July 12, 2012 Istanbul

July 12, 2012 Istanbul

While The World Sleeps

Well or at least this part of the world.  Not really sure what time it is here in Istanbul, I just know it’s dark and quiet outside the window of our top floor apartment in the Taksim district.  I’d like to blame jet lag for the reason I’m awake but I could be snoozing away as soundly as Tony & Tyler in the bedroom if it weren’t for little miz Teagan being wide awake and I’m kinda not sold on jet lag being HER reason.  It’s my thought that if she were just purely jet lagged she would be acting as she normally does when she’s awake – happy, active, playful, inquisitive, etc. but she is none of these.  She is cranky, crying, fidgety & discontent.  I hope I’ve just got the real image of jet lag wrong in my mind because then perhaps it means she will get over this in a few days and be back to normal instead of my real concern which is that she’s getting or is sick.  One things for sure, she’s not the superstar travel baby that Tyler was/is L  Oh well, guess you can’t have everything perfect in life.  Sigh…

I went to bed early (read: passed out on the couch in our apt) last night and opted out of dinner with the group so Tony went on ahead while me & the kids got a head start on getting some rest.  Maybe that was my error.  Anyway, here I am and I’m hoping it’s going to be a great trip despite the bumpy start we’ve had. 

Procrastinations & The Past Come Back To Haunt Me

It was a long day Sunday before our original flight plan Monday morning.  Tony & I were busy getting things taken care of for his mom at her house in Ventura since she recently broke her hip and was finally home from the rehabilitation center but not quite back on her own two feet.  Tony ran errands for her and I cooked up several big meals that she could just heat up quick in the microwave that would hopefully see her through to our return in two weeks.  I’d like to blame my lack of sleep on trip excitement but it was a lot less lame.  I went to bed early with Tyler but was sleeping on the couch and although I logged maybe 4 good hours initially, the rest of the night was lost to worrying Tyler was going to fall off the couch to trying to move him to his own spot to dealing with him crying and wanting back with me to not being comfortable trying to sleep again with him next to me, blah blah blah.  The alarm went off at 345 and that was that.  We’d wanted to be out of the house by 5 but we weren’t pulling away from Sophie’s until 545 which put us finally at LAX, after parking at the long term company & catching their shuttle to our terminal, at 725 for an 830 flight.  No bueno.  It was the domestic leg of our itinerary but still, the terminal was packed with needy passengers and soon we were one of them.   You see, there was this little problem with my passport…heh heh…it still shows my previous married name.  I just never got around to changing it!  I meant to a zillion times, it was on countless to-do lists, but whether it was general procrastination or an upcoming trip that meant I wouldn’t have it back from the government in time, it just never got changed.  And now the day it would bite me in the ass.  Had we got to the airport the two hours ahead of our flight like we wanted to we probably still could have made the flight even with the name change drama, but who really knows.  Had Tony booked my ticket under my passport name instead of my current name none of this would have been an issue at all, but it’s not his fault, why would he think to purchase my ticket (thanks sweetie for the trip!!) under any other name than the name I go by today?  Had we picked a more competent United counter agent we may also have made the flight, but the what if’s got old fast.  Fact is we didn’t make the flight.  Instead we stood in front of said counter agent for about 2 hours, seriously, trying to work out what really should have been an easier problem.  Then again, I worked in the airline industry recently, I know how archaic and convoluted their computer system and procedures can be.  To make a really long, boring, ridiculous story short we got my name changed over the phone with reservations (despite standing at the counter while on that call as the counter agent tried to get the same thing done, albeit a lot slower and for $150 which we didn’t have to pay on the phone) and got us all rebooked on the same flight schedule the next day.  But then suddenly Tony & Tyler’s itinerary disappeared from the system and had to be rebooked!  Good thing that was caught before we showed up the next day and again couldn’t fly!  After 3 hours in the airport we caught the shuttle back to our car and joked with the same driver about our short trip and were off to Santa Monica beach to make lemonade out of lemons.  I’ve never walked along the beach there, nor the boardwalk, nor been to the infamous Venice beach so it was all new and exciting for me.  We had some drinks and people watched and saw the big Jim Morrison mural being repainted and some silly muscley men lifting weights at Muscle Beach!  Haha, good times.  The kids were great all day, not an incident at the airport all that time and then happily riding in the stroller taking in the ocean view with a breeze in their hair.  I guess they were saving up their ill behavior!

