Travel | A Week in Istanbul

It’s a little funny to write this post about my week in Istanbul when I know that I’ll be heading back there again the day after tomorrow. My (working) vacation had been planned ages ago and then I recently received an invitation to participate in a work meeting in Istanbul this coming Tuesday. So exactly one week after returning to Bremen, I’ll be off again to Istanbul! But before I do, let me share at least some thoughts and photos of the city.

Unfortunately a bit of my travel excitement and anticipation was dampened by the terrorist attacks that have hit Istanbul and other Turkish cities this year. And indeed another explosion took place near the Grand Bazaar two days after I returned to Bremen. My heart breaks from all the needless suffering and fear, but I am so glad to have the opportunity to visit such a vibrant and energetic city!

Friends and I stayed in the Alibeyköy neighborhood, which is about 20-25 minutes north of the center. With 15+ million people, the city is enormous and I felt like we expended enormous amounts of energy moving from one place to another. Istanbul has a subway system, but it wasn’t anywhere near our neighborhood, so we were dependent upon buses, which are prone to getting stuck in never ending traffic. Instead of stressing about it, we just went with the flow and didn’t hold ourselves to too strict of a sightseeing schedule.

Armed with guidebooks, cameras, and bottled water, we more or less just wandered the city. I loved walking through Taksim and Galata (modern day Karaköy) with no specific goal in mind. The architecture and dramatic contrasts between modern and medieval, Western and Eastern, fascinated me to no end. We walked over the Galata Bridge during the golden hour and climbed the hilly streets up to the Grand Bazaar — built in the 15th century, it’s one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, housing over 4000 shops in a maze of intersecting passages. Normally huge crowds in tight spaces aren’t my favorite thing, so I was happy to see that we reached the Grand Bazaar near closing time. This let us visit without the thronging masses.

Another evening we took a ferry from Kabatas to Kadiköy on the Asian side of the city (Istanbul is divided between the European and Asian continents!). And on Saturday we took a day trip to Heybeliada island (which deserves its own separate blog post). Like any other big city, Istanbul can be an exhausting assault on the senses, so my favorite moments were sitting on the balcony of our Airbnb apartment in the evening, listening to the calls to prayer echoing from the surrounding mosques.

Ok, so that’s enough words for now. How about some photos?

Beautiful, isn’t it? For a few more photos, you can check out my Flickr album — and get a sneak peek of our day trip to Heybeliada, if you can’t wait for my next post!

Have you been to Istanbul? What are your favorite memories of the city? If you haven’t, is Istanbul on your travel wish list?

May 17, 2016

InstaMeet Hamburg

Rambler Rose ??? #wwim13hh — Rambler Rose. Via Instagram.

So you know I love Instagram, right? It is definitely my very favorite form of social media. And that love has quadrupled since I bought my very first iPhone last fall. So I didn’t think twice about signing up for the InstaMeet Hamburg last month, especially since I had so much fun at the last one I attended a couple of years ago. Even though the weather was unseasonably cold for April, I bundled up as best I could and took the train to our neighboring Hansestadt.

Pretty much as soon as everyone arrived at the meeting point in the Harburg area of Hamburg, it full on started to snow, rain and hail and pretty much didn’t stop for about an hour and a half. Let me tell you that carrying around an umbrella while trying to take photos is a bit of a logistical challenge, especially when your fingers are so cold you can barely make them move. Sigh. Despite the miserable cold though, everyone was pretty goodnatured and made plenty of jokes about Hamburg Schietwetter. We walked through the Harburg harbor area, along the water and through old industrial areas. Right up my alley!

The sheer quantity of photos I took was much lower than at the last InstaMeet, but I still have a few favorites to share with you, plus some outtakes that I like, but which probably won’t make it into my Instagram feed. You’ll also notice that while Instagram is famous for it’s square format, they’ve transitioned to allowing for landscape and portrait photos too (although they still appear square in your thumbnail feed).

Can't believe these tulips have survived and thrived in the sidewalk cracks of Harburg! #wwim13hh — Can’t believe these tulips have survived and thrived in the sidewalk cracks of Harburg! Via Instagram.

