Wednesday, June 11, 2008

a few things



Someone else's photo of the show Troya

We're back home again after a long day out in the jungle that is Istanbul. Celal is sitting happily on the couch watching Turkey v. Switzerland (European Cup) futbol game and eating fruit as usual. I figured I'd hammer out an update before heading off for a good night's sleep.

Last night, we went to see a show called Troya, a faux-Broadway production. The costumes, dancing, and (real) sword fights were quite a thrill, but the story and characters were a yawn. I should really catch up on my history (meaning, I need to rent Troy with Brad Pitt) since Troy is only a few hours away from here. Anyway, our friend works in the film industry so on some special occasions she is nice enough to line up tickets for us to events, and we had four excellent seats. We went with Celal's uncle and his adorable eight-year-old daughter (I'm sure she was happy when we headed home).

Celal's mom took us home and stayed the night with us so we could go around today and run errands in the city today. We woke up pretty early for how late we went to sleep (which was my excuse today for not going to the gym, as well as the fact that we got home around 9:15). First on the agenda today was wedding bands. We already had a jeweler in mind, Burtacin, that we met with a few months ago, and we went back today to drive him crazy :). His shop is in the crazy circus that is the covered bazaar (he also has a location in New York City on Mott Street). I decided on a set of tri-color rings that I scouted out online. I can wear all three together or separately (I am not having them connected). Celal picked a simple raw rose gold band for himself. I also ended up ordering a pair of champagne topaz earrings that I will wear on the big day. 
My wedding bands will be like this

After finding our way to daylight through the pushy vendors, we ate a quick bite and headed off to our next destination - our new wedding organization that we are using. (The previous one that we thought was "the one" was a mere hoax. She put together a sample for us, and apparently the words we told her at the meeting went in one ear and out the other.) In any case, the new lady is a doll, and her assistant speaks English, which is a big plus for me. (It is quite a headache of translating for both Celal and me when the meetings are in Turkish, though my Turkish has improved significantly over the past few weeks!). So, our new organization will be putting together a sample for us sometime soon... Romantic Ottoman garden will be the theme. At least that's what it is at this point :).

After our meeting there, we sat in more traffic (did I mention that half of these days out is spent in city traffic? This city is huge.) We headed to Istinye Park, the best new mall in Istanbul. They have stores from the Gap and Zara to Gucci and Louis Vuitton, a huge cinema (where we just saw Sex & the City... we loved it! Next on the agenda is 21), great Chinese restaurant (among many other restaurants we haven't tried, including Mongolian barbecue), and even a small bazaar with fresh fish, meats, and fruits. So, we got lost in the mall for a few hours where I tried on a dress I will be wearing for the henna night. I am actually ordering the same dress online, since it is half the price :). 

So, that's about it for now. More updates to come soon!



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