LAX Round 2

Getting to the airport plenty early this time was not a problem since we’d stayed overnight in Santa Monica and everything was all packed up from the day before.  As we pulled out of the hotel parking lot we were amused to see Captain Jack Sparrow, or a dead ringer for Johnny Depp as the pirate, camped out under the carport with his 3 exotic birds.  Yep, we’d seen him the day before on the boardwalk, luring tourists in with his fake smile and bird act, earning money for letting people take pictures of their spouses holding a big, colorful parrot.  What a life…and I don’t mean that in a good way, but who am I to judge, maybe the guy is happy?  Anyway, I digress.  At long last, with Starbucks in our hands, and a fidgety baby on our laps, we were on the plane headed to Newark, NJ, for a short layover and then on to Istanbul. 

The flights were actually relatively, in the grand scheme of things, not so bad.  I mean sure, Teagan drove me absolutely nuts and I wanted to chuck her out the window at 35,000 ft but I wasn’t traveling alone so I was able to hand her off to Tony where she suddenly became a total angel.  She is seriously turning out to be a daddy’s girl.  She just LOVES her daddy and is so good for him and happy with him.  Tyler was hypnotized in his seat by The Lorax and Cars movies playing on his personal tv screen.  I, for once, actually watched some movies myself and was pleased that I picked two I don’t want my time back for, even though it was just time sitting on a plane.  I watched the sad and sweet “The Vow” and then heart wrenching but somehow uplifting “A Little Bit Of Heaven” which had me crying like a baby at the end.  I tried and only slightly succeeded at getting some shut eye when my first view of Turkey over the wing of the airplane woke up my spirit. 

I Think I’m Goin’ To Kathmandu…er CATmandu

It’s never quick getting out of the airport when you travel abroad so all the excitement of that view out the airplane window and anticipation of fun to come takes a back seat for a while as you stand, exhausted & grody, in a long line in a humid & almost too warm terminal waiting to buy a visa to enter the country and then another line to have passport control officially allow you in & give you a fun stamp to brag about later.  Bags collected and stacked precariously on our stroller (we left a little room for Tyler to sit!) we headed out into the real heat & humidity (guess there was a/c on inside the airport after all) and luckily caught the bus we needed without issue, securing the last 2 seats on board.  Here’s where I finally had the real thought though that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t actually such a fun idea to travel with kids.  Sure Tyler slept some on the plane but he was groggy & grouchy anyway - who wouldn’t be after pee’ing in his pants on the plane and not being able to get them changed-my bad, I totally forgot to pack an extra pair for the flight but by now they were dry…and stinky.  So when we pulled up to the bus and told him he had to get off the stroller and onto the bus he started melting down, just as the driver was trying to usher everyone on so he could leave on schedule.  We got onto the bus but the last 2 seats available were totally separated, on opposite ends of the bus, and since I was wearing Teagan in the Ergo carrier I just headed for my seat in the front.  But Tyler wanted to come with me and was soon crying & screaming & jumping in the aisle.  My patience was left long ago somewhere over the Atlantic and I just said to him “you have to go with daddy!” in a voice that could have been nicer.  I settled into my seat trying not to squeeze Teagan to death between the seat in front of us and all the bags I was carrying, shushed her brief cries of revolt and then thought about how much easier this would all be without 2 little kids.  I reminisced about the many trips in my days before motherhood, when it was just me & a backpack, or me & a rolling suitcase, and a friend/mate who I didn’t have to watch over, feed, discipline, corral, etc.  Oh well, maybe this will be the last big trip we take for a while, until the kids are much older and can travel better or we are able to break ourselves away from them for a few weeks if they have a place to stay.  That’s fine; who has the money to do these kinds of trips with kids much anyway?!

