The other project -- the renovations continue

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Just to let you see the progress being made with our renos, here is what we returned to find. The new space is framed in and roofed. As June 2nd, our kitchen was torn out, and we are hiding in the basement.

The place is coming along nicely, and we are starting to see our paper plans become reality, which is really very exciting for us.

Finally, some more photos....

Well, we are starting to get into our new routine. Our return to Vancouver was punctuated by an immediate return to Baseball, school, and a move to our basement for the renovations to proceed upstairs. Throw into that my turn to have Iain's illness (flat on my back for 48 hours), and my having missed 1 1/2 days of work (the first time since I was a first year resident) it has been eventful.

The first photo here is the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul. Basically when the rock was quarried for the Aya-Sofia in 500 AD, there was a big hole left. So, they covered it over and directed the waters from the 21 kilometers around Constantinopole to this area to provide for the fountains. This is a lovely cool area in an otherwise very warm city. And yes, for the Bond fans, this was the cistern in "From Russia with love."


Next, to Milano the Il Duomo. Both Tami and I have been in many a cathedral, but neither of us have been in anything so grand as this. It was, in the true sense of the word, stunning. We were both speechless as we entered. The cathedral is enormous, apparently able to hold up to 40,000 at a time for mass!



The third photo was taken below the altar area in a locked but otherwise unassuming room. We looked, and said 'Hmmm. Interesting. I wonder what it is.' Fortunately, as we were walking away we overheard someone being told that the box in the center of this room contained one of the nails from the crucifixion of Jesus! Needless to say, with that in mind we returned for a second look! Wow!


Finally we arrived in London. Our hotel was right next to the Tower of London, so we had a good look around on one of the days we were there. Having just been reading about the history of the Tudors, and Henry VIII in particular, I was quite interested in this place. They have done an amazing job with the tower tour, and Lauren in particular enjoyed seeing the crown jewels (as did I, truth be told).


All in all, the trip was a great success. I feel abit tired as I think about the amazing sights and sites we saw. Vancouver is a beautiful city, but it is very NEW compared with where we have been.

Home again, home again

So, the irony is that the only place that we could reasonably access the internet was in Istanbul! Milan was patchy, and London was a total wash. So apologies that we haven't added more photos. There will be more photos to come, but suffice to say that we had a great trip, and we are now safely back on the North Shore.

The only mishap was that Iain had a persistent fever while we were away, and we needed to take him to a walk-in clinic for antibiotics. What I can say is that if you ever want:

a. to see genuine fear, and/or
b. to be seen very quickly by the medical team

just show up and say you are from Canada, and your son has a persistently high fever. BUT, timing is everything -- you have to do this during a North American Swine Flu outbreak! I have never seen a receptionists face change so quickly....and we were in and out in less than an hour, with each of us being checked over!

Nice to be away, but really appreciate being home too!

A day of Three Empires!

Our travels from Istanbul took us to the realms of three great empires -- Turkey (Constantinopole/Ottoman), Greece (via Athens), and then the Roman Empire (albeit not Rome, but still...)

Our trip from Istanbul included a 6 hour stop over in Athens. As our bags were checked through to Milano, we took the opportunity to travel into town to fulfill Tami's lifelong dream of seeing the Parthenon at the Acropolis. A quick bus ride from the airport, and a brief walk, and we were there. Admittedly only enough to whet the appetite, but it was really quite impressive (again!) to see these ancient monuments. It really shows just how little history we have in Vancouver.



After our brief side-trip, we flew on to Milano. Our apartment is great and is in a fantastic location. We are about a 5 minute walk to the Duomo, the cathedral of Milano. Now, Tami and I have both been to many cathedrals, and we have been suitably impressed. BUT, none that we have seen has compared with the Duomo. This cathedral is the 3rd largest in Christendom after St. Peter's Basilica and the cathedral in Barcelona. This trip is becoming a trip of 'you have got to see this before you die' comments, and the Duomo is no exception!

Bond...James Bond

Last night was spent enjoying a dinner cruise up the Bosphorous Strait -- the thin strait connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. This is a very strategic strait, as this is where all the oil and gas from Russia comes down. It is also the divider between Europe and Asia. The bridge in the photo is the first of two bridges dividing the two continents.

So, the Bosphorous was important as a sub-plot in James Bond's "The World is not Enough" in which the baddies were going to blow up a nuclear submarine at the entrance to the Bosphorous, and prevent oil and gas from being brought down the strait.

