Chasing Tiffany: July 14 Hot in the city

July 14, 2012

Giant Squirrels

After a slow waking morning considering our late night Friday at the garden wedding, we slathered all exposed skin with spf 50 and headed out into the heat. We made a quick stop at the apt where the rest of the group was staying in order to find out what, if any, the plan was. They were going for a brunch but we didn’t want to wait any longer so we planned to meet up later and down to the tram we went. We got off at a new stop, a few past where we caught the boat for the Bosphorous ride, since I’d remembered seeing lots of shops & eateries along that road. Indeed that was the case, but like most touristy areas, you see one or two souvenir shop, you’ve seen ‘em all. Of course I was still on the hunt for a bunch of items to take home so this was good but I tried to make each stop quick for Tony & the kids’ sake. We stopped into a little café for a Turkish coffee and baklava which was so ridiculously sweet I really couldn’t eat it. They looked like little birds nests with a few nuts in the center and dipped in honey. One bite was enough! Even Tyler was overwhelmed by the sweetness so Tony ate most of it. We continued walking with a 30’ stone wall along our left which finally ended to reveal a gate to Guhlane park. It looked way too inviting to pass up and we thought it would be nice for the kids so we strolled in. Greeting us on either side of the long, wide walkway leading into the park were giant stone squirrels begging us to climb up and take a picture, so we did. Totally random that there were giant squirrels there, but whatever. From there we just walked slow, taking in the expanses of green grass to our right and left, a fountain and the gorgeous tall trees which provided desperately wanted shade. I have no idea what kind of trees they were and I’m wondering how I can find out…although what difference is it going to make if I know their name? I want to paint them though so I took a bunch of pictures. They were very tall and skinny with an almost spotted bark (I think it was just peeling but there were different colors that came off/remained) reminding me a little of Eucalyptus. Near the top of each tree, about 30’ up, there was a little wooden bird house! I never saw what kind of birds they were for but it was really cool. Tyler wanted us to lie down in the grass and relax, like we do back home when we take a blanket to Delores Park or Golden Gate Park. We obliged him for a little while and actually I ended up chasing him around per his request more than lying in the grass, but soon we had to go so we could eat lunch & meet our friends on time.

Check please!

Lunch was very overpriced, esp. for the amount of food we got, but it was our fault for picking a place smack in the middle of tourist central. Well it seemed like everywhere we were in Istanbul was tourist central, but this was right across from the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, Hippodrome, etc. It’s like eating at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. We ordered a Turkish Pida which is basically like a pizza, shaped like a flat boat (2 pointy ends, widening as the come together but no more than 4” wide) with the dough edge folded over and left alone like a pizza crust but in the center is cheese, meat, veggies, whatever. We got just cheese and it was SO YUMMY but SO expensive (20 tl or $15’ish) and we split it between the four of us so I could have eaten at least another whole one to myself, but…yeah, not happening, and actually probably for the best in consideration of my waistline. Tony was totally put off by the prices, even though he agreed to it and bought an overpriced Raku anyway. Tyler broke a wine glass farting around with it and Teagan was getting all fussy so it was not a relaxed meal, sadly. To top it off on the way out Tyler tripped and fell and while he was ok physically he just fell apart wailing in tears. It was hot; I wanted to start wailing also, regardless of falling.

