Its Me Ross

[lambsaw]

9th November 2015. Istanbul Archeological Museums. Istanbul, Turkey.

This is one third of the buildings making up the museum. This stunning building was built in the 15th century. It is beautifully tiled itself and also has on display examples of Turkish tiles and ceramics. The geographic designs of tiles, ceilings and stained glass windows matched harmoniously. Wonderful.

Jock even found himself part of one of the exhibits, as can be seen above.

[rosshappy-blog]

Fraser did a similar thing in Washington

[lambsaw]

8th November 2015. Spice Bazaar. Istanbul, Turkey.

How much fun is this place? The spice bazaar in Istanbul was the final stop on the Silk Route. It’s full of exotic and wonderful goodies as well as bursting with colour.

We did some spice tasting at this particular stall as well as tasting the Lokum, aka Turkish Delight. We just might have bought a few little items for home…

“Looks like I picked the wrong day to start my diet.” SM.

[rosshappy-blog]

Common theme about diets here SM?

[lambsaw]

6th November 2015 Istanbul, Turkey

So, walking through one of the arches of the aqueduct took us to the very magical Kadinlar Pazari, or Women’s Market. Arranged around a central square were food shops, hawkers and small restaurants and bars. We gazed through windows at jars of honey, fresh, herbed cheese, lamb offal and meat, tea, nuts and tahini paste. After all of that we had to stop for lunch, so we chose a lively spot full of local men. There we grabbed a couple of local specialties: liver kebab and Buryan (lamb belly). These were served with a tray of accompaniments (pickled red cabbage, onions, salad and something spicy but I can’t say what it was). It was really good food for a tenner.

[rosshappy-blog]

Who is a the scary guy in the picture? Looks like he is about to perform some new street dance.

[lambsaw]

5th November 2015 Istanbul, Turkey

Now this is how Istanbullis like to snack…This monster is called a katmer, flaky pastry stuffed with pistachio and kaymak (clotted cream made from buffalo milk). It’s from a tiny bakery called Develi Baklava. It’s cooked to order, served hot. These guys love their sweet stuff: there are pastry shops everywhere.

Don’t worry: we got a doggy bag.

“Looks like I picked the wrong day to start my diet.” SM.

[rosshappy-blog]

What diet?

[lambsaw]

4th November 2016. Aya Sofya. Istanbul, Turkey.

One of the most iconic and impressive buildings in Istanbul is the Aya Sofya. It was built in the Byzantine era as a church then when the Ottomans took over it was converted to a mosque. Today it is a museum.

Elements from each of its incarnations are evident throughout.

Crosses are seen shining through the paint and plasterwork inside of the domes

Areas of Byzantine christian mosaics are being uncovered on the walls and are being restored to their former glory.

There are even some areas of 12th century Viking graffiti in the upper levels.

The engineering and architecture was so impressive that it was still being studied and copied 1000 years after it was completed!

Jock in particular was impressed with this building.

[rosshappy-blog]

I thought this was something Jock would like

[lambsaw]

31st October 2015. Istanbul, Turkey.

Coffee Turkish style.

Brewed very strong and with so much grounds it is almost a paste. Wait till the grounds settle before drinking, these leave a half cupful at the end.

The Turks traditionally drink with lots of sugar but Steven had it untainted, much to the amusement of the locals.

We were then able to virtually fly back to our hotel. Forget Red Bull: it is Turkish coffee that gives you wings!

[rosshappy-blog]

Steven is such a rebel

[lambsaw]

31st October 2015. Istanbul, Turkey.

We spent today on a small guided tour eating our way through local specialties in tiny eateries.

We grazed our way through everything from lamb and beef kebabs to Armenian bulgur wheat and onion dumplings; from feta cheese to pickled garlic and from goats cheese with honey to a dessert made with chicken breast!

The tour started with Turkish breakfast: scrambled eggs (menemen) with peppers cooked in butter, served soft; warm bread, salty feta and fresh cucumber and tomatoes.

We passed a cheese shop where we tried a cheese which comes packed in a little animal skin jacket. A first for us.

The bottom picture we found in Private Eye and seemed very appropriate.

[rosshappy-blog]

The wee Turkish cafe/bars are great. So good to try the original Turkish way of life.

[lambsaw]

30th October 2015 Istanbul, Turkey

For lunch we jumped into a small cafe we happened to be passing in a district called Beyoglu. Absolutely nothing in English (and why should it) so after staring blankly at the owner he suggested ‘sandwich’ which seemed like a good idea. Next choice was 'spicy?’ Of course!