I read in the travel book that Istanbul has the least amount of green space per capita in all of Europe or something so I was preparing myself to see nothing but concrete but I was quickly surprised as our bus passed down beautiful tree lined streets with center divides covered in lush lawns and manicured, colorful flower beds.  Hmpf.  Of course there was plenty of concrete too and once we got into more of the city center, or one of the many city centers (Istanbul is so huge) the green did largely disappear.  I was reminded a lot of  Europe, of Portugal and various cities in the south of France & Spain by the architecture & street layout.  That last part soon proved to be a challenge after we got off the bus and attempted to locate the apartment that was rented for us all from a map on Tony’s phone which was hard to read in the blinding daylight and was hard to really figure out as we zoomed in & out & around trying to get our bearings.  The next solid hour to 90 minutes we spent looking for our place, trying to read Tony’s phone, asking people for directions, etc.  We had TONS of baggage, Tyler was passed out in the stroller, Teagan was passed out in the Ergo I was wearing, we were all sweating profusely and it seemed for a time we were looking for an address that didn’t exist.  At one point Tony left me with the kids, stroller & bags as he went to look and I stood there so long in this side street of cafes & little shops that I began FEELING eyes burning into me and my ears were BURNING from the whispers about me.  Not that it was negative so much as just inquisitive, and in my mind comical.  Sorta.  After a while I actually muttered aloud “seriously? I’m STILL standing here waiting for tony?!”  There was a little (VERY little) café that I think had nothing inside except the kitchen and there were half a dozen men sitting outside on these short stools all drinking tea in the traditional Turkish way.  Before coming to Turkey if you told me someone was having “tea” I would imagine a…tea cup & saucer.  Well they have a slight twist to it here.  The cup is glass and is like the top half of an hourglass shape, tulip at the top then curves in then bells out at the bottom, like the size of a large shot glass.  The saucer is glass too and there’s a teeny tiny spoon to stir in the sugar.  They all seem to drink this tea that I would find out later is a mix between Early Grey and, oh hell now I forget, maybe black tea?  Anyway, there’s no cream and it seems like everywhere you go all the men are drinking it.  Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen any women drinking it!  Interesting…  SO, Tony gets on the phone with the property manager of the apt and finally gets a more “real” address, as if what we had before wasn’t real.  We decide he should go scope it out first instead of us lugging and dragging everything in case it’s another dead end.  I was starved and thirsty so I found a place for me & the kids to camp.  At that point I didn’t want any guesswork, no unknowns or at least very little, so when I came upon a “Mexican” place that was that.  I ordered a “dark” beer and nachos & then tried to relax a little while crAzy American videos played on the many flat screens in the place, the bass pounding for the few ears that were there.  The waiter was TAKEN by teagan who I’d plopped on the long table so she could stretch out and move around.  He held out his arms, looked at me briefly as if to ask “it’s ok?” and then scooped her up.  He was a youngish guy, it was random but sweet and genuine.  He stood there with her a minute goo’ing and bouncing her before looking at me again, this time with the “it’s ok!” look and then walked the few booths distance to the end of the restaurant where 2 girls were sitting and then he showed Teagan off to them like she was his own and the 2 girls were loving it!  One of them even stretched out her arms to hold Teagan but I think maybe the waiter knew that would be crossing the line considering he already carried her away from me.  I wasn’t so much worried, I actually would have even been ok if the girl had held her, it was much more secure that the place was virtually empty so I couldn’t lose sight of her or have any obstacles in my way if I suddenly had to jump up and run after her.  Yes, all this crossed my mind.  But I felt at peace and knew it was all ok.  The waiter brought Teagan back to me and then my Efes Dark beer (which is my new fave, at least while in Turkey) and soon my nachos.  I’d figured there probably wasn’t going to be an issue with the nachos, I mean how much different could they be made?  I was pleasantly surprised, they were pretty good, tho I think I counted only 7 pinto beans, there was some nice tomato, white cheese, roasted red pepper and…julienned pickles!  Tony showed up just as I was about to shovel the last 2 chips into my mouth and I innocently said to him “Hi sweetie, here have some nachos, I saved some for you!”  He told me he found the place but there was yet another glitch, our key had been given to another friend of the wedding party who was staying in the apt next to our’s but he was out sight seeing & we didn’t know when he’d be back.  Lovely.  I’m not sure what the alcohol percentage of this Efes Dark beer was but considering I was running on next to no sleep and next to no food, the beer had gone straight to my head and boy was I feeling Goooooooooooood!  I was cool with whatever at that point.  We packed up our stuff, paid the bill and walked the few blocks to our apt but then of course we had to camp out at the café across the small street as we tried to contact anyone who could contact the guy who had our key. 

As we sat we saw countless cats & kittens running here and there, lounging, dodging people, standing in the way of cars, etc.  It reminded me of Rome and I later found out that just like Rome, Istanbul has a “problem” with cats.  There are just so many and they roam free and aren’t fixed so are constantly having litters.  It’s sad and many of them don’t look so good, and many probably don’t even make it, but it seems the Istanbulis live harmoniously with them and put out water & even food for them and treat them like they are just another neighbor in the hood.  I decided shortly I was probably going to do a “Cats of Istanbul” photo book!

We sat on little stools at a little table outside a little café you stepped down into off the very narrow one way street, waiting, and having another beer.  Suddenly a familiar face appeared, it was Deutron, the bridegroom of the wedding we were here to attend.  He is a friend of Tony’s and is marrying Evin, a Turkish girl.  He apologized profusely for all the  mix up and sat with us while he continued trying to figure out how to get us into our apt.  It was just a joke to us at that point, after all that travel, with the kids, exhausted, hungry, dirty and we couldn’t even get into our place!  As we sat there the small street (basically an alleyway) would suddenly fill up with people chatting & smoking and then they would disappear.  This happened a few times before we realized there was a school of sorts (trade college) right there and it was probably break time whenever all the people would come out.  It was just a hint of what was to come in Istanbul.  Soon we took Deutron’s offer to stay at his apt that night and we walked to his place (leaving our bags inside the building in front of our door) which was 15 minutes away.  No sooner did we get there did someone show up who was staying there too that said he’d just said goodnight to the couple that had our key and they were heading back to our building.  I told Tony I just wanted to be in our own place so we schlepped back and knocked on their door and FINALLY had our key.  It wasn’t their fault at all, apparently the property manager was a shuck and was going out of town and just wanted to offload all the keys even though Sager & Avni didn’t think they should take the keys in the first place.  Alls well that ended well, we were in our own little apartment and finally could get some rest. 

The notes in my little 4”x3” notebook have lots of scribbles of memories from the day, including seeing a guy with a shirt that said “I’d Do Me” to another who had a totally killer tattoo of Darth Vader on his forearm to the fact that the smell of the Hookah pipe was totally in the air everywhere and while we were sitting with Deutron and his fiancé Evin joined she brought some traditional, special food that I couldn’t resist trying even though it was meat.  It’s called Tantuni and is basically a wrap of veal, parsley, tomato & herbs and then you tuck in a very thin, long yellow-green chili pepper.  Oye!  SO good!  Deutron also taught me how to say “thank you” in Turkish which is basically “t’sh-ook-ar ear-ah-deem.”  I wasn’t quite sure what to make yet of Istanbul or this trip but it was starting to look up.