Hot Stuff

Everyone was meeting that afternoon to go to the Hamami or Turkish Bath, which I himmed & hawed about before making sure Tony wasn’t dying to do it (since one of us would have to stay with the kids) before saying I’d join. We were supposed to meet back at the apt where everyone else was staying but when we got there no one was there. We got a call from Evin before long and she told me where the Hamami was – unfortunately all the way back where we just were! But whatever, I said goodbye to Tony & the kids and took the tram myself to meet everyone at the Cemberlitas Hamami, the oldest Turkish Bath in Istanbul (if not all of Turkey) built in 1584 by Mimar Sinan. The men went one way and the women another, sent up a flight of spiral stairs to the dressing floor which felt somewhat Japanese to me with the little locker/changing rooms behind sliding doors & windows with wood slat floors. We were handed a pestamal (cotton wrap/towel) and a pair of disposable black bikini underwear – which were folded up small and inside one of those little drawstring bags you often get jewelry in. We weren’t sure if they were to be put on now or for after the bath when you were all clean, in case you didn’t bring with you a new pair of undies. So we just wrapped our pestamals around our naked bodies, slipped on a pair of the generic, communal “flip-flops” and went back downstairs for further instruction. We’d also been given a wash mitt, brand new and in a small, gold box, when we paid for our service which we brought with us now. We were told to go through a doorway into a small’ish room with benches around the edge where women were waiting in their pestamals for their massage or facial services, and then through another door into the main area or hot room. Hot is putting it mildly and suddenly I wondered why in the hell I’d willingly come to such a hot place when it was already a million degrees outside and I didn’t have to pay anyone to sweat my brains out! The steam hit my face like a wall and I caught my breath, adjusting to the temperature of the air now filling my lungs. It was a large circular room, everything made of marble, the center of which was a large, raised, circle of marble where easily 10 women were laying around the perimeter, head to feet, being washed while several others lay in the center of the circle waiting to be washed. There were women of all shapes & sizes, lounging or being washed, as well as half a dozen masseuse ladies. In general I think you are supposed to sit in the center of the circle for upwards of 20 minutes to relax, open your pores and prepare your skin for the scrubbing, but as soon as we got in there (I went in with Evin & Posi, the rest of the group still changing) one of the masseuse ladies waved me over to her section of the circle, took my pestamal to lay it down on the marble but then saw I was buck naked and she said something to me in Turkish, pointing down, to which I just shrugged. Evin jumped in to exchange a few words with the masseuse who then left the room for a few minutes, to get the 3 of us another pair of the bikinis to put on! Hahaha, in the meantime I was standing there in all my glory, which ultimately wasn’t a huge deal since there were only women in there and they were all half naked themselves, but I think it was more about the fact that we didn’t understand and did something “wrong” that made me feel that much more ashamed as I stood there exposed. The masseuse returned after what felt like an hour but was probably just 2 minutes, I slipped on the bikini (as did Evin & Posi under their pestamals) and then sat down on the marble slab for an initial rinse – a bucket full of very warm water the masseuse got from a little alcove right behind her where there was a faucet running into a marble basin. It wasn’t too hot but it was certainly a bit shocking, esp. since I wasn’t expecting it and wasn’t given warning before it “heaved” at my chest & shoulders. It was surprisingly soft and amazing actually. The lady held my hand and stepped back, looking at me with raised eyebrows and, as if speaking for me, made a loud “aaaah” sound. My masseuse wore a black bra & the same black bikini as me, she had a round, well lived body and was short with short dark hair. I instantly felt taken care of in her hands, like she really cared about me! After I laid down on my tummy, head on the back of my hands, I felt another warm rush of water over me which made me raise my head up so as not to inhale any water or get it in my ears. My lady nudged my head back down and now the scrubbing began, a rough-enough exfoliation but nothing painful. She went over my whole body a couple times before giving me a little pat on the tush to get me to flip over and then she scrubbed me all over the front. Next was the most amazing foam wash, I was laying there staring up at the domed ceiling where a filtered light was coming through a whole bunch of orange sized holes and then a row of 6 sided stars about the same size when my lady reached into a shallow basin to the side of me and pulled out what I thought was just a large hand towel soaked in sudsy water. She sorta snapped it or something and it seemed to inflate into a large balloon which, while holding onto one end with one hand, she then “wrung out” with a pumping motion down the length of it with her other hand. It happened very fast and was very trippy to watch but as the waves of foam landed on me I was totally taken away by the absolute heavenly feel of it. It was like being covered with a warm, weightless blanket. Now my lady washed me, spreading out the foam and giving me a light massage as she went. Only a few minutes and she had me flip over and again I felt that amazing warm foam blanket. I tried to just totally lose myself at this point as she massaged my neck, calves, arms & back. She sat me up and continued the washing with my arms outstretched, her holding one of my hands and massaging me with the other so I was able to have a limp arm and totally release into it. She was singing to me, not softly but not loudly, in Turkish so I have no clue what the song was but it was totally cool. I imagined being some rich lady back in the 1500’s when the bath was built, coming in to be scrubbed & washed, being totally taken care of. You see those period movies where the women have personal lady-in-waiting who dress them, bath them, do their hair, etc. and that’s what I was thinking about and pretending to be. The bucket of hot water came over me again and again the “aaaaah” from the masseuse and this time I really felt my body going “aaaaah.” She moved me into one of the alcoves through a high arched opening (all marble) and had me sit next to the water basin – floor, basin, walls, everything were marble. She disappeared for a few minutes and I wasn’t sure what to do so I just tried to relax and wait. When she came back she went immediately to my head and started washing, so I guessed she had gone to get a handful of shampoo. It lathered up so fast and wonderful, I was shocked. She gave my head a little scrub/massage and then the buckets of warm water rinsed my hair. I was afraid all of a sudden that the water might run pink because I’d had my hair dyed so recently and it was still showing up on my towels. Never found out though as I was next stood up and ushered to the “Jacuzzi” through another high arched doorway across the room. Just inside the doorway I found another long, narrow tub “room” – the entire space was a giant tub, all the way to the walls with a little walkway at the end where you went down a few steps into the warm water and sat on an underwater bench along one side. I didn’t realize how deep it was when I stepped off the bottom step and nearly went under before my tippy toe touched so needless to say I had to do a little swim over the an empty space toward the end of the tub where a fountain was “spraying” more water in. The whole room was marble and the whole tub was marble and again I imagined ages ago soaking in here with the outside world SO different than it is today. There were a couple other women in there that I didn’t know so I just sat and tried to enjoy every inch of the lovely warm pool and soon I was joined by Nebobi (Neutron) who sat next to me and chatted with me a bit. Though I felt like I could stay all day in the “Jacuzzi” I decided it was time to get out before I turned into a prune and also so I could try to get a pedicure from the nail lady as an added service. I did score that last bit and was finished about the time everyone else was done with their scrubs, Jacuzzi & massages. Funny thing though, as I was getting the pedicure a lady hustled over to me and pointed down at the flip-flops I’d been wearing from the changing room and after she said something in another language I realized I had actually taken a pair of someone’s real shoes!! I’m not sure how long she was looking for them before she found them with me but I felt silly and bad though she didn’t seem mad. It was her darned fault anyway for leaving them outside her locker where all the communal shoes were! Haha!

