Istanbul@2005 T.R. RyanIstanbul, December 31, 2005
Heather and I, friends and fellow expats we, came to Istanbul for the long New Year's weekend while we were living in Torino, Italy. Italians love their long "bank holiday" weekends and we were ever so willing to fill our passports with those gifts of days off, long weekends and cheap plane fares.
Because of the proximity to Athens - our home the previous year, Istanbul had become a favorite city for both of us and what better destination to ring-in the New Year. It felt a little decadent as the weekend before we spent Christmas in Nice and St. Paul de Vence in southern France. Hey now, remember, we were away from our families for the holidays and we were also working in an old Fiat plant in the part of Italy that looks like Ohio. So getting away in the dead of winter was a top priority and Istanbul for New Year's Eve was the perfect place to stave those industrial Italian winter blues. We were six weeks out from the Olympic Winter Games, the means of our employment, and this promised to be the last footloose and fancy-free weekend in Europe.
Oddly, my journey back to Oklahoma began on this very day. While resting for the evening's festivities in my hotel room, I received an email from my sister to return her call without haste. She announced her very unexpected pregnancy and that phone call unknowingly ushered momentous changes to my life as I thought I knew it. Never...say never!
Because of the proximity to Athens - our home the previous year, Istanbul had become a favorite city for both of us and what better destination to ring-in the New Year. It felt a little decadent as the weekend before we spent Christmas in Nice and St. Paul de Vence in southern France. Hey now, remember, we were away from our families for the holidays and we were also working in an old Fiat plant in the part of Italy that looks like Ohio. So getting away in the dead of winter was a top priority and Istanbul for New Year's Eve was the perfect place to stave those industrial Italian winter blues. We were six weeks out from the Olympic Winter Games, the means of our employment, and this promised to be the last footloose and fancy-free weekend in Europe.
Oddly, my journey back to Oklahoma began on this very day. While resting for the evening's festivities in my hotel room, I received an email from my sister to return her call without haste. She announced her very unexpected pregnancy and that phone call unknowingly ushered momentous changes to my life as I thought I knew it. Never...say never!
Grand Bazaar@2005 T.R. Ryan
2 comments:
Wow. For now, I can only dream of traveling as you have (stuck at home for PhDs and BS degrees for now), and look at your photos. Beautiful.
How exciting. I came to your blog via Nina's site. I really like your writing/photo style. I, too, am a wanderer. I've also just come "home" to my hometown after 25 years of travel. If you don't mind looking at my blog you will be surprised to see a post about Turkey today. I'm eager to revisit your spot.
Post a Comment