After two days of struggling to keep contact with the world via my slow Kindle browser after my laptop battery died (from not having a working adaptor to plug it into the wall), I remedied the problem (at least temporarily) and am now back in the 21'st Century.
Yesterday Maria and I went to Topkapi Palace with a friend and wandered around there most of the afternoon. I had been there before on my last trip to Turkey, but Maria hadn't. She really liked looking at all the stuff in the treasury, and especially liked the 86 (?) karat diamond. This diamond is huge! The story is that someone found it in a garbage heap. My favorite thing there is the Harem. Last time I went, it was closing time, and I had to literally run through in order to see everything, so getting to stroll through with a good hour before closing was a lot better of an experience. Maria wanted to take pictures of absolutely everything (she has a new camera), so we spent a lot of time posing in front of--everything. If it's possible, I think she actually takes more pictures than I do. Good thing her camera has an 8 gig card!
Zuzu the cat at dawn on our first morning here. Now I know what cats do at dawn!
Maria, waiting for our friend at the pool near the Blue Mosque and Ayasofya.
Rose and Maria near a scenic garbage can at Topkapi Palace Harem.
Inside the Harem, Topkapi Palace.
Maria on the balcony above the swimming pool (Galata Tower in the background) Harem, Topkapi Palace.
A balcony in the Harem at Topkapi Palace.
I wish I could read this!
Sunset on the Bosporus.
Today was a good day too. It started off with hearing a wandering musician playing his accordion in the street. We threw some coins down to him, but they landed in the bush. After his wife spent a while searching the bush, we threw a second packet of money down. Then the host and Maria felt sorry for them and went to retrieve the packet, so they actually got paid twice. After breakfast we took the bus down to Eminonu and wandered around the Spice Bazaar most of the afternoon. I enjoy the Spice Bazaar more than the Grand Bazaar because of all the smells. They sell other stuff too, but the spices, soap, tea, coffee, etc. really rule there. The highlight of my walk was hearing the song "Uzun İnce Bir Yoldayım," http://www.timsah.com/Doga-icin-Cal-Uzun-Ince-Bir-Yoldayim/n0PVM6MOULP which I heard, enjoyed, and memorized during my short stay at an intesive Turkish class this summer. Maria likes the song too, and was singing along as we walked down the street, until well after the song had stopped playing. Her pronunciation is pretty amazing!
At lunch time we had pide (sort of like long skinny pizza). I asked for peynirli (with cheese) and got yumurtali (with egg) instead (is my Turkish really that bad?!). The pide was good, and filling, so no complaints. Maria spent all her allowance money at once, then wished she had money to buy everything else she saw for the rest of the day. She got some nice presents for her friends back at school, and is already planning what she is going to buy with her allowance for the next two weeks. She asked me not to take her shopping again for two weeks so she can save her money and buy something bigger next time.
After walking in the sun all day we were pretty hot, so we got on a ferry and rode up the Bosporus and back again, just to feel the breeze. After disembarking, we took the tram the wrong way and ended up back where we were yesterday, near Topkapi Palace. I was going to take Maria into the Blue Mosque, but decided against it, since I figured if we got lost again, we wouldn't be home until after dark. We made the other connections with no trouble, though, and took the metro the right way up the hill to our house instead of across town. One scenario is just as likely as the other, I guess!
Back in our own neighborhood, I felt confident enough to go beg for an adaptor at the mall. I made interesting sign language at the nice attendant, and he finally understood what I meant, then shouted across the whole store, "We want an OUT OF COUNTRY adaptor for this FOREIGNER!" Everyone turned around, of course, because who can resist looking at a humiliated foreigner =). Anyway, they didn't have one, so I went to another store down the hill. I told them what the other guy had said, but they still laughed at me. Anyway, I got what I needed, and hopefully, despite the humming and overheating, it will work enough to stay connected with the world for the next three months.
After my success at finding an adaptor, I decided to go shopping for some food items, then go home and make dinner. Once we got home, I realized I hadn't withdrawn the money for Maria's bus driver, or for my school, both of which I need tomorrow morning. We walked back up the hill, only to find that apparently, in Turkey, one is not allowed to withdraw a sum of money that would actually be useful. I got enough for the bus driver, but I think my school is going to have to let me make payments over several days...Oh, well.
Once we got home, I started preparing to make dinner while Maria worked on her blog for a bit, but I was interrupted by our host, who said that it would be too much work for me to cook, and that we should order pizza instead. He got some pizza, and then I cooked anyway, because it had meat on it. Maria enjoyed it though. I had eggs, which tasted really, really good with actual, non-GMO tomatoes. After dinner Maria and the host spent some time practicing recorders, drums and plastic eggs filled with rice.
Sorry, even though I carried my camera around all day today, I completely forgot to take any pictures. I guess there'll be another chance to take pictures of the bazaar some other day...
Now that Maria is asleep, I guess I'll go to bed too. Long day of classes tomorrow!
Thank you all for reading!
This is me, signing off...
awesome pics
ReplyDelete