blues in istanbul

i've climbed out of my hibernation hole and am starting to post pictures from my trips again. i never did finish prague but i was there for a month and the organization process is going pretty slow. i've landed in the mountains of costa rica now and find there's plenty of time after dusk to catch up.  

so. turkey. i'm referring to the country, not the impending holiday feast. for two weeks at the beginning of october my mom and i romped around turkey with a tour group. ahh yes...a tour.

-noun
1. a large herd of cane-wielding retirees hobbling after a guide toting an umbrella traveling place to place via charter bus.   

no, no, no, we were a cozy crew of 13: a turkish tour guide, two australians, two canadian couples, three americans and one british schizophrenic named william. needless to say, everyone was dynamic and lively and just so wonderful. one night they even paid me 40YTL  to jump into the hotel pool (thanks ron!), so they pretty much had my love right off the bat.

we began in istanbul.

the blue mosque circa 1616. unfortunately my lens wasn't wide enough to capture the full scope of this one but wikipedia has a lovely one here.

more stories and photos to come (i promise this time!), but for now i think i hear a rattlesnake a shakin' outside and it's begging me to leave this room. ciao