more Istanbul

here's Linda and Greg happy about the beer! it was our first night in Istanbul and we'd been wandering and looking for a place to eat dinner. from the street, this sounded like a lively and maybe fun place and the menu looked ok... from the inside the music was too loud and crazy and the place just didn't look like an inviting place to eat dinner! as you walk down the streets, it isn't only the carpet stores that have hustlers out on the street trying to lure you in... it's also the cafes, tavernas and restaurants. with the carpet guys, their predictable patter got to be rather amusing... and.. well, predictable! they start off with the assumption that you speak English and ask "how are you?" "where are you from?" "oh, America!!? where in America?" "Oregon?.... Portland?" "yes, beautiful place... my cousin/brother/sister/uncle lives there/I've visited there/lived there/traveled thru on my way to California". then comes the invitation to have a cup of apple tea as a way of showing their friendship. I'd already bought 2 small rugs before we got to Istanbul, told them that early on and said i didn't want any more rugs or to look at any more rugs or to hear the wonderful deal they had. mostly, we didn't even get caught up in conversation with them... just "no, thank you", smile and keep walking! it was a VERY interesting experience!

"art" to go along with the beer.

there was the whole side of a house and the wall along the sidewalk which was decorated with imbedded pieces of broken ceramics. it looks really cool, tho this photo doesn't really show it.

and i'm happy to say that finally, 10 days after returning home, i've just about banished the evil alien flu/cold bug that's been trying to take over my body. when we came back in Nov. it got out of control and became pneumonia.... this time the combination of zinc lozenges, Emergen-C, lots of green tea and many naps seem to have stopped it. right now i'm feeling like the ordeal of 28 hours of travel, exhaustion, airline frustrations and viruses cut right into the joy of these Greece (and Turkey) adventures. but... ask me about it in 6 months and i will probably have had an attitude adjustment by then and forgotten the pain of it all... sort of like child-birth.