I apologize, i have been a bad blogger. This is a problem that did not exist 2 years ago and now i feel guilty about it which is just ludicrous. I'm currently at work propagating a website with keywords like TBILISI TRAVEL GEORGIA EXPLORE and to a lesser extent other words like SCALPEL. And i thought it was the proper time to give the rundown on Constantinople.
I rather liked Istanbul. The first evening was confusing for two reasons. 1) bad directions and 2) many Australians. There were great gobs of them. I thought we had gotten on the wrong flight in spite of the flags which looked like this [ ( * ] . The bad directions were our hostel's fault and the second was World War 1's fault. Apparently Australia (and to a lesser extent New Zealand) was real excited for a beach party/battle at Gallipoli, and were disheartened when they overshot their landing point by like 100 meters, giving the turks plenty of cover and the Australians none. It was a bit of a mess. So for Anzac (Anzak?) day they roll up on the day before Lexi and I arrived. So lots of Australians. It was alright.
Day 2: Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, and Tokapi palace. This was our only real "touristy" day. Of this I learned the most important thing to know about Turkey though history. There must be something in the water that makes people want to decorate the hell out of their ceilings. Its intense. EVERY CEILING. It becomes unsettling after a while, like the scene in Men in Black where he lights a match and then a drip of goo falls on it and he looks up and there's a dude. ALSO: like when the alien silently reaches down and grabs a soldier in Alien. Except instead of disgusting aliens its raw beauty made manifest.
And it's Hungry.
Day 3: Hung out with Lexi's friend from conferences past and her friend Alp, found a Parma themed Nargli [sic] bar and discussed the nature of the Universe and the implications of Religion at length. I'm talking like hours. It was nuts.
Day 4: The Bazaar! This could have been an episode of Queer Eye, except instead it was more like reasonable human beings eye for the "i haven't bought new clothing in like 6 months, lost a bunch to the gaping maw of Beijing airport, and my only nice pair of slacks looks like i work at an oil rig and not of managerial position either" guy. Acquisitions: A V-neck sweater, An argyle cardigan, 2 pairs of not disgusting nor pleated slacks, 4 posters i left on the train (god damn it), and a watch. Lexi bought like nothing, further asserting my femininity. Rowr.
Day 5: Nazan hung out with us so more. She took us to the university where she teaches, where we acted like villagers and very impressed at the amount of soy milk available at the student store. Also we hung out at her house and played with her dog. A GOOD DAY. It was kind of tragic how excited I got when I found a 4 gig thumb drive for 25 Turkish lira. To get this kind of thing in Georgia you have to go to the Bazaar, which is a special hell, and argue about price in Georgian, which I don't understand, and pay way too much. In Turkey you give them 25 lira and they give you your thing. It was a Christmas Miracle.
Day 6: The Bosphorous tour, and a tragic return to Georgia. Left 4 awesome posters on the train. I weep bitter tears (which is awkward because I'm at work).
So, now I am back in Georgia, and got a surprise birthday party and got hit in the face with a pie.
Kisses!
Dan
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2 comments:
Just wanted to point out that many of the names of people and places in this post could very well be the names of Pokémon.
Man, Istanbul rules.
your writing makes me happy.
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