Istanbul (not Constantinople)

A few weeks ago one of my former Ph.D. students from A&M, Lale Guler, emailed to tell me that her university wanted to have me out to present a research paper. Lale has told me on numerous occasions that I really need to visit Istanbul (not Constantinople) and I've always been intrigued by the city, so deciding to make the trip in a heavily subsidized fashion was a no-brainer. I was hoping that Paige could come along but the timing didn't work out, so I'll be flying solo through June 2.

What follows is Round 1 of my Istanbul (not Constantinople) travel blog. As usual, I'll try to keep things entertaining and will focus primarily on stuff I want to remember rather than on stuff you might want to know. I figure if you really want to get the lowdown on Istanbul (not Constantinople) you can use Google and YouTube as well as I can. You might start with the link below as it was my favorite. I told Paige I'm going to try to line up Melisa to show me the sights while I'm here, but she didn't think that would be a very good idea. Whatever.

Before I get started in earnest, I realize that many of my student and former student readers may not know the history behind the naming of Istanbul (not Constantinople). As a public service, therefore, I offer the following two minute and eighteen second summary, capably provided by The Four Lads. I guarantee it will be the highlight of your day. Seriously, kids. This is history. Watch it.

And now, on with the show.

Pre-Arrival Observations

1. While standing in line to get my boarding pass in Houston (wearing a Trinity polo), I was approached by a Turkish guy who said that his son is a Trinity graduate who currently works in the IT department at Trinity. More random ... the guy got his MBA from A&M. He also told me that things probably are going to be sort of crazy during my stay because the general elections are being held on June 7.
2. One of the Turkish Airlines "prohibited items" signs behind the check-in counter features the usual assortment of things -- guns, razors, deodorant spray, etc. -- but also includes pictures of a missile, a propane tank, and a chainsaw. Who knew??
3. Approximately all of the people on my flight have at least one child below the age of three. I am now wishing I had brought my own gigantic over-the-ear headphones instead of opting to steal Hollis' smaller on-the-ear set.
4. At 6:48 p.m., I saw a grown man buy a pair of strap-on roller skates from a Brookstone store inside George Bush Intercontinental Airport. I am not making this up. He then put them on, attempted to skate down the terminal, fell once, and decided maybe he should take them off before stepping onto the moving sidewalk.
5. After further exposure to the rather vigorous "family life" mentioned in point 3, I decided to look into a class upgrade. There was one such upgrade left, so I took it (thank you, recliner-that-magically-converts-into-a-bed). Five minutes after that, I was called back up to the desk where a Customs officer was waiting with a German Shepherd. He said to follow him through the door behind the desk, so I did (duh). I then found myself in the "back room" with three officers: am I really traveling alone, how much money do I have on me, have I ever been to Istanbul (not Constantinople) before, what is the purpose of my visit, what specific hotels will I be using???? The woman officer then led me out of the room and told me that this was just one of their random checks ... so not to worry. I wish my story were better, in a Jason Bourne-type way, but it isn't.

Arrival

After arriving, I took a taxi to my digs for the first three nights -- the Grand Tarabya Hotel, which is about 40km from Istanbul proper via a 2-hour, highly entertaining cab ride. Casual empiricism suggests that traffic lanes are completely optional here and having more than two feet between automobiles (front / back / side) is Just. Simply. Not. Acceptable. For. Any. Reason. I was going to take video but didn't figure it would translate particularly well. Basically, it feels like each of the city's 16 million inhabitants has three cars and drives them all simultaneously ... while texting with one hand and shifting gears with the other (which is what my cabbie and at least half of the people we passed -- meaning crawled / scraped past -- were doing).

I seriously cannot imagine going to the DMV here.

But really, where else in the world can you get a 2-hour cab ride for $40 [inserts random city picture taken from cab because there actually was not another car blocking the view at this point]?

I arrived at the hotel precisely 24 hours after I began boarding in San Antonio. The hotel is right on the Bosphorus and is a little less than halfway (North to South) between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. Kudos to Koc University for setting me up in such a terrific place. The view of the marina is very nice and I hope to get some good pictures on Friday or Saturday when the sun comes out.

I'm not yet sure when the calls to prayer will stop, but the room seems pretty well insulated. I suspect I'll be sufficiently dead at 5:30 or whenever the first one is that it won't make any difference.

Good night (or as the natives say, "İyi geceler")
Mike