It is our final morning in eastern
Europe. We watch the Asian borne sunrise seep over the jade mountains to the
east, float across the iconic Bosporus,
to illuminate one of the jewels of the world—the
Blue Mosque. Not really, we actually are back home. I am jet lagged in my
office (my son's old bedroom) trying to focus on the dim sun that leaks over a partly cloudy San Jose. Life is
good.

had tanked. Carol says that is not what the F. Scott
was talking about. Thus, we contemplated our change status (changitude?) We had not gained weight, no change there, in
fact Carol had lost some, although her suitcase had mysteriously put on 12
pounds. On the last two flights, they had red tagged her bag,"...danger
overweight, consider use of lift." Our diet had changed, sliding more
veggie on the veggie/ carnivorous scale.
A Croatian Mixed Grill will do that to you: all ham
appetizer, entree of
3 kinds of sausage (Jimmie Dean, Red Hot and Ballpark Frank) and 3 mystery
meats - one could have been veal, don't even ask about dessert. Burkas don't
freak us out anymore, not after you see that most have jeans and Nikes on underneath
plus a tattoo or two. Just ladies with some different rules. We might have a
new ethos or in Midwest talk "Tude" It is derived from a metaphysical
tenet exposed by mid 20th century philosopher Ferris Bueller (of Ferris
Bueller's Day Off, a deeply misunderstood movie. Some people actually thought
it was a comedy!):
"Life moves pretty fast. If you
don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it"

Later after a Die Hard worthy tour
group escape and a
cocktail sunset, Carol spied a sign,"Panorama
Restaurant" on the top of an old school hotel. It had a great view of the
massive Hagia Sophia. However, It turned out to be only a Halforama, maybe a
Quarterorama and it was cold with the
east wind howling. We would have bolted for cover, except we had a couple of
spectacular G &Ts sitting in front of us. Things were not going well for a
special final night. Then, the Muslin call to prayer started, the five times a
day ritual that is incredibly exotic, stirring, reverent and irritating, all at
the same time. This particular caller had to be the James Brown of local call
to prayer wailers. He felt "Good!" It was epic, it was freakin' Muscle Shoals soulful. Meanwhile the
Halforama filled up with thirty or so striking steel jawed men in sport coats.
Two charmers engaged us in conversation. They and the others were officers in
the British Army assigned to battle tactics development. They had traveled to Turkey to study the
Gallipoli invasion, a disastrous landing
attempt by a mostly Australian force in World
War One. Wikipedia says it was a
nightmarish blood bath for both the Allied and Turkish sides. To learn more,
netflix Gallipoli, the 70's movie with a young, sensual and then closet
anti-Semitic Mel Gibson and the 2015 The Water Diviner starring Russell Crowe
who is still trying to rehab from his throw up singing portrayal of Javert in
the miserable Les Miserables. Just an opinion. Carol asked the officers,
"I thought the modern warfare would be gorilla war, not assault
landings." They said, "Russia, China." I said, "Well, at
least no more cavalry and oxen drawn cannon." They said,
"Afghanistan, Syria, Iraqi." We ordered more gin.
We were told that Istanbul has a
population of 20 million plus at this time of year a half million tourists,
every day. It felt that big, that unwieldy. So, we went Bueller, we tried to
look around. It was hard, Istanbul is one big ankle breaking tripping hazard,
restaurant barkers attack from the side, rug salesman nip at the stragglers,
rumor has it there is a bounty on pedestrians, worst, you never, never have the
one lira needed to use the WC. But if
you pay attention sooner or later - magic happens - "Holy Shit" and "Oh My"
moments. Istanbul is fascinating but, you know, our fellow ragtag tourists were
too. Maybe that is what Ferris meant.
Thanks to those who took time to read
some of this smack. You really need a hobby. A shout out to the real writer in
the family, Kristi for putting these together. Most of all thanks to Carol for
being the cutest and best travel companion ever. She is even hooking me on her
Hop On, Hop Off Bus addiction.