Thursday, May 22, 2008

Didn't your mother tell you not to climb on rocks

Hello all,
Two weeks now and not a pip. You must be salivating for the next leg of my journey, laid out in exquisite prose for your reading enjoyment. (Can a journey have more than two legs? I mean if there is a journey animal, then it can, right? maybe four? I know. The journey animal has 10 legs as there were 5 members of the original touring lineup. Don't stop believin') In reality you most likely deleted the link and I am typing a pointless diatribe to my self. C'est la vie.

The trip over left the slightest bit to be desired. The champagne was served in flight slightly above the preferred temperature (48°F). The airline stewards did not greet me with the traditional "Good morning monsieur Carroll" to which I am accustomed. Furthermore the pepper-flaked pate infused Brie was a touch on the runny side.

Oh yeah, in "real life" I sat sandwiched between a snoring Englishman and one of 14 women all wearing the same shirt going to Istanbul for some sort of female version of a bachelor party. Lovely.

After listening for hours to them make noises not unlike a flock of hens discovering an open bag of chickenfeed we arrived in Istanbul. There I was picked up by my gracious and wonderful partner, the beautiful, the intelligent the resourceful, Rana.


The first few days have been filled to the brim with a murky liquid called jetlag. Whoever tells you it doesn't exist is selling something. A heavy malaise hovers expectantly over even the most minute action. For example, every time I sat down I felt like I'd been doing ab exercises with the men from that "300" film. Out like the lights at an all-girls boarding school was I.

Now that the jetlag has run it's course like the cruel drug it be, we decided to go hiking today . I can't tell you how beautiful it was. It was beautiful (ok so I can). At least that is until I fell off of a rock wall looking while looking at the black sea. I'm fine, I'm fine. No need for the letters and flowers I'm sure you were going to send, but I was doing one of those "things." You know those things that your mother told you not to do.

I was "horsing around" on the rocks and I paid the piper with a leg like a used bowling pin. Wee. The walk back to the ferry that had brought us there was fine, didn't feel a thing. Once I sat for a while though my shin ballooned, a marshmallow in the microwave-like heat of Istanbul.

With some trouble I disembarked and made it to the Dolmuş (a little yellow mini-bus) which would take me to safety. Here I lie. Beer in one hand, leg (the third leg of my journey?) elevated, and shin covered in a makeshift ice pack (frozen onion rings). Oh how the semi-mighty have fallen. More soon. Love to you all.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Numero Uno Posto


As promised here be the blog (sounds like something pirates would drink). Ok I understand that it is a little silly to start a travel blog decidedly pre-travel but I've got to warm me little appendages somehow! So as I am new to this world of literary spewing I will make this first one a bit on the short side.

This is a picture of a daily event I already miss, cappuccino hour. Depicted are monsenior Kern and I enjoying our final capps together. Probably the best photo of either of us in existence.

In other news, the non-working life is nice as I am finding time for things I have all but forgotten. For instance I've taken up fencing over the last two days. Any sport where you get to wear a kitchen strainer over your face and wield a sword is in fact my bag. Other hobbies include roller luge and the ever popular curling. Curling, for those of you who do not know, is bartender practice for giants and incidentally the only sport to include brooms.

I have found time for two of my real passions cooking and writing. Turns out they don't necessarily mix. Paella all over my prose, pretty greasy.

Wrapping up my fantastic 4 years in Seattle is no easy task. I can't believe there are so many things to do and people to whom I need to say goodbye. No goodbye really. As I said to someone on my last day. I'm not quitting, I'm just not coming in for a few years.
So maybe I'll just say "good day Seattle, I said good day sir" I will miss the way you look as the sunsets over the Olympics.