Turkey

We met up with Melissa's twin sister and her family. Our four became eight and we moved into our apartment for the next few days. (Luther was impatient, waiting for them to come. Luther said, It's refreshing to know cab drivers often get lost too like you do in Lincoln." I said, "Yeah if only I could have one of those money making meters the cab drivers run while driving in circles.")

Our flat overlooks the water with ferries coming every few minutes. The most amazing part is being near many touristy bars where we were treated each night to multiple free concerts from midnight until closing at 3 AM. (Luther was certain a guy was singing in our living room. We got out of bed and searched the apartment. We never found the singer. We decided he's testing how loud his sound system could be turned up without blowing out speakers. After it stopped at 2:53 AM, Luther slept until seven and stole all the covers.) Our three bedroom and two bath flat overlooking the coasts was beautiful none-the-less. (The next morning he informed me that he prayed God would send a lightning bolt to that guy. I told him that could be understood as being disrespectful to God, breaking the commandment you shall not take God's name in vain. After my explanation I heard him snore.)

Two taxi rides later (One cost 14 Lira to the Blue Mosque area and the ride back--same distance--cost 48. I held Luther back from arguing.) we decided to walk with a map. After a mile or two back to the Blue Mosque area we saw the Sultan's palace (Luther said, "It became the seat power for the Ottoman state of 1299 after Constantinople [Istanbul.] was conquered in 1453. I told him to put away his smart phone.) The sultans ruled for 623 years until 1922. We visited the Topkapi Palace where the Ottoman Sultans (emperors) lived with their harem, parliament, oval office equivalent, treasury relics from 1465-1856. Almost 400 years of their 624-year reign. (I told Luther, "That's it, I'm taking the smart phone away." He handed me some thing made of lots of paper with pictures and lots of words. I think you call it a travel book. These were used a long time ago in the BC times which stands for "Before Cell phones." Anyway Luther had something to say about the palace, "It's used and it's too old. The columns are too slippery and there isn't enough trees." And then he asked, "What's a harem?" I bared false witness! I told him a half lie. I said, It's a palace for educating hairy women." For some reason that made sense to him.)

In the treasury/relic rooms we saw Moses' staff inlaid in gold, Joseph's arm inlaid in gold, a broach with a diamond as big as the palm of my hand, and more gold and jewels I've ever seen in one place. (Luther asked, "Why are those funny men in green berets carrying machine guns? And why do I have to ride on that conveyer belt with all the bags through security? I told him at least he doesn't have to walk through metal detectors that make loud beeps due to my camera, coins in my pocket and belt metal. Still no one seems concerned and I walked on past.)

Outside the main palace were multiple museums of Sumerian cuneiform, reliefs, sarcophagus from Turkey and Egypt, statues, pottery, and mausoleums. (Luther said, "I can relate to those mummies. After a long day of hanging on your neck I also feel dead tired.)

We Arrived!

Facing the rear in our taxi-van to ride from the Istanbul airport was my third mistake on the trip. Like a racing car video game we zipped from the rush hour of start-and-stop traffic to spurts of 90 km. (The three lane roundabout has traffic lights!) Once on the side streets we wound through narrow streets made of cobble stone to stop in front of Galata Flats, our bed and breakfast. Not having slept much in 24 hours we skipped a meal and concentrated on the bed part.

Although modern air travel that keeps two hundred thousand people in the air at a given moment. It’s also rough on one’s end. Someone once said getting out of a twenty-ton sardine can flinging through the air over 500 mph for hours on end (I mean literally on my end) gives a person a new appreciation for the joy of standing and walking. 

A Hasidic Jewish guy built like me also ate a few too many bagels. Yet he turned out to be the smart one. Although many of us on the end isle were after a cat nap, we were treated to wake up slaps every few minutes when his prayer shawl came around. (I enjoyed the clean fresh scent. It was a change from my shower starved body.) At one point in the flight he stood facing a wall in that extra space where the doors are located. He was there for a good 20 minutes with a white hoody. I suppose when on a plane you have to use whatever wailing wall you can find even if it's the bathroom wall. (Luther said, The bathroom is probably used to modest wails anyway.") 

I appreciate the pious disciplines of religion but it's the ironies that make it all worth it. That Jewish man covered in his white shawl sat behind one of the priests on board. The priests wore the traditional Roman Catholic black robes. How do things like that happen? We came from the same religion! Anyhow the priest droned on in the darkened plane about St. Augustine, Rome and the books he read. That poor pretty young woman in dreads kept her patient kindness up for hours. I sure hope I don’t sound like a priest nerd. (Luther said,"Too late.")

After that cramped space God blessed us with lots of standing and walking in rows of serpentine lines waiting in passport security. A soldier from Colorado asked me how to get into the country. With no passport but a memorized military number they told him it would be enough. I wished we had a number like that because we found out that we needed a twenty dollar sticky stamp on our passport before we could get into Turkey. That was found in the Visa line across the hall. So after another serpentine line we got a stamp for each of our little passport books and found the familiar line again that by this time grew down the airport hall. These lines would make Disney proud since right after the passport “ride/walk” we were greeted with many duty free shops.

Think of four story row houses smashed together but these serve as store fronts each small store having as much window space as possible. Two to three floors high were store after store selling one item, chandeliers. It’s basically the Nebraska Furniture Mart for lighting only. Sparkling crystal spans the entire window top to bottom. The combo of speed by too fast and car sickness didn’t allow for a picture.

Sporadic ancient walls, palaces and an aqueduct s scattered in disarray. Crumbling structures were held together by centuries of repairs. (Luther thinks it was done by someone named Fast Eddy using Liquid Nails and scraps of odd stones and bricks. And he thought the fixes were like mine. They fall apart again in a few days.) Yet these stone structures held firm while modern roads and high rises spring around. Strange combos paint a montage of delight and beauty.

After eight hours of rest we got up at 10 PM Lincoln time, and six AM here we walked down a narrow street for our breakfast. (Mine: Grape leaves, olives, two sausages, grape tomatoes, cucumber, honey, kind of a cherry jelly, three cheeses and 3 kinds of bread with butter—for Lisa but forgot to take a picture.)

That's all for now. They'll get shorter as the days go.