Originally, I was supposed to catch a 10:30 am flight from Rome to Istanbul, but due to the lack of people wanting to risk a visit to Istanbul in the wake of the spring bombings, that flight was canceled and I was shuffled over to a 7 am flight. Which sucked, in one respect. However, I got to Istanbul before lunch, and was able to have a nice lunch before hitting the sights.
I have been a bad blogger and have abandoned this place for too long. I have several posts in queue, but recent events have pushed this one to the forefront.
I think most people have at least heard the song, first recorded in 1953 (the 500th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire), it pokes fun at the renaming of the ancient city.
Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it’s Istanbul not Constantinople
Been a long time gone
Old Constantinople’s still has Turkish delight
On a moonlight night
Every gal in Constantinople
Is a Miss-stanbul, not Constantinople
So if you’ve date in Constantinople
She’ll be waiting in Istanbul
Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it, I can’t say
(People just liked it better that way)
Take me back to Constantinople
No, you can’t go back to Constantinople
Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That’s nobody’s business but the Turks’
Hello Geeks!
Still playing catch-up on the blog. Today we have pictures from my visit to The Vatican. And no, I didn’t meet the Pope. Apparently that’s on Wednesdays, and frankly, I was on a schedule.
My apartment in Rome was just south of the Vatican, and I could hear the church bells when I sat out on the balcony, even though I didn’t have an astonishing view as in Florence. But the train station that was merely steps from my building was the closest to it, so any time I ended up in the station, there were nuns, priests, and monks thick on the ground.
Hello all! I’ve fallen behind on the blogging, but just because I was having so much fun!
I promised better pictures than those from my phone, so we’ll start off with the beauty of Florence.
Warning: Image Heavy. REALLY image heavy.
Hello again Geeks! It’s been a weird 2016 so far, what with the layoffs and such. I’m still trying to figure out my next step in life, and as stressful as it is, it is in a way, liberating. Yes, I have to watch my money, and searching for a job is no fun, but I also have a little bit of freedom to figure out what I want to be, and how I want to approach life.
I won’t say that I’ve been depressed, because I’ve seen depression, and I don’t think my struggles have been that hard. But I have been down, waffling between hope and exhaustion. In order to kick-start my mood and tell myself life will still be good, I decided to indulge in my favorite thing ever, travel.
Thanks to Turkish Airways, I was able to get a round trip ticket to Italy for a steal. So tonight, I’m sitting in my AirBnB apartment in Florence, looking out my window at the bell tower of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Il Duomo), and blogging about my adventures. Pretty okay, right?
Warning: Image heavy.
