Yesterday was mostly a lost day, figuratively and literally. Got a late start then got lost trying to find a post office, which was in fact a little kiosk. However, in my wanderings, I was approached and assisted by a young man whose persistence (and "friendliness") was surpassed only by his colleague and boss. Though I was thoroughly appreciative of his assistance in locating the kiosk, he was thoroughly not going to let me slip away without the hope of a sale, and I relented and followed him to his store. There, with the promise of apple tea (my first offer of tea in this hospitable place), I was pawned off to his superior who gave me mostly unsolicited information on Turkish rugs. Mind you, my budget can barely accommodate a rug that is barely larger than a bath mat, yet he turned a deaf ear to my protestations. After what seemed like half an hour, I finally wrested myself from his deathly salesman grip, thanked him for the tea and left. Phew.
This was followed by a visit to the famous Topkapi Museum, inspiration for the heist movie Topkapi and home of some famous sparklies. It was cold, it was crowded, and I was anxious to see these famous sparklies and then hightail it out of there. I had no plan, no map, no audio guide (all of which would have helped) and found them of course, at the very end. Didn't dawdle, as the viewing was a couple of people deep, but it was pretty neat to see them in person. Photos are not permitted, attached are from the web.
On my way out, as I stooped down to take pix of an adorable kitten (there are lots of docile strays roaming this part of the city), it pounced on my lap then waltzed up to my shoulder while the streaming crowd smiled at the crazy man with the cat on his shoulder. I tried to capture the moment with a pic, but was unsuccessful.
I took a long nap and decided to stay in (skip dinner even, gasp!) and work on the final parts of one grad school application that had been giving me difficulty. Well, as 10 p.m. rolled around, and my stomach grumbled, I knew I would not get any work done. So I ventured forth and found the #1 rated restaurant on Tripadvisor, which just happened to be where I met "Potato Man" the night before. The food was only okay, but the atmosphere and hospitality was warm. I had a glass of raki to get those brain juices flowing (and a cup of coffee) and it seems to have worked as I was up until 5 a.m. working away. And with some sleep, breakfast, more coffee and additional work, I can now say that that application is DONE! Yay. Now, I party.
Also, a shout out to Amelia today and Angela tomorrow! Happy Birthday Ladies! And to everyone, I wish you a New Year filled with joy, laughter, peace and meatballs!
PUPPIES AND KITTENS!! No babies??
ReplyDeleteWe've missed you during our exciting week!
Cole, Caroline and Uncle Lance are getting ready for their big adventure into the city tonight. (Don't worry-we're not letting them have all of the fun-we're going to Dim Sum without them!) On Wednesday we went to Spa Castle which was really cool. Caroline and I pretended we didn't know Uncle Lance and Yima (with his neon orange toe polish and her shrieking!) There were themed saunas, outdoor hot tubs and massages. For dinner we ate at the all you can eat sushi place in Queens. When we tried to leave Cole exclaimed "But it's all you can eat. And I have not eaten all that I can!" We finally got into the car and he was still chewing udon!
Anyway, hope you have a festive new year celebration!
P.S are you growing your beard again??
Awwww. T'anks Sopa-Pilla. Really, isn't that weird? Of all the nicknames in the world, look what I find on the side of a van after my encounter with the rug salesmen yesterday! Last year, your name was a store in Bali, this year in Istanbul, you're maybe a brand of olive oil or something, I'm not sure. But we can look it up! Glad you are all having such a great time. xouw
ReplyDeleteIn looking up the website, I snatched a phrase to translate. I got the definition "enemy" tagged to one of the specific words. But in looking up the words individually, it appears to be sunflower oil for cooking, though the one words still means enemy, but a reverse translation of what appear to be sunflowers on the site, yields a word that could be that word in some various form. Confusing, I know, but mystery solved.
ReplyDeletei will take one of those spoonmaker's diamonds and if the forkmaker has baubles, sofia will take one of those. master of the house will take the bassett hound.
ReplyDeletehappy new year!
And I'd like some tilework and/or spectacular ceiling, please. Happy New Year!
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