Glad I came when there was snow on the ground. As part of my prep I watched some Turkish cinema, especially the work of Nuri Bilge Ceylan. One of his, Uzak, is shot in Istanbul in the snow. I basically walked through the landscape and set of that film this afternoon. Ceylan is a great photographer — my favorite of his stills is this street scene:
The Gideon’s did not place a Bible in my desk, but someone did affix a compass rose with the heading towards Mecca.
Just when I discovered the compass rose the muezzins in the neighborhood began their prayer calls. Amazing sound, beautiful to behold.
Dinner — walked down the street, found a little cafe and sat down with the Kindle. I caught a chill so a bowl of yellow lentil soup felt in order, followed by a grilled halloumi cheese and mesclun salad, and a brace of spicy Adana kebabs — meat on a stick, with rice, roasted pepper and tomato, and bread. Perfect. Now for a Restoril chaser and nine hours of sleep to make up for the insomniac-over-the-Atlantic move.
