Yet, so hot in Turkey

It was snowing the first 2 days in Turkey, but I was hot with a capital "H"
b was kind enough to take a stealthy photo of my hotness
Do you like my legwarmers + baskets (tennis shoes)?

cold Turkey?

It is even cold in Turkey

I love Turkey.  

I love that all these different countries are so close together.

I love the moment after you arrive somewhere when you realize you are someplace totally new and things are different.  

My first moment was here at a restaurant, fresh off the plane:

In Frantasyland there are a lot of rules around the table - when you eat, who gets served first, when you can actually get your waiter to come back to your table to order your entrée, plat, fromage/dessert. Dinner takes a long time.

Here, we sat down and 9 plates of different food were instantly laid out in front of us, family style.  And there were at least 4 people moving around our table - pouring water, serving melted cheese on bread and meatballs, taking our meat order.  

Meat order?  Yes, because everyone needs 9 different dishes + meat + dessert.

And then the dramatic change in skyline.  From 10-story buildings(i.e. tall) and catholic cathedrals every 100 feet to a colorful patchwork of 5-story buildings, mosques and minarets.  

The minarets look like lost castle parts.  Don't you think?

And then the call to prayer

5 times a day.

 I thought, it would kill me to live next to a mosque - that noise 5 times EVERY DAY

and then I had to change the idea of noise

I'm not all that romantic about god

but I thought, for them, god sings 5 times a day to come and chat

It echoes softly off all the concrete buildings.  

Ok it was romantic on Saturday morning  when we were walking to the store in the sun 

to get eggs for a lazy breakfast. 

I wish I had a clip of it

My truck-stop, gift-buying sister took one when we first visited Turkey 6 years ago.  

One last big moment that couldn't stop repeating itself - people are nice.  

Some people want to sell you things, but most people don't.  Our last night we got stuck on the wrong side after the last boat to the other side had left (Turkey has 2 sides - 1 is attached to Europe, the other is attached to Asia).  This young guy not only walked us back to help us find out about other boats, but then walked us to the metro and was ready to walk us to the boat. 

And then the older businessman that invited* us for coffee after he heard b & I speaking French on the boat, and then tour guided us for the next 2 hours.

*to invite (and to offer) mean to pay for the other person in French (and my stupid english)

I like Turkey.  Even cold Turkey.  

Baby it's cold out there

winter finally showed up after 3 extra months of what could be described as fall
and it was so exciting
for the first 3 days
and now the floor is cold, my genius heated-blanket-under-the-rug won't stop blinking red, and so I am dreaming of carpeted walls again. 
but the snow is pretty.

I love...

...walking past laundrymats.  The smell of millions of clean sheets.

Saturday walk....still gray

 

Bones

I love old things.  I like the dirt where I am from.
It is about the only thing that is old.  We bulldoze every structure over 50.

In France, things are Old, with capital O.
They like their old, too. (Even if it is cold.)
And sometimes, so do I.

So here is some Parisian old.  Found while taking a different route home on a gray wintery day. 
Undressed and stripped down  to show its story in horizontal and vertical layers.

Modern, recognizable Paris on the right in white with gray metal roof, showing it's 2-toned, 2-era brick bones. Then a circular staircase (reminiscent of chateaus) next to tudor-style dark beams and oeil-de-boeuf, circular windows (eye of cow).
And then clear remenants of 2 roofs with the newest layer, cement, for this generation of Parisians. Who have also, so politely, painted their names on the base so no one forgets them.   

Pub(licité)

Because when you watch TV in France (because you totally will if you are here more than 3 days) you should know about the commercials...

...but then of course you will! They tell you everytime there are going to be commercials!

TF1's commercial notice

Just in case you couldn't decipher Family Feud from someone eating cheese in a way that borders on soft porn.

Yes, Caprice de Dieu, I am talking to you.