Istanbul

Istanbul is one of the world's fabled cities. It straddles the Bosphorous -- part of the waterway separating Asia from Europe; one of the only (the only?) cities on two continents. As Byzantium and Constantinople and now Istanbul it has been fought over, conquered, been the capital of empires, seen the passing of the Crusades and become a world-class site for business and tourism. It has been the home of great churches, (many of which were made into mosques under the Ottomans), fantastic palaces, a thriving port and the world's largest bazaar.

And we were there!

(Not for the Crusades or conquests -- but in May of 2006.)

On completion of Chuck's business in Ankara we flew to Istanbul (the Asian side) where Chuck spent a day visiting the Turkish Navy Research Center Command to become acquainted with the work being done there and, as usual, to look for opportunities to encourage collaboration in research. Our hotel was a short distance from the waterfront on the Mediterannean and near a very nice upscale neighborhood of modern brand-name stores. Kathi explored the area on foot and did some window shopping until Chuck finished his visit with the Turkish Navy.

Late in the afternoon we crossed by ferry to the European side, which is the well-known world city and tourist attraction. Our hotel was right in the midst of the great attractions -- the
Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque and Haggia Sofia were all within a three minute walk. The grand bazaar was about 15 minutes away on foot. The hotel put us in the "cistern room" -- on the bottom floor, slightly below ground, with a unique decorating scheme dominated by a large bathroom designed to look like a classic Roman or Greek bath -- all granite and marble. It had a small patio that joined the hotel's very peaceful and pleasant courtyard -- the site of relaxed breakfasts.

We found that in Istanbul, as in Ankara, the Turks were very friendly -- in fact unusually so. They were cheerful and polite, outgoing and curious about America.

The areas around the big tourist sites are, of course, a magnet for "touts" trying to sell various trinkets or to offer their services as a guide in places where guides were generally not needed. They all had the same method of trying to engage tourists -- their approach was invariably "hello, where you from". At first we answered "California" or "London", which prompted them to tell us how much they loved those places. We soon realized that this only opened the way to a long series of entreaties that it was then hard to bring to an end -- "5 lira each; OK, 2 for 7 lira; OK I give you one for 3 lira, because I like you; OK, just 2 lira; don't break my heart" -- and so on. We finally devised a scheme to beat this -- we decided we would answer that we were from Pascagoula, Mississippi. We figured Turks were unlikely to have ever heard of that (fine) town.

This led to this exchange: "Where you from?" "Pascagoula, Mississippi". "Oh". "You been to Blue Mosque?". "Yes". "You been to Haggia Sofia?" "Yes". "You been to Topkapi Palace?" "Yes". "Why you not been to my store?" Back to the drawing board.

For some pictures of beautiful Istanbul visit: http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/1503827/1

Ankara, Turkey

In mid-May, Chuck's business