Istanbul - March '06

After the end of Lent term, a group from the program went to Istanbul and Thessaloniki. Steven, just returning from a round-the-world trip, met me in Istanbul for a long weekend.

Near Galata Tower
Lots of amazing neon
5 Kat sign
Trendy Cuppa
Flowers, Taksim Square
It's a face!
Yikes!
Self-portrait 1
"French" street
Gate
Halva - yum!
Flavin-esque
Bakery sign
Grand Bazaar
New Mosque
Antique thingie
Artichoke, Istanbul Modern
Manti, Istanbul Modern
Dolmas, Istanbul Modern
Sign, Pera
Construction, Pera
Construction, Pera
Building in Sultanhamet
Near Hagia Sofia
Hagia Sofia
Hagia Sofia
View from Sulimaniye
View from Sulimaniye
View from Sulimaniye
Cafe, Pera
Steven, Pera
Pera
Self portrait 2
The next 'hood
The next 'hood
Window grate
Kitty
Ladybug cakes, Istiklal

Happy Birthday!

There was mine (along with several Cities ProgramME Capricorns), and there was Drew's. D&R came for a visit in mid-February. It was America at home, as David & Martin were also here (Martin took us to see the Flamenco Queen at Sadler's Wells), and John too. (curiously, I have few photos of any of these events). Another title for this post could be "Catch-Up II."

Weekend flanerie:
Steven at Flavin retrospective
Graffiti w/ xerox photo

When the boys were visiting, we ordered "takeaway" from the Moroccan place downstairs. The delivery was about 4 guys making multiple trips up & down the stairs carrying these ceramic tagines. I think we might do this again!
Tagines from Tagine

British Museum:
Reading Room
Enlightenment Gallery

Our local fire house:
keep out!
we mean it!

Happy New Year!

Well, what else should I call my first post of '06?

This winter it snowed a few times:
That's LB's wreath

For New Year's Eve we went to Brighton with Suzette. It was drizzly and blustery, but very pretty. Unfortunately most of the photos zapped off my "device." Grrrrrr!
Royal Pavilion
Royal Pavilion
Suzette & Steven

Kooky art students being mysterious, I think... I spotted these flyers as I was walking from home to the Westbourne Park tube station:

Catch-Up I

Picture Dorothy oiling the Tin Man. I'm feeling a bit rusty boys & girls. When last we blogged it was October and Lauren was visiting. Here are some random shots that have been maturing in various digital formats since then:
Persian market, Kensington High Street
Tiny booze delivery wagon
Steven & LB, Seven Dials
Blind person rappelling down CentrePoint
Blue Room cocktails w/ Brian & Lauren
One garnish tier already consumed...

Venice:
Flag on back of airport taxi
Palazzo window
Another palazzo
You know, that bridge
Cafe
A few more venice pics from regular camera coming soon.

Back in London...
Somerset House, near LSE (fountains now covered by ice rink)
Post Office Calendar
Portobello Market stall
Where Bill Clinton was sitting while Steven & I were having lunch at Automat
Tea at Yauatcha

Up For Air!

So I've got a couple weeks with only a pile of research to do, two papers to write, and a million books to read -- a breather! Quick update: Steven and I are settling in to our new pad, which is in the shadow of the Trellick Tower, right across the street from Stella McCartney Ltd. at ninety-seven Golborne road in London. Our post code is W ten (space) five NL. Home phone (with a functioning answering machine!) is (dialling from the US) zero one one, four four, 203 (brand new exchange for London) 235 double-0 19 (I'm not typing out the numbers so as to avoid being "scrubbed" and then getting junk mail & calls)... Anyhow, no photos just yet, as the iBook has died once again. This time it's actually good news, because instead of replacing the logic board (whatever that is) for the umpteenth time, Apple is replacing the tired old 30 gig G3 with a brand new 40 gig G4! Supposedly it'll be in on Friday, but this being England, I'm not holding my breath. If our BT Broadband connection at home actually works (which supposedly it will tomorrow), I'll try to post some pics this weekend. Cheerio 'til then! xoxo

Random

This is Neal's Yard, part of the space I'm analyzing for my design studio (along with Neal Street):
Neal's Yard

This is something you can buy at Sainsbury's:
Faggots in sauce
Yet another trip to Columbia Road Flower Market:
Technicolor heather
Trapped gnomes
This man wouldn't move

Then I dragged everybody up to Modern Art
Steven
Barry McGee installation
This is a different view...
S&M 1
S&M 2

Yesterday was the first pub night of the newly constituted (by me) RISD London alumni group. Five or six people came, plus LB and one guy's partner. Networking and weird connections ensued (one of them knows Lauren's brother from architecture school in Idaho -- Random?)...

Today on the way to LSE I stopped at the British Museum with Lauren.
Street lamps
Persian pottery
Persian tile

Frazzled

Sorry for the dearth of posts, folks. I've already completed a statistics course and part of the first studio assignment before the term even started. Today is the first day of Michelmas Term, I've got a solid day of economics, and our first presentation is tomorrow at 1:30. Also, my class is filled with uber-competitive overachievers. I keep telling them to chill out, but they won't listen. I'll give you more sugar when I can. Over and out.