yesterday I ran out to a store to get pepper spray as part of our Dog Abatement System (DAS) - the other part is an electronic gadget that sends out a high-pitched sound, just the kınd of Sharper Image product that you are certain will not work, well it does. We tested them out from our hotel room on several great dogs on the street below. They should call it 'Get Up and Leave' (GUAL). Anyway, on the way back from this errand, I passed Aya Sofya just at sunset and it was glowıng (the picture missed it as I missed it by a nanosecond). It`s still beautıful, though, and I think it might be (you know, the commas and the 'i' letters are a royal pain to type - they take like twenty minutes each, so please be patient) my favorite monument so far. We haven`t gone in yet.