This is only one of two Bond films set in Istanbul, and today we will visit the site of filming of one of the other movies -- "From Russia With Love" in which they are in the underground "Basilica Cistern" -- basically the excavation site for rock used in the Ayasofia, which was filled with water via an aqueduct system gathering water from 21 miles around the city. Some of these ancient aqueducts are still visible around the city.

How Bazaar?

Today was the first day of my meetings, so unfortunately I had to go and work -- but I wound up at 16.00, and missed out the social events of the evening so that I could rejoin the family.

They had a good day, visiting the Topokani Palace, one of the great Sultan Palaces in Istanbul.

After meeting up, we paid a visit to the Grand Bazaar - a 1500 year old covered market, divided (albeit roughly) into streets of trade (jewelery, leather, clothing, and believe it or not, belly-dancing costumes! I tried to get Tami interested in the latter, but so far no luck.

The Bazaar was an experience. It actually wasn't as crowded as I would have expected, but the vendors are certainly persistent, and the haggling adds a touch of the exotic to the experience. I was disappointed having hoped to find a nice leather bag, and being quite unsuccessful. I did look at one which was (reportedly) camel leather -- who knows if it really was. But for YTL 570 (~$500), it wasn't on. I did quickly get down to YTL 420, but wasn't getting anything better than that. Oh well...I'll keep looking.

This photo is a view of one of the laneways in the Bazaar - I think you can get a sense of the activity.


After the visit to the Bazaar, we wandered slowly back to our hotel. En route, we visited an Islamic cemetery (I enjoy a nice cemetery as much as the next man). I think I mentioned that there are stray cats all over the place, and the cemetery seems to be one of the main cat haunts (no pun intended). We spoke with the caretaker who has adopted these cats. He feeds them daily, and currently has 21 cats in his care (up by 1 after having found a stray kitten, which he is now raising on milk). Something very touching about this episode. Here is a photo of one of the cats lounging on one of the grave markers.


I continue to observe and comment upon the people of Istanbul. Although they are quite pushy with their shops, they are a warm and friendly people. They really do seem to love the kids -- one very funny episode occurred after having eaten dinner at the Bazaar, when Iain's ubiquitous baseball cap was 'stolen' by a 20-something year old street-side food vendor. This was followed by a quick game of keep away, which Iain handily won by reaching up and tickling the armpit of the fellow (the same way he does with me). This resulted in peals of laughter from both Iain and the man, as well as more than a few people around us.

Today is Ataturk Day -- the Turkish Independence day, named in honour of Mr. Ataturk, the founder of the republic of Turkey. The plan is to enjoy a boat trip on the Bosphorous tonight (weather permitting).

The Coplands meet Istanbul!

Well, today has been our first day in Istanbul -- we arrived after a LONG travel day (Vancouver - Istanbul via London). Fortunately, we arrived at about midnight, so we all crashed immediately, and woke up this morning refreshed and ready to tackle the day.

So, the first laugh of the morning was Iain waking up and announcing very loudly that "For breakfast today, I'm going to have bacon!" I guess the discussion we had about Muslims not eating pork neglected to clarify that bacon doesn't actually come from that mythical beast "The Bacon"

An executive decision was made that the meeting would begin tomorrow, and that I would spend the day with the family exploring. Wow, is really all I can say. What a sense of history to be walking 3000 year old streets. Istanbul is really a beautiful city, and both Tami and I have commented about how safe we feel here (other than crossing the street, which really is a gamble).

We managed a visit to Ayasofia, a Christian church converted to Mosque and then to a Museum. This was truly awe inspiring. It was built in 547 AD, and was simply stunning.

We walked all afternoon, and we accosted continuously by persistent but pleasant street vendors. My shoes have been shined at least once!

This is a photo of "The New Mosque" which was built in the 1500s. All the mosques are of similar appearance with domed roofs and a variable number of minarets from which the call to prayer is sung very loudly 5 times per day (Sunrise, mid-morning, lunch-time, mid-afternoon, and sunset). Tami was awoken by the call from the Blue Mosque, which is a 5-minute walk from our hotel. I didn't hear a thing!


This next photo was taken from the top of the Galata Tower. It is a panoramic view around the city. You can see, from left to right: Topkapi Palace, Ayasofia, and the Blue Mosque. We walked from here back to our hotel, which is just near the Blue Mosque. Not too far, but a warm day indeed (~32 - 34 degrees). In the distance can be seen the Asian half of Istanbul (we are on the European side).



Stay tuned - more to come....