"I was walking in Istanbul.."

Yesterday I started at Taksim and walked for five hours! I had no plan, just started walking. (I like to do that in NYC, too!) Ya never know what you might find. (Photos below)

I found an old junk shop in a posh area of the city. The man who owned it said he was a movie actor. I was a little bit skeptical...a movie star who has a junk shop? Then I thought...well maybe it's a hobby like Paul Newman with his race cars? He spoke barely any English but he had a Turkish-English phrase book, and it was filled with pick-up lines in English!!!!!!!!!! HAHA! He pointed to my camera and to him and me...'blahblahblah' in Turkish so I said "Ok' and had someone take our picture together. Then he looked at his phrase book and said, "You have beautiful eyes" and looked at me seriously. He paged through his book again and said, "Did you come from heaven?" I couldn't help it, I just laughed and laughed. He looked puzzled. He must have thought he pronounced something wrong so he read it again: Did you come from heaven? Which only made me laugh even harder - my stomach hurt from laughing so hard and I was practically crying! I don't think he knew what to do so he laughed as well. Then he turned the page of his book, I was trying to leave, but he held up his hand like "wait"...so I waited and finally he got to the page he wanted and said, "May I see you tonight?" Since he couldn't understand English there was no way to tell him "I am busy" or whatever, a nice excuse of some sort... so I just had to say "No" in Turkish. He looked very sad. He pointed to his guest book for me to sign as I was leaving. It had a space for name, from where, and email address. Oh, big mistake! When I woke up this morning I had an email, "Hello Briget, how are you this morning? You are lovlier than a rose."

BTW, I did google him and he's had a few bit parts in some movies, including one this year: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0884805/usercomments

Further on I saw a mosque I wanted to photograph. The best angle was from a parking lot. The old man who was the attendant saw me and ushered me into his "office" for what he thought was a better angle for the shot. His office was outdoors, along an old wall which had a great view of the Bosphorus and the mosque. He must have been working there for years as he had all the comforts of home right there. There was a grape arbor above, pots of flowers, chairs, a table and beyond this he had his supplies...food, pots and pans, an habachi...and his prized possession and the only English he knew, "Jack Daniels"! He offered me some, I declined :-) He gestured toward a chair and I sat. He sat across from me. We chatted for a few minutes, him speaking in Turkish, me in English and neither of us minded that we didn't understand what the other said. We admired the scenary and discussed it. I admired his flowers and roses, and he told me all about them. He asked me to take pictures of him, then I said I had to go, and he nodded and smiled and bid me farewell.

I got a phone call from a friend, who asked where I was? I said I had no idea, so I looked for landmarks. She met me there and we had something to eat at the below pictured cafe.

OH! I was right about the nanny! One day she told the kids to go outside to play, and they did, and they disappeared. She (nanny/housekeeper) came running to me almost hysterical a while later, she couldn't find them. I figured if I were them, where would I go? The swimming pool of course! So I ran down there and that's where they were. NOT GOOD AT ALL! She was honest though, and told Nihal what happened, and the next day she was gone. Now there's another nanny/housekeeper here - Lila.