Back to Shanghai

Scenes from Shanghai in March.

Fur cap = so good.  Did not buy, though.

Kitty jacquard at Miu Miu!

After lunch at the fabric show.  Zzzzz....

The 5-year-old me would have FREAKED OUT at this stuffed animal store.  The 38-year-old me sorta did, too.

Airport signage.  I love the emotion this implies.  I'm not throwing away my liquids pre-security.  I'm abandoning them.  Wait, wait!  I'm sorry liquids, I didn't mean for it to end like this!  I'll always remember you!

Spring Is Here

This sign captures the frenzy.  Vattenmelon!!!  What else do you eat when the weather turns??

The days are getting longer.  The sun's setting later and rising again around 4 am right now.

Lunches are taken outside, gulls are everywhere.

Of course, there are perils to sitting outside.  

(This really happened.  I must note that the fly was not IN my soup, but arrived in my mouth at the EXACT same time as the spoon.  How's that for timing?)

All of the classic cars are on out and about.  Supposedly, there are more classic American cars in Sweden than in the US right now.  There's a fun fact for ya!

And it's festival season.  Only in Sweden is a Jared Leto band given top billing.  Is this a joke?

Istanbul

My travels rolled on!  Maybe one of my craziest travel days ever was the time I left Iceland at 7:30 am (which meant we were up at 3:30 am), landed in Stockholm at 12:30 pm--which became 1:30 pm thanks to the spring time change (There goes Mother Nature, jamming up my plans.), and then flew to Istanbul that same day at 5 pm.  Which means I raced home and had about 20 minutes to un- and re-pack before getting back to Arlanda.  It was just about the longest day ever.  

I've been a lucky duck this past month or so.  Istanbul was incredible!  It's always thrilling to be in a new place but this is a city so vibrant (Wait until you see the graffiti.) and full of history.  I felt moved walking the ancient streets, marveling at the houses built into the hills, and measuring the cityscape in minarets.  I walked over the Galata Bridge and tried to imagine discovering this place, finding it untouched and knowing you were onto a spot for the ages.

And then there are the omnipresent photos of that elegant gentleman, Kemal Ataturk.  Some people leave books or paintings as their legacy, this guy left a country.  Between his reforms and his dapper stylings, he is one crushworthy dude.   

But really, my favorite part of Istanbul?  The cats.  Oh man.  They get a post unto themselves.

A few shots from St. Anthony of Padua church, where Pope Benedict has been relegated to a corner.  Out with the old...

 Evidence of gluten ingestion.  I am only human.

This is ayran, one of my new favorite treats.  I can't drink it alongside a meal, as it's too filling.  But I love it on its own as a snack.  This one was homemade and had yummy chunky bits.  It was sorta like a feta shake.

And this was some outdated stuff at the desk I was using in our office there.  There are some new life forms sprouting underneath that Tupperdome.

Turkish delight!  I couldn't get enough.  I availed myself of the free samples in the shops, you bet I did! In the middle are cloves, which you nibble on after a meal to freshen your breath.  I gotta bring that to Sweden!

Gettin' pretty.

TiP.

We took a ferry to Bursa one day.

Pretty, pretty Bursa.

The White Castle of Istanbul?  These are wet burgers, garlicy and sloppy and, well... I should have had one.

Hey Beavis, that's "100% BUT" döner.  Heheh.

 XL-ing these two because I love them so much.  This is the fish market alongside the water.  These are the seagulls hanging out on top of it.


And now onto the sites!

This is the Galata Tower.  It was built in 1348.  Wowza!

This is the Blue Mosque.

This is the Hagia Sophia.  There were plenty of kind gentlemen hanging around offering to take a photo of me  here.  Yeah right!  So you can run off with my camera??

Pretty doorway.

Scenes from the Topkapi Palace.

The man himself.

A view from the Galata Bridge.

Fishermen set up along the bridge.

Rod rests, bait, and some of the day's catch.

I waited and waited to get this shot.  My favorite part is the sign above.  He managed to spell "pomegranate" correctly but "greyfurt"?  

Greyfurt made my day.

Strolling with some prayer beads. 

Stuff on Walls--Reykjavik Edition

Reykjavik was alive with street art.

Witness!

Shanghai and HK

Holy crap, I am almost caught up!  Seriously.  This was just a week ago!  This blog is almost topical again!

We were in the States for nearly 3 weeks, arriving in Stockholm on 4 Jan... and then I left the morning of 6 Jan for a week in Shanghai and Hong Kong.  That is way too many time zones (and flights) in such a short period.  

Despite my D-R-E-A-D to get back on a plane, it was great trip to Asia.  (Though my wallet is much lighter thanks to all of the sales on in HK.)  I was surprisingly not too jet lagged, which is probably due to how awesome melatonin is.  What would I do without that stuff?

I was greeted by China Unicom (and their unfortunate spacing issues), employing my FAVORITE Engrish phrase "Welcome to."  I have mentioned it here before, but I am still as taken with this awkward phrasing as the first time I heard it.

As if having it in my own personal text message wasn't enough, I spotted THIS at the Pudong Airport.  Be still my freaking heart!  There it is on the wall!  Y-E-S.

But besides all that, welcome to look at my photos:

Such serious signage on the "luggage handling counter," which is really just the place you get yourself together after being hassled through security.  I shudder to think of the sight of a collision occurring while someone is climbing on this thing.  Oh, the horror!  Thank god there are warnings!

Our new office moved down the road, nearer to the Jing'an Temple.  I didn't go in the temple this time, but it's pretty cool to have it right smack in the middle of the city.

Oh, and this guy's one of two out front.  His paw is telling that baby thing, "Don't mess."

Over in HK, I wandered around the Wan Chai area, where I found the delightful boutique Ka-Pok.  There is a smattering of other cool boutiques in the area, including the Monocle store, which was the least cool of them all.  Unless you need a back issue or something.

I give you Wan Chai:

I snapped this lonely little stool in the elevator on my way up to a fabric appointment.  Guess the elevator attendant had stepped out for a minute.

I am fairly obsessed with the 10 HKD polymer banknotes.  I mean, there is a clear window on them!  And they feel all slick-like in your hands!