So Long Istanbul & Mail Art #116, 117 & 118

 Images from our days in Istanbul. One day, we opened the apartment door, and saw this cat eyeing us suspiciously.  There were cats everywhere in Istanbul. We would see food and water left out for them, and at times, see cats congregating in an area waiting to be fed perhaps.

 A dessert sampler plate at Saray on Istiklal Cad. We got only one, and then had to order a second as these were so delicous.

 This is Chuck inserting a token into the turnstile so that we could take the tram at Tophane.

This is the tram that we'd be riding on. They're so modern and easy to use. I am envious of localities with public transportation like this. Envious!

 This is the inside of the Sultanhamet mosque. The tiles are really amazing. One can't get a good closeup of them so postcards are the answer. We entered after prayers, though there were still some people praying. It's an active mosque and we heard the prayer to call earlier.

 Emin Percussion is a small shop with lots of drums, dumbeks, and what we in the U.S. would call tambourines, but are really hand drums, like riqs. The man sitting sideways, seen through the doorway, played them for us when we stopped in earlier in the day. He was so good and what a treat to hear live music in that little space. I wish I'd gotten a close up as the musician was playing but I was too enthralled by the music.

 Here is the typical tea in glasses. This cup was from when we were outside of Aya Sofia, with Katerina. We had many, many glasses to tea during out visit to Istanbul.

 Along the Bosphorus, as Julien was taking us up to the Black Sea. Asia is other other side and there's a big tanker in the water headed north.

 This is an old fort situation where the Bosphorus  meets the Black Sea. It was an amazing feeling standing there looking out at that body of water. In the near distance were ships waiting to enter the Bosphorus and on the other side, was the part of Europe that my father came from. I got a bit emotional thinking about that. Sorry this is blurry. Chuck took some really good one, which I may post later.

#116

#117

#1118

These are the last pieces of Mail Art related to Istanbul. I had to take them to France to me, since I had no time to get to the post office to buy stamps or mail these. The last one was on the way,  via Lufthansa to Munich, for our connection to Paris.