SANDStorm

Ok, we have just recently realized that our photos are massive. We apologize for the time it takes to download and I guess we’ll figure out as we go along how to make them smaller for you. We also now realize that the blog looks funny in Internet Explorer – therefore we recommend you use Firefox…

• The rug salesmen all seem to have better Japanese than I ever did. boo hoo

-s

• Healthy looking, friendly stray cats roam around the city (and thanks, Kathy for the hand sanitizer – it certainly comes in handy after petting stray cats).
• The overnight bus has drinks and snacks served to you by a bus host or hostess. Counteracts the horrors of having to sit through two hours of a Lance Henriksen movie dubbed in Turkish.
• Rosewater is sprinkled on your hands after meals (or after using public toilets — public toilets should probably also be on this list. Almost always has toilet paper and you can usually take your pick between a western and squat toilet depending on your mood).
• St. John the Baptist’s arm bone and top of his skull are located in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. Very cool.
• And the best one yet — everyone thinks we are French!

-s

We made it to Istanbul at 3 a.m. on Wednesday morning and we figure by now people are beginning to wonder what might have happened to us. Have we kept you in suspense long enough? Sorry, we didn’t mean too – we’ve just been too tired to blog. Although the hostel we are staying in has wireless we can only access it from the lobby which makes it a lot less convenient than blogging while sitting around your room watching BBC Prime, the only English-language channel we can get.

We’ve done the touristy stuff for the past two days as well as just wandering around the city trying to get lost. While walking around we’ve run into some fantastic sites and smells (there’s a kebab stall on every corner – yes, it’s all about the food for me). Here are some pictures we’ve taken in the past few days.

Large piece of mosaic from the Great Palace Mosaic Museum which Derek took me to. The mosaics were part of a palace built around the 6th century which no longer exists, although the mosaics have been excavated and put into their original position 20 feet or so below current ground level. The mosaic floor runs at least 100 feet long, although I’m horrible with dimensions so maybe it was longer, maybe it was shorter. Seemed pretty darn big to me.

A highlight thus far – the Suleymani Mosque.

Outside the Blue Mosque. We went during prayer time so we couldn’t go inside – maybe we’ll try to visit it again today.

Seeing how far a Scotsman can stretch a kilt around a fat American (photo below).

And a lovely photo of us with our friend Kirstie after the wedding (photo below). We didn’t get any photos of what Scotsmen where under their kilts (same as Americans on this day), but let’s say the ventilation is adequate.

-posted by Thrashin Badger

(photo above)The French fans at the Three Sisters pub celebrated wildly when Zidane put the first one in the goal. But his goatish behaviour got him thrown off and insulted by the middle fingers of a presumed Italian supporter (photo below). French fans were much more kind to his lunacy.

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I’m a big fan of Scotland’s national dish, haggis. Three years ago on our first visit to my favorite UK country, our friends cooked up a big dinner of haggis, neeps, and tatties. I know it doesn’t sound as wonderful to you as, say, a big steak with a baked potato, but really, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. I’ve thought about the beauty of the well-balanced fork full of peppery haggis, mashed turnips and potatoes on many occasions since that night, wishing for my next chance to have it again. I even searched in vain around DC for a grocery which stocked haggis.

Sometimes I think it’s a good policy to just enjoy food without knowing what’s in it or how it’s prepared. For example, it’s hard to truly enjoy a couple of pieces of baklava after you’ve slathered pounds of butter onto the phyllo dough. That’s been my attitude towards haggis, too. Until today.

I just couldn’t help myself when I walked into Tesco Metro supermarket and headed straight towards the meat section. I picked up the haggis and didn’t even flinch. Are you ready? Do you really want to know?

pork lung (33%)

pork fat

pork liver (11%)

pork heart (1%)

something called “rusk”
I haven’t looked up “rusk” yet, but not because I’m afraid – just because I’m lazy. Whatever it is, I’m still going to eat haggis with gusto.

FYI – Vegetarian haggis, although tasty, just doesn’t quite measure up. It’s a little too dry and more easily falls off the fork.

-s

After three days of rain and fog (no complaining here – the Edinburgh atmosphere is only enhanced with foggy alleys and rain-soaked stone buildings), we can finally see a blue sky.

Turbo and I headed out early this morning to run some errands before tomorrow’s wedding. D is borrowing our friend’s kilt for the wedding (stay tuned for photos!), but needed to rent some proper shoes so we went to High Street in search of a kiltmaker’s shop. We happened upon a large crowd outside of an old gothic church watching a marching band play. Today is the one-year anniversary of the London bombings, so we were able to figure out that it was a memorial service.

Once the band finished playing we watched a caravan of black sedans slowly leave the church and pass us on High Street. Seating in the rear passengers seat of the first sedan was the Queen, followed by the second car with Prince Charles. As quickly as they came, they drove away, but not before we snapped a few photos.

I got ready to leave the house for a walk around the neighborhood this afternoon. I wanted to go wander through the narrow streets and ogle at the multi-storied, 17th century stone buildings covered in years of grim, however as I slung my purse around my shoulder the sky turned grey and down came the rain. Sounds of thunder rumbled through the sky accompanied by quick flashes of lightening. Funny. Looks like the DC flood of 2006 may have followed us here.

So, we turned on the Brazil-France match we taped the night before and although I knew that France won the game, I was still on the edge of my seat as Brazil tried in vain in the last ten minutes of the game to even up the score. What a game!!

We got to Edinburgh on Friday afternoon after a long flight from Dulles to Edinburgh, via Amsterdam. It was incredibly difficult to leave DC, not only because we were leaving our apartment, our friends, and our life in DC for the foreseeable future, but because we ended up sitting on the tarmac at Dulles for three and a half hours before being cleared for departure. Apparently storms over the east coast closed down the airport and so we sat, and sat, and sat on the plane while the captain came over the intercom system every half hour or so, lifting up our hopes of leaving and then crushing them again.

But we are here now, staying with a friend of ours we met while in Japan. She’s an incredible friend and host, not to mention a fantastically creative cook. I don’t plan to do much in Edinburgh except to sit around and chat while eating yummy canapes and, apparently, watching the rain fall.

-s