Guitar

I took a trip to Taksim one Friday and shopped half a dozen shops off Istiklal, and I think the street is called Muzicali or something, which is right on... I had many guitars to choose from, almost got distracted by a blue Strat! but came home with a little studio basic classical, a Yamaha of sorts, and I played for hours until my hands were sore. But we know each other now, and having that instrument standing round and waiting for me has already made the difference. Old songs, new songs. Oh... Sibel, send me my capo! :)

About the walk

David and I covered the approximately 27 kilometres in about 8 hours. Neither of us were worse for wear. I inhaled my combo fajita plate, and then left David to get back home. Lighting a cigarette in the dark as I stepped onto Istiklal Caddesi, I heard my name! It was Jimmy, my guitar buddy, and his wife, Anna, who works in my department. They were on their way, late, to somewhere and said hello/goodbye. Coincidence, yes, but they also live just a 100 metres from the Galatasaray… I had forgotten! I paced back the steps I half jogged down the hill of guitar shops, all shining windows in the night with gorgeous electric guitars under the neon lights… toward the bottom, then sudden right, and there it was, the tower. So beautiful in the flood lights. A few pictures, Touched the tower. Now I can go home. 20 miles of walking and I felt like a kid, like I could have played 5 more sets of tennis. Fantastic.

One other note. In Beşiktaş, on the busy street corner, just as the military band finished playing, I was panning around with my camera on video, 360, and the palpable thought came to me, like this multiple image—a thousand, no maybe more, images of Sibel, as a girl, as a teenager, as now, they were all milling about in their various existences, waiting at lights, crossing streets, carrying book bags, smoking cigarettes, meeting friends, climbing the steps to Taksim… it was so odd and unexpected. It was another realization that I simply love someone so much, I am so much in love. My heartbeat was insistant, like a message, and I carried this feeling with me up the steps and all the way to Taksim entrance, and to her favourite hamburger shop, lit up in orange neon under a darkening İstanbul sky.

Fireworks froom the bus; Juli wants breakfast

To Galata Kulesi, end of a long day's walk

Taksim, finally

Beşiktaş some more

Beşiktaş