What came were two wraps with what turned out (we learned later) to be a bulgar wheat paste, with lettuce and mint leaves. Delicious.

The other snack of the day was a little pack of chestnuts, freshly charred on coals. What a treat. There are vendors everywhere in the autumn selling these all over the city. What a place.

[rosshappy-blog]

Sounds delicious

[lambsaw]

28th October 2015. Istanbul, Turkey.

Just arrived in Istanbul after a relaxing flight. Jock got tucked straight into the pistachio sweets in our room, I guess he’s right into holiday mode already. The view is from our room on 24th floor; hopefully it will look better in the light of day. The guidebook is bulging with things to see and do. It’s our first time in Istanbul so where to start…And there is all that rest needed after a few busy months at work.

[rosshappy-blog]

Looks like Jock will enjoy Turkey. Hope you two do also.

[rosshappy-blog]

July21 - Last Full day in Philly

Meandered the streets of Philly in much cooler temperatures - much more suitable for cool dudes like us. AS its our last day we are going to take it easy and soak up the atmosphere.

Following a recommendation (you know who you are), we visited the Mutter Museum. This is a kind of medical/horror gallery of gruesome body deformities and medical relics kept for research etc. Strictly no cameras allowed, so Fraser was disappointed, although I cannot think why you would want to take a picture of anything in here.

An interactive object showed various stages of gangrene on an arm in the 1st World War, leading eventually to amputation. Another exhibit showed someone with a horn growing out of their head - all lovely stuff, and a nice way to spend a morning.

Next a wander through designer shops followed by a pig-out session at The Reading Market -

* A Philly Cheese steak

* Pancakes with bananas/strawberry/cream

* hand made chocolates from the chocolate stall.

A quick round Betsy’s house before it closed - it is now clear that we Brits were very bad people when rampaging around the world, as the great British Empire.

Our last meal was in The Cheesecake Factory - cocktails/wine/too much food - a great night.

In summary - what a great holiday, lots of amazing things to see - highlights, New York, The Reading International Market, The Empire State Building, Stature of Liberty, 9/11 Memorial, Washington, Philadelphia as a whole, oh and the company was amazing as usual.

Downsides - many, many homeless people, combined with the vast sums of money being spent on the upcoming visit by the Pope.

Roll on next year!!……

Betsy Ross’s potty

Fraser getting comfy

We loved it in Philly - forgive the pose!

[sawlamb]

Was Mutter a good place to visit on your last day?

[rosshappy-blog]

Well Loretta The Mutter Museum was a strange experience, not at all what I was expecting. Possibly we should have visited it on a day other than our last one. It was nice to combine it with a wander around the streets of Philadelphia.

[rosshappy-blog]

July21 - Last Full day in Philly

Meandered the streets of Philly in much cooler temperatures - much more suitable for cool dudes like us. AS its our last day we are going to take it easy and soak up the atmosphere.

Following a recommendation (you know who you are), we visited the Mutter Museum. This is a kind of medical/horror gallery of gruesome body deformities and medical relics kept for research etc. Strictly no cameras allowed, so Fraser was disappointed, although I cannot think why you would want to take a picture of anything in here.

An interactive object showed various stages of gangrene on an arm in the 1st World War, leading eventually to amputation. Another exhibit showed someone with a horn growing out of their head - all lovely stuff, and a nice way to spend a morning.

Next a wander through designer shops followed by a pig-out session at The Reading Market -

* A Philly Cheese steak

* Pancakes with bananas/strawberry/cream

* hand made chocolates from the chocolate stall.

A quick round Betsy’s house before it closed - it is now clear that we Brits were very bad people when rampaging around the world, as the great British Empire.

Our last meal was in The Cheesecake Factory - cocktails/wine/too much food - a great night.

In summary - what a great holiday, lots of amazing things to see - highlights, New York, The Reading International Market, The Empire State Building, Stature of Liberty, 9/11 Memorial, Washington, Philadelphia as a whole, oh and the company was amazing as usual.

Downsides - many, many homeless people, combined with the vast sums of money being spent on the upcoming visit by the Pope.

Roll on next year!!......

Betsy Ross’s potty

Fraser getting comfy

We loved it in Philly - forgive the pose!

[rosshappy-blog]

July 20 - Washington DC

What a totally awesome day!

