This Ain't No Case of the Summertime Blues

Hello People,

 Yesterday I was complaining to Hazel that I had nothing to write about.  "What am I supposed to write?" I asked her, "we never do anything."  I am very much an on the go person and have trouble adapting to school holidays. Plus, Hazel is still working this week and next so I'm waiting for her before I begin any summertime explorations in earnest.   In her usual calming manner, she suggested that I take the camera and go for a walk.  "We live in a foreign country," she told me, "its all interesting!"  Fair point.

I like to run. On Saturdays I do long runs that take me all over this general area of the city.  These are my favorites.  The first few miles are nothing but hills, ups and downs all the way.  I go by shops and cafes, produce stands galore, and even old Ottoman palaces.  The next several miles take me directly along the Bosphorous where I run with the salty air and the wind through my hair.  This is my favorite stretch of running.  Off in the distance I can see the Blue Mosque and the Hagea Sophia and can even look over at the Galata Tower.  I cannot imagine a better run anywhere.

My weekday runs feel by contrast, well, boring.  They're only 3-4 miles each, so I stay around the neighborhood and the scenery is much less dramatic. However, as I ran this morning I though about what Hazel told me last night and I started to actually take a look around.  The effect of this was similar to that of removing a blindfold.  How blind we become to our immediate surroundings.  There is nothing so exciting as the "dull and humdrum"  of everyday. If yesterday I was bored of the same, today I was Alice stepping into Wonderland.

I went back to my 3 mile route about an hour after my run this morning, this time in Chacos with a backpack and camera rather than my running shoes and gym shorts, ready to take some pictures.  This is one of the first things I happened upon.  A garden complete with chickens and this a block away from a shopping mall!

If you are like me, you think of double decker busses as a novelty tourist activity.  Not so in this big city.  If you hop on a double decker bus here, its because its a busy bus that needs the room.  You can and should expect it to be crowded.  Still, being essentially a long term tourist I jump at every chance to ride one and yes, I always go for the top.

If the Promised Land was flowing with milk and honey then Telmar is flowing over with fresh fruit and vegetables.  Next week I'll take pictures of the open market (Pazaar) behind our apartment where the farmers bring their produce, but these produce stands are everywhere and the fruit and veggies are SOOOOO fresh!  The Telmarines love their beef and chicken, but this place is a vegetarian dream.

This Mosque towers over all in our neighborhood.  Its brand new and though I thinks its already in use, it is still under construction as displayed in the picture below. 

Upside, the bathroom is open and free to the public.

The "W.C." as you may have guessed, stands for "Water Closet."  

Space is not as available here as it is in the States.  People use every bit that they can.  Its awesome seeing people in such a thoroughly urban environment using their resources and  living by the earth.  This fellow consented to let me take his picture, for which I am very thankful.  I'm not sure he was happy about it though...

The city is very large and very packed.  Oddly enough, its easy to forget that when you're in the middle of it, but then every once in a while the city opens up and gives you a view and all you can do is go "Whoa."  

Just up the hill from where I took the picture above was a bakery where the smell of fresh baked bread was just too much to pass by. The owner, seen below, was kind enough to let me walk all through his bakery taking pictures. 

Below is some of the bread baked freshly not an hour before I took the picture.  And get this, it only costs the equivalent of about 50 cents and is delicious!

It was cooked in an actual wood fire oven which was, I can tell you, quite warm.  I didn't know the words to ask what temperature it cooks, but I think you can tell by the picture below that it was quite a bit warmer than the average household oven, and by the picture below that, that it uses a substantial amount of energy.

They even let me venture into the back of the shop to check out the machinery they use to mix the dough etc.

On the way home I passed this playground.  What with the razor wire and all, I kept imagining the scene from Terminator 2 when Sarah Connor is hanging on to the fence and screaming as the kids get blown into atomic ash.  I don't know why.  Happy thoughts. 

And finally, a picture of the reflection of your affectionate Mr. Strange.  I actually took around 50 pictures during the course of this 3 mile walk, but I'm tired and that is a larger number of pictures than I think you want to see.  All of this to say, open your eyes and look around.  I'm sure you can find at least as much to see on your own 3 mile run through your neck of the woods.