Here and There Blog

....and wine and beer.  After leaving the airport on Friday night the first stop was for a forget the tornado glass of wine. Luckily a friend had been saving a big bottle for a special occasion so we broke it open. Didn't help me sleep any but at least I quit jumping.  Saturday found us at Schlafly's Brewery and Tap Room for food and Oatmeal Stout.  Good food, good beer, I'll go back. Like my Cardinal's cooler doubling as  purse?  I had to do emergency shopping for supplies. Kindle, camera, wallet, all perfect fits for the cooler. http://schlafly.com/

Silence.  The eerie uncaptured sound that falls on a group of people who have been deafened by the wind and are bracing themselves for the next wave. The quiet of children not crying, the hush of parents huddled over cradles in an attempt to protect their infant. Multiple texting going on with barely a sound as fingers are too shaky to punch the keypad correctly. The sound of survival. That will be my ingrained memory from the tornado that engulfed us at the Lambert Airport in St. Louis. People have asked if there was a warning. We had no siren, no call to safety. The first sign that the air was different was dust falling from the vents. The swift brush of an air current that wasn't the normal A/C flow. Fluffy particles that landed on my sandwich and prompted me to move away from my seat and unknowingly relocating to the gate that was about to welcome a F2 twister. C16. Wind starts coming in. The bartender shouts for someone to close the door but no one had opened the door. A...

I am safe. As some of you may have heard my airport karma decided to put me right smack where a tornado decided to touch down last night at St. Louis Airport. We had no notice other than the Weather Channel warning earlier in the day and the Weather Channel had it right on schedule. Just didn't know where the tornado would land. As the sirens went off downtown, the airport was quiet...until it was not. I'll post a debrief later but am still processing this now.  Cars and airplanes really do lift up off the ground and land somewhere else. Clothing, items in your hands really do get ripped off and out. I will never be near a window again when a tornado warning is posted.

April. A month of promise and hope in the world of baseball. When we can still cheer for our teams and not be bogged down by the weight of defeat. As a Padres fan, I find it strange that my first game of the season each year has often been at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. So once again I found myself at the Hardee's suite.  The suite has a great view of both the arch and the playing field. Everywhere you look the fans are lost in a sea of red as almost everyone supports their team. Except me. I can't support the rival team after all.  Inside the suite you are oddly disconnected from the game. You have to step outside into the box to hear the crack of the ball and the cheer of the crowd. Tonight was exceptionally loud as the Cardinals were winning and the Nationals, close but no victory.  Thank-you Hardee's for a night of baseball!

 After an all too early wake up call, a long flight, and a short overnight in Anaheim, I wake up this morning in St. Louis. This was one of those stays where I woke up in the middle of the night with no clue as to where I was. Then the rain and hail reminded me, St. Louis. No tornado so all was well. This is a work trip. Off to the baseball game tonight!

Underground Istanbul takes you to the 6th century where you can walk along the cistern that was the water source for the city up until water systems were installed in the 15th century. With no natural light coming in, electric lights cast a fire hue on the columns and water. The photo below is what the eye sees.   And then with an adjustement of the camera, the columns are revealed complete with their base in the water.  Various engraving decorate some of the columns. Two Medusa heads are in the far side of the cistern and serve as the base for columns. This Medusa was set on side,  as if lying down or in death with her head cut off. The second Medusa holds the column as part of her neck.  The origin of the Medusas is unknown and the reason for their placement lost but well worth the walk to the end of the cistern. Basilica Cistern was 10 TL and our wait was 10 minutes. April seems to be a good time to sightsee Istanbul (if you can handle 1 sunny day a week.) ...

Upon entering the Hagia Sophia Museum the first impression is of the vastness of the size. The structure is large and one would expect it to be the same inside but the words of the tourist were of surprise. The main attraction is the ceiling decor, the mosiacs, and the odd combination of mixed religious icons.  Built in the 6th century as a church, later converted to a mosque, destroyed and rebuilt several times the museum can either be a 20 minute power photo session (like mine) or a good hour if you explore the grounds. With the sun making a rare outing today, plenty of light shown through the stained glass and focal point for the room. Dating from the 9th century, this mosiac of the Virgin and Child is faded and up to the imagination.  The Mimbar for the mosque was crafed in the 16th century If you go, the entry was 20 TL and a 15 minute line wait. For the price, spend more time there or use this as an alternate site to the Blue Mosque for a less crowded experie...

Time off work and a sunny morning - what could be a better start to a day than to go to the Sultanhmet area and wander around? Above the Blue Mosque and below the Hagia Sophia Museum. Okay, a local cafe with a beer also makes for a great day! I'm tired of water when it is falling from the sky but upwards projection is kind of fun.

With the morning fog lifting, I could finally see the view. A large mosque is surrounded by densely packed apartment complexes, all with a multitude of satellite dish networks on every possible roof space.

The subway that I take to work is easy to figure out but credit cards and receipts are not part of the process.  The machines take coins (green) or bills (orange). Have 5's and 10's ready. A yellow token pops out and your change into the change area below. You can buy more than one token at a time.  The token goes into the slot to the left of the green arrow and in you go.  You don't need an exit token. I'd still like to get a card but those seem to only be sold in one place and the line is long.

Oh the Traveler's Check. Long the standard for security and accepted anywhere, how archaic they have become!  For various reasons, not all of my own, I ended up bringing Traveler's Checks with me to Istanbul to cash upon arrival for the team.  What I learned was 1) the hotel will take them and exchange at a terrible rate, and 2) 5 out of 6 bank branches will tell you NO.  The 6th bank said Yes, and then had to look up procedures and call a help desk for support. Took 1 hour and a nice charge of $13 per check. So $200 in US, loses you $26.  The up side? Still a better exchange than you get at the hotel. The other side? The hotel doesn't take as long so you save time. Better than a wallet of cash? Depends on your ability not to lose your wallet by carelessness or theft.

Some countries don't like my blog.Turkey is one of those countries that greets me with a blog not available message. At least I think that's what is says. It might read "site forbidden" as what has greeted me in some Mid-East countries. I thought it was about the beer but I searched beer and came up with lots of great information! But Turkey likes Blogger so as long as I go to Blogger and then log-in, I'm free to write. Facebook is not forbidden but slow Internet makes it aggravating on the nerves but that could be the hotel. 48 hours in and all I have done is work, subway, and hotel it. The dense fog and rain that keeps the day company isn't conducive to strolling the people watching Taksim Square but soon I will make the walk.  After all, the local beer is waiting for me!