Mail Art #111 and exploring Istanbul

 This is my second card in Istanbul. Beside from Turkish scraps, I used the skull from a Tate Modern brochure. It fit so well.

 This surprised us as we walked DOWN the steep hill. The minarets appeared over the hill. We knew we weren't in Richmond, VA for sure.

 A bit further on DOWN the hill, we saw this ruin and the contemporary building behind it. It's so very much Istanbul, the very old, the old, and the contemporary. What an amazingly interesting city.

 After exploring a bit down below, we used a map we'd picked up (at Cuppa, the breakfast place, more on that later) to look for galleries. However, it was Monday and they were closed, as was the Istanbul Modern. As we walked UP hill towards the big commercial street (Istaklil) I saw these hanging pieces and looked in the window and there was an artist's studio. Wow, it looked like MY studio, meaning lots of materials and tools. It wasn't open. I would have loved to chat with the artist about what she did.

Notice how steep the hill. Here is the view looking back down the street. Can you tell how steep it is?

 Here we are walking UP further. There were some steps at this part, which I gladly used.

Looking back down the hill. Way off there in the distance is the area across the Golden Horn.

This walk was on Monday, our first day. We were getting the "lay" of the land and it was all UPhill and DOWNhill from what we could tell, at least in "our" neighborhood, Beyoglu.

Here are the Turkish words I knew when I arrived: merhaba-hello, lütfen-please, teşeküler-thanks

Istanbul, day 1 and mail art #110

 This is the first mail art that I made in Istanbul.  You can see that I was able to glean materials right away that set this in place, Istanbul, Turkish language, all there.

 My mail art making stuff! Since we were in an apartment, I was able to set out my tools and my gleaned materials.

 We had the use of a wonderful apartment, given to us by N & J's friends, who live in London, and whom we got to spend a couple nights with while there. The apartment was up high, so there was a view of a slice of the Bosphorus and the other side of the Golden Horn.

 Here's the stair case we had to go up and down, six flights. We were very proud of ourselves, we did it twice a day. Okay, so we had to stop a couple times and let out hearts calm down and our breathing become regular, but it wasn't too bad.

 The view looking down the street, down, as in down hill. See the bit of red canopy on the left there? That's a grocery store and just beyond it are steps going down DOWN leading to a street and goes DOWN and when you get to the bottom, you're nearly to the Istanbul Modern Museum of Art. After that, you have walk UP, that is until you figure out how to take the funicular up, which one does, rather quickly.

 View from the bathroom window.  You can see a sliver of the water, and the minarets behind the chimneys on the left.

View from the dining room window. In the distance, is the other side of the body of water known as The Golden Horn. More on bodies of water later.

We still can't believe we were in Istanbul. Amazing.

Last of London & Mail Art #109

This was the last card that I made while in London. It has lots of bits of memories on it and just looking at it now, makes me happy we had the chance to be in London again.

Here's a view from the top of the bus. We're were riding from Sarah & Peter's back to our Hotel by Waterloo Station. I loved riding on the top,  what a view.

Saturday, we had a really fabulous experience. We went to the wedding of Andy and Elena, my MailArt365 friends, at Fulham registry hall. We had to take the tube to a new area and find out way, which we did without a problem. We got to meet Andy and Elena's friends and family. I will tell you this, those are two beloved people. They were surrounded by warmth! The ceremony was quite lovely and was in a room that you knew was just so historic and British. It's the town council hall, I believe it's called that, but on Saturday's it's a wedding chapel. We were thrilled and delighted to be part of this celebration. Afterwards, we walked over to Aziz, a Mediterranean restaurant and had delicious food and amazing cake. Andy promised the cake would be amazing and it was.

Now, on to Istanbul. We had to get up VERY early to catch our flight out but I'd arranged for a van to get us and since it was Sunday morning, there was NO traffic and we made it to Heathrow with plenty of time to get a coffee.

More London

 Here are a few things that I saw that stuck in my mind. No where in the United States would I ever see a Socialist Bookshop sign to prominently displayed.

I really liked seeing this little boy's enjoyment of the Dufy painting. His father was listening to him talk about the painting.

 A street with neat doorways.

reflection in a glass wall

 A vew across the Thames towards St. Paul's.

 The National Theatre building.

 Approaching the Eye and a large crowd of people.

 Those baskets hold a lot of people. They're huge.

Taken as we crossed the Thames. Notice the people walking along. Thick with people. This was the second sunny day that we had in London.

More of London, an old friend, mail art #106, 107 & 108

#108

 It was such fun to take the Tube and we did mind the gap. It's quite easy to get around on the Tube and the buses. We bought  Oyster cards, which allowed us to get on without buying tickets each time. Very convenient. We felt like Londoners (well, not quite.)

 We'd arranged to meet my old friend Andrea and little Beanie mouse at the Tate Modern. Here we are after spending a good portion of the day together at the Tate, before Andrea and Beanie headed home to Hove. I've been corresponding with Andrea for a very long time, so it was like meeting an old friend though this is the first time we've met in person. You can read about their adventures here.

 We went to the Victoria and Albert to see their amazing ceramics collection. We were particularly interested in their contemporary ceramics. What a treat. We got to see the exhibit curated by Edmund de Waal (who wrote the book I read called The Hare with the Amber Eyes) of one of a kind contemporary ceramic works. We saw his installation of white ceramics on a red shelf set high up in a dome. You can see it on his site. I was really happy to be seeing this, since I'd read about it.

 The Victoria and Albert is a wonderful museum in a wonderful building.

#106

 Here are two more pieces of mail art that I made in London. You can see by the bits and pieces I used that they are place specific.

#107

Here are more Mail Art cards that I made while in London.












The card I made while having lunch with Andrea and Beanie at the Tate Modern is at the very top.

Some photos in London

The old Vic theatre was right near our hotel. What a thrill to see it. Too bad we couldn't have seen a play there.

 This is one of the few remaining telephone boxes in London. Sadly, there isn't much need for public phones these days.














Ah, the mail artist's heart goes pitter patter at the sight of a mail box.

This is the bridge that crosses the Thames from behind the Tate Modern and leads to St. Paul's church. You can see what a typical London day it was.









We had a really lovely, sunny day our last day in London. Here's a view of the EYE from our room.

The travelers return! and Mail Art #105 of 365

We're back from our 26 day travels, and have so much to share about our adventures and my mail art. Where to begin! LONDON: This icon was at Heathrow airport. I'd never seen one like this and found it really cute.  Our hotel was very basic, we like it a lot and it's location down from Waterloo station was perfect. We could walk to the Tate Modern and the Thames easily, and we did. 

 At night, the London Eye was lit up, you can see a crescent section of it between the buildings from our room window. We didn't take a ride on it. It looked awesome up close. 

We went off to meet with Andy and Elena, my mail art friends, the very first night we arrived. What an adventure, jumping onto the tube and coming out to be greeted by Andy, whom I'd known only via our internet projects. Here's Mini-Andy. What a terrific evening, with cheers and Andy making us dinner, and afterward we made mail art!  This is the piece that I made #105 of 365.