Tingling and Revived

The ladies in our group all finished more or less at the same time and regrouped in the lobby area only to find out the guys had finished a lot sooner than us and headed out to start their “guy time” since the plan was to split up guys & girls for dinner and then meet up later at some club. We started out walking back to our area of town, all of us wanting to do some shopping along the way, so considering there was almost 10 of us it was inevitable we’d lose each other. I just didn’t wait for anyone and let them know I’d meet them at the restaurant. I couldn’t be held back and they shouldn’t be held back by me. I scored some finds and caught the tram back the rest of the way, running to squeeze into it as the doors were shutting since I didn’t want to wait a minute longer out in the sun & heat for another tram. The people aboard looked at me like I was a lunatic as I fought to squeeze through the closing door, even getting my hand pretty smushed and nearly having my bag ride outside the closed door! I didn’t care, I mean I didn’t care what the people thought of me although I did feel kinda stupid esp. since my hand was killing me and while I was pretty sure no bones were broken I hoped the pain would go away soon.

Tony was at the apartment hanging out with Tyler while Teagan slept. I gave him the Hamami story then headed back out with Tyler, Teagan & Dawn to meet Alison to walk to the restaurant. Tony would wait at our apartment for the guys to swing by and get him and Segar. On my walk back to the apartment I had passed a square along the promenade where a SLEW of police in riot gear were gathered, waiting, so I had my fingers crossed they were gone and nothing had happened since we’d have to walk right back by there. I don’t know if anything happened but they were gone when we walked by. We found the totally cute restaurant in this totally cute little local’s club/bar/restaurant area where it was only foot traffic on the narrow alley roads. Luckily Tyler had fallen asleep in the stroller and stayed asleep the whole dinner, though I still had Teagan to take care of (no high chairs at this swanky-chic place!) but she was pretty good. I dropped a grip of cash on red Turkish wine and dinner, which I split with Alison since she was the other veggie there, so it was a totally expensive day but fortunately they normally aren’t. Dawn & I bailed “early” around 1045 before Tyler could wake up and put on his Mr. Cranky-pants routine which almost always happens when he wakes from a nap. The dinner was technically for Evin’s birthday and I was bummed to leave before the cake came out, but I couldn’t risk the Tyler meltdown. The streets were packed with people out mingling, going to dinner, smoking & chatting with friends, walking here & there, it was just quite a scene. Back at the apartment I could hear club music from somewhere below us though I didn’t recall seeing any club. The bass was totally thumping up through all 4 floors to us and I could imagine being totally irritated by it if I wasn’t so amused and actually dancing around to some of the songs! I put the kids to bed, did some blogging and turned in myself. Tony came home around 330 I would find out in the morning!