One final photo from the #wwim13hh before I sign off for the evening... (With more to come tomorrow!) — Via Instagram.

Half and half. ? #wwim13hh — Half and half. Via Instagram

Rain, snow, hail and a tiny bit of sun during today's Instameet in Hamburg. I'm only now starting to get the feeling back in my fingers. Brrr... #wwim13hh — Via Instagram.

Hamburg InstaMeet — An InstaMeet outtake

I didn’t stay as long as I wanted at the InstaMeet because I reached a point where I couldn’t feel my fingers or my feet anymore — but maybe we’ll have more luck with the weather next time! And speaking of next time, I seriously think that the Bremer Instagrammers should be putting together our own InstaMeets too! Who’s in?

Did you attend one of the InstaMeets happening worldwide in April? Did you discover any new Instagrammers I should definitely follow? (And don’t forget to follow me too!)

May 10, 2016

Balcony Garden | 2016

Wow, the weather has been absolutely fantastic around here lately! After weeks in April of snow, sleet, and rain, I feel like we’ve definitely earned it. Breakfasts on the balcony for the win! Who knows how long the weather will last, so I took advantage of the warm temperatures to spruce up my balcony and get it ready for the rest of the spring and summer.

Now that the stones on my balcony have been repaired so that they don’t wobble, I bought an outdoor mat to go under the table. The only thing that’s still missing is a sun umbrella, because, wow is that sun intense midday! I already have my eye on a couple, I just have to bite the bullet and figure out transportation.

Last year I bought a small corner shelf for plants, which I promptly filled up during a sunny Saturday a couple weeks ago. Take a good look at these plants now, because there’s no guarantee that they’ll last the season. ;) Although, two of my geraniums did actually survive the winter in my apartment, so I must be doing something right. Now that it’s more or less finished, I have to say that my little outdoor space makes me so very happy.

So, what do you think? I’m pretty happy with the results and am hoping for plenty of sunny days to spend out here. Curious about my previous balconies? Here’s a few posts from both Berlin (2011, 2012, 2013) and Bremen.

May 6, 2016

InstaFriday | Möbel

I have to admit I’ve been loving the non-marathon training life these past two weeks — getting my balcony ready for summer (more on that in a later post), taking care of a few other household projects (like new chairs for the dining area!), visiting friends, running for fun — in other words, normal life.

With my newly found free time, I’ve also gotten sucked into Snapchat. It took me awhile to figure out what it’s all about, but thanks to posts from A Beautiful Mess and The Alison Show, I think I’ve got the gist. I basically ignore the direct Snapchat messaging (I really do not need another messaging app in my life), but am really loving the storytelling aspect of it. Since everything disappears after 24 hours, I find I’m using it more for the small moments throughout my day which aren’t really Twitter or Instagram worthy, but which I still feel like sharing. You can find me there under: noapathyallowed. Let me know if you’re also on Snapchat!

I’m also planning a couple of fun upcoming trips… Next week I’ll be heading to Berlin for a few days to attend the Democrats Abroad Global Convention — among other things, to choose our delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention in July. Did you know that US Democrats living abroad have the same number of delegates at the DNC as the state of Wyoming? And we have our own set of issues that we try to get incorporated into the party platform. (So I guess I’m officially outing my political affiliation with this post, but it probably doesn’t come as a major surprise to anyone reading this blog anyway!)

Then in a few weeks, I’ll be heading to Istanbul for both work and fun. I delayed booking anything for awhile because of all the unrest, but the organizers of the conference I’m attending are still holding the event. So I’ve decided to go for it, mostly because I really hate the idea of giving into all the fear. Now I’m super excited and really can’t wait! I’ve been browsing Vayable.com for food and other kinds of tours, but I would love to get your suggestions of things I shouldn’t miss in Istanbul!

P.S. You can tell I’m an Instagram addict because I keep typing Instanbul by mistake. :)

Are you on Snapchat? Or are you resisting succumbing to yet another social media app? Who’s been to Istanbul? Did you love it?