Pieces of Me

On a very angry morning at men,I condemned my self to the streets of Beyoglu as probably all women with the same condition did in its history.

It was quite early and deserted hours for Istiklal and seing the entry of the new Botero exhibition I was very curious about, I jumped in.

And found pieces of me..

and of even Thomas unexpectedly.

Isn't this what  a piece of art about, to find pieces of you in the pieces of art in a divine peace and to heal.

So I spent more than an hour healing, looking at more than 60 paintings and a documentary about my new, dear Fernando and taking pictures for this post.

The day ended in peace, in the streets with street music,

and a good turkish coffee watching the passangers 

 

Making A Home, So Far Away from Home

I have joined to sis' friends to be together for a special sunday breakfast in Polonezköy in the occasion of a good friend 's birthday

Polonezköy is in the countryside in the very north of Istanbul

ut what makes Polonezköy so special and so different than the texture of Istanbul is not only the greenery,

The history of the village is quite interestng. It was built as an emigration center to Polish in 1842. So far away from home..

Hence the name Polonezköy which means Polish Village in Turkish.

"At the beginning, the village was inhabited by 12 people, but there were no more than 220 people when the village was most populated. In the course of time, Adampol developed and was flooded by a lot of emigrants from the rebellion in November 1830, during the Crimean War in 1853, and by runaways from Siberia and from captivity in Czerkieska. The first inhabitants busied themselves with agriculture, raising and forestry. After Polish independence in 1918, many returned to Poland. Before World War II, the first tourists already began to arrive to the village. The remaining inhabitants of Adampol (Polonezköy) took Turkish citizenship in 1938."

Still the inhabitants speak the Polish language and the signs are both in Turkish and Polish

Today Polonezköy is an excellent escape for Istanbullers like us on weekends.

The spring, the unaging spring is already here. I enjoyed my short walks to take photos and caught up the birthday wishes at the end of their long wee session.

Today Istanbul

I have been under the spell of Istanbul's sunset and chat with starngers and took photos near Kabatas. The best photos I have taken, I believe are the ones of those strangers that I will send to their email address that I was given and not quite have the right to publish.

If isolated from the chat with strangers,

Kabatas is ferries and rush

And keep in mind, ferries mean seagulls

Always..

Kabatas is this unique beautiful break in the sunset by the clock tower of Dolmabahce Palace

Kabatas is the parliament blue and the gold 

colors of the enlightening on monuments in the evening sky

 Kabatas means my decent meatball guy Hasan in his colorful workbench

Out of home as I read the last pages of the nice book of Aret VARTANYAN: A Breath of Istanbul

A Place I Always Like to Be: Colmar

Colmar is a beautiful city and a christmas wonderland with its 4 large christmas markets.

It is halfway between Basel and Strasbourg, approx. 1 hour by train which costs 20 Euros with return.

Strasbourg is Sad When You Are Sad

Strasbourg is confused when you are confused

Strasbourg is humanless when you are alone

Strasbourg is weary when you are weary

P had a phone call from Turkey aand tears rolled down her rosy cheeks after the crispy morning's shower : grandma passed away and P couldn't attend to the funeral since her papers were not ready.

Keylimiz - Our Kehl

I can not deny it I am in love with this bakery in Kehl and so fond of those cookies especially those star cookies (étoiles glacées). Look at that holy light coming from the doughnuts..

Strasburgumuz - Our Strasbourg

In one of my flights to P, in the plane, I met this very interesting Turkish lady from the South who had to escape to France as a political refugee with her husband where she started from scratch a new life. She was back to Turkey too attend a funeral after almost 20 years. She told me about the story of her brother-in-law who was killed in a political manifestation and after visiting the country at the end of thosse 20 years, she sadly looked at me and told me with her deeply watered eyes that all those political battle was in vain, all that they have lost, all that has been deyed was so in vain, that war of those times, brother killing brother was such an absurd act.

And as we landed at Basel-Mullhouse airport, she had a joy unpredicted by me and inhaled and said "here we arrived at our Switzerland !"

Well, she was exiled and had "their" Switzerland.

After this unusual flight friendship, P whose husband and both herself lawyers for human rights, P and I, named each of our places "our"s: our France, our Strasbourg, our Monoprix, our Tarabya, our Bakifkoy, our Alsace, our Kiziltoprak, our Migros, our Kookai..

So here we are in our Strasbourg chatting and laughing likeanytime we are lucky to come together, anywhere on "our" Earth.

in our streets and in our cafes..

as long as we are free and have each other.

anywhere on "our" earth

On the Road Again

After coming back from Greece I slept for 12 hours than was awake for 2 hours and slept back for another 10.
And had to prepare my luggage in a couple of days to head for my P and lovely husband's new apartment, 5 mn from the EU building.

Well, need to make a correction. I had to prepare my luggage in the curious company of Thomas of course.

Well, one may be surprised on how much a woman would need for a holiday of 5 days only.

Back to my Greece For A Day

I had to go to Greece for one day only :(
Well, everything was just as I left it only with a cooler weather, the cafes, the ouzerias, my favorite bus drivers, all elenis, all thakis, my lovely home store owners, just my favorite restaurant was in renovation and closed but our lady in the kiosk never deceives me, she was there too.And she waved his hand and laughed to invite me closer after taking this photo and offered me 4 happydent chewing gum as an good old friend gift although we couldn't understand each other's language and none of our words. She knows.. that I am so much into her and so many things about this lovely little town.

A new discovery has been Kratas though in the bakery where I was waiting for my bus. Oh, I was delighted by the softness of the outer shell and the aroma of the inner side and tried to understand what it was inside. The ladies in the shop who happened to be very serious in the beginning laughed at my interest and surprise in Kratas. Although language was not a way to communicate, they were able to explain me that they were rose "lokoumis"(delights) that they wrap in the delicious soft dough prepared probably with butter and nuts. Oh, my!

I bought some rose delights from the shop and will try to find the recipe in the internet somehow.

Reckoned Me