Baaaaad week.  The new headmaster and his honchos are proving to be major pains in the backside.  They are making my life difficult and I have only 1.5 years left!  I had hoped to cruise through to the end.  But NO!  Unfortunately for them however, they are shooting themselves in the foot by combining anglo business logic with a primarily Italian work force.  Everyone at lunch is talking about their contracts and a union meeting has been called for Wednesday.  A strike might be in the works!  Italy has been very lefty leaning since WWII and the laws are certainly skewered in the favor of employees rights.  That's why strikes are so common here.  They are legal, cannot be used against an employee, and the judges are all commies.  How exciting!  I've never been in a strike!  Maybe I can be a SCAB!  Nah.  Who in hell wants to be a scab?  I wonder if we'll carry signs and march around in front of the gates?  Gotta plan my outfit in case we're on the news!  I'll update next week!

In other news, I have to renew my driver's license.  This'll be fun.

ooxx me

While in Istanbul, we took a one-day (a very loooong day) side trip to Cappadocia.  Cappadocia is the coolest place.  Absolutely other worldly.  It's an area in southern Turkey that was created by two huge volcanic eruptions, some millions of years ago, and erosion that followed that left behind formations called Fairy Chimneys.  Ancient cultures dug into them and built homes, towns and even cities.  Early Christians used them as hide-outs during their persecution by Rome in the 400's. 

We bought a day package and were picked up at our hotel at 4:30ish.  From there we went to the airport, had an hour and a half flight, another transport of an hour to Cappadocia's nearest town where we were dropped off at a travel/tourist office.  This place is remote.  Our guide picked us up in a mini bus with a dozen other tourists, all Turkish, and off we went.  We spent the day going from site to site, getting half Turkish half English descriptions of the areas.  Lunch was in a little town built partially into these formations.  Hotels and private home and apartment "buildings" are half modern, half ancient.

Of course there were the prerequisite sellers of tourist trinkets and all that jazz but the experience was definitely unique.

xxoo me

Istanbul has hundreds of stray dogs and cats and I imagine they are not all like the ones we observed on our travels.  Usually strays are skittish, mangy and terribly thin.  These guys were certainly dusty and dirty but they were also fat and content.  Some time ago, cities in Turkey had a terrible problem with strays but as the population was against mass euthanasia, the government had to come up with another plan.  They decided to gather up the dogs, one neighborhood at a time, (not sure about the cats but they are certainly well fed and friendly), vaccinate, neuter and tag them, then put them back again.  In fact we only saw two puppies and they were living with a pack in a National Park in Cappadocia.  (Had we been closer to home and with a vehicle I'd probs be on the road to divorce right now with two scrappy adorable puppies in tow).  But back to the city and their big, some enormous, lazy street dogs.  They seem to have their territories and spend their days sleeping and being fed by locals and tourist alike.  There are pans of water around everywhere.  If it's a "cat area", (usually separate form a "dog area"), there will be dishes of cat food.  In residential areas we saw dog houses on the side walks for cold nights and once passed a large lab-like dog sleeping on a cushioned restaurant bench who'd been covered up to his tagged ear with a wool blanket.  Stray animals usually make me sad.  Who knew visiting Istanbul would leave me with happy memories of a big moose of a dog sleeping in the sun of Sultanhamet Square, too big to fit completely under the park bench he was aiming for, a half eaten kebap an inch from the end of his nose.  Whether he had fallen asleep partway through his meal or whether someone had left him their uneaten lunch I'll never know.  But the fact that he hadn't felt the need to wake up and scoff it down like any dog I've ever known made me very happy indeedy.  More later xxoo me

Sultanhamet Square - many lazy dogs snoozing in the grassy areas to the right

What an amazing, fascinating, dual-personality city is Istanbul.  Parts are very beautiful, the mosques, the nighttime views over the water, the islands.  Other parts are drab and rundown or simply brand new and soulless.  But it's all interesting and it's definitely worth a visit. 

The view from our balcony

The city has a population of about 15 million.  A ferryboat ride along the coast of over two hours only gave us a view of half the skyline.  It is immense.   We stayed in the old city, walking distance to most of the most famous landmarks.  We were just around the corner from the Sultan Ahmed or Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, a Greek Orthodox basilica turned mosque now museum.  We walked to the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market, the Cisterns and Topkapi Palace.  Everyday we ate simits (bagel like bread covered in sesame seeds and sold on every corner) and drank nar (freshly squeezed pomegranate juice - heavenly).

View of Hagia Sophia from the breakfast room of the hotel.

               

We took a boat trip out to the Prince islands, weekend and summer escape locales for city dwellers and a place we want to return to when the weather is warmer.  And we walked and we walked and we walked.

Fishermen at sunset near the Galata bridge.

Lovely waterfront section in upscale neighborhood

Yours truly at the Archeological Museum

View of the Prince islands from the ferry

Much more to write about later but still trying to catch up on my sleep.  The Muezzins woke us at 6:30 every morning for chrissakes!  Considering we were surrounded my mosques it was difficult to roll over and ignore.  xxoo me