Another weekend

The shipment has still not arrived.  After I signed papers, I got word that they needed my passport.  But I remain conficent that it will come in the next few days.  Wednesday is a holiday, so we might be in a position to spend it unpacking.  I've already begun an invitation to our "My Ship Came in"  Party.  There's a nip in the air and we are going to be wanting some blankets pretty soon. 

Yesterday was Saturday and Sim and I had a good exploring afternoon and evening.  We took the bus to Besiktas,  about a 15 minute ride along the Bosphorus.  We browsed a book store and I bought a Romeo and Juliet in Turkish and another pocket Turkish-English dictionary. We then took a long walk past Dolmabache Palace (and Sim swears the guards outside are statues, I say they're alive.  We were across a wide busy street and they definitely didn't move a muscle.)  We walked up through a large park and over to the Nisantasi neighborhood.  Orhan Pamuk grew up in that neighborhood and it figures large in his memoir Istanbul and in his latest novel The Museum of Innocence.  It's a very fashionable area,  Armani, Vuitton, etc.  Beautiful people in black abounded. 

We walked to Kabatas, took the funicular to Taksim Square.  The walk down from Taksim to the Galata Tower (and then even more so the walk back on our way home)  is the biggest strolling crowd I've ever been in.  We window-shopped, stopped for mezes and drinks, wandered through the fish market, then the Avrupa alley where we bought a couple of photos of Ataturk,  stopped again at the James Joyce pub (where they have not a single Irish beer).  We went again to Molly's cafe by the Galata tower.  She was having a double birthday celebration: hers and the cafe's.  Free food, inexpensive drinks, good conversation. 

The trip home, door to door, took about an hour and 45 minutes.   Some of it was walking in the huge crowd from Galata to Taksim, which is fun as long as one stays mellow while doing it.  We waited awhile for our bus at Kabatas, then there was some traffic on the road along the Bosphorus.  And of course the end of it all was the 15 minute uphill walk from the front gate.  We need to get clear on how to do the bus from Taksim that heads uphill at some point and can deposit us a 10 minute downhill walk from our flat. 

Today after I did the Times crossword, some laundry, etc., we managed to get a cell phone and then took the bus to Ortakoy for some grocery shopping and to buy a covered cat litter box (and some air fresheners; this adorable kitten's poop stinks big time). We bought some lovely salmon fillet and had that tonight with a caesar salad. (I made the dressing, but, alas, no anchovies because I couldn't find any.) 

Anybody coming to visit?