Started off with a 6.15am pick up for the Megabus. The bus was 1hour late - my poor wifey wee was knackered.

Arrived at Washington in 3 hours and booked the hop on-off bus tour. The best way to get around when only visiting for 1 day. Got off at the US Capitol Building - that's when the heat hit us!! Walked to the US Air & Space Museum, it was cool in there. Amazing relics from the US/USSR space race. Still not sure if USA did actually land on the moon. Had a lovely nutritional lunch in the largest McDonalds I have ever clapped eyes on.

Back on the bus again for the short ride to Monument Park - there are ten monuments to various past Presidents and the like. We managed to walk to 3 before the heat took over. Saw Martin Luther King and Roosevelt. Due to 120deg heat we just waved at the rest from the bus.

The next bus had no air conditioning - it was like being in a sauna bus - pools of sweat running down the aisle.

A brief stop at The Whitehouse to take photos, bought Whitehouse tourist Tee shirts to change in to, then another burger before getting the bus back to Philly.

A great day, but need to go back when the weather is more suited to us Scots.

 Space relics

[rosshappy-blog]

July 19

Up late this morning sue to Kirsteen being more knackered than me.

Woke up to a weather warning - its to be so hot today that one has to stay indoors and drink water or you may die. I was worried that it was going to be windy  as it is windy in our room already.

Went to the Rodin museum - lots of nice statues - I particularly liked the one of two hands clasped together.

Walked from there to the Eastern States Penitentiary - it was 100deg outside with the dew factor making it seem even hotter. (I have no idea what the dew factor is, but heard the weather man talking about so it must be important).

The EST is an amazing and eerie place. Hard to imagine how people spent 23 hours a day in these very small cells, let out to the exercise yard for 1 hour to walk in the intense heat. Some of the people incarcerated here for the serious crime of cattle stealing!!

The exception to this seems to have been Al Capone who if legend is to  be believed had a very luxurious cell with sofas, carpets and music playing on request.

All cells had there own ‘facilities’

Not a nice place

The life of luxury for some.

[rosshappy-blog]

Some Photos from New York

At last Kirsteen found a shopping friend

[rosshappy-blog]

July 18

Woke up this morning to thunder & lightning. It was quite a sight from the 20th floor of our hotel.  Paid $30 for the crappiest breakfast ever in the Sheraton - wont do that again.

KIrsteen was worried about her hair again, so it was on with the waterproofs and out we go. Walked down Broadway constantly looking for something to ‘give my regards to’. The street is littered with a temporary exhibition of statues by Seward Johnston, all depicting lifelike scenes from a bygone era. Amazingly realistic.

On to the Empire State Building. This sounds like the boy in from the country, but I just can’ t believe that I am her. I look around at all these iconic buildings and think ‘I’m just a wee boy from Glasgow’.

Up to the 86th floor, the interior of the building is all decorated in art deco style, and the story of the construction of the building is described through an exhibition on the 80th floor. The building is even more amazing when you consider when it was built and the almost primitive methods of construction available at that time.

The views from the gallery on the 86th floor were incredible. This is when we became ‘ real’ tourists and got out our selfie stick to take a photo with my phone.

On terra firma, we moved onto the Trump Towre, Wall St., Broadway, then to the Grand Central Station. Biggest station I’ve ever been in. Sounds daft but we had lunch in here. There is a vast array of food stalls from around the world in the basement of the station.

Proceeded to walk up 5th Avenue, into Sachs & Tiffanys. Through Central Park where we came across a statue of Robert Burns of all people.

On Stevens advice I ordered a Rubens sandwich in Tick Tock Around the Clock. Never again, it was disgusting.

A great time in NY - back to Philly on the Megabus.

[rosshappy-blog]

General New York Pics

[rosshappy-blog]

July 17 cont'd

We moved onwards through NY via the subway system. As manic and as busy as the rest of town. I wanted to get off at The Bronx - Kirsteen was scared to get off, and I don't think I would have been any good as a bodyguard? The old silver trains were just as pictured in the movies. I was reminded of the scene from 'Ghost' when the ghosts jumped from carriage to carriage. Thankfully this did not happen. It is incredibly hot in the underground which explains the steel tubes that feature at street level emitting jets of steam from underground, and also the jets of steam that shoot up yer breeks as you walk over the metal grilles at the roadside.

Our Room in the Sheraton Times Sq was on the 20th floor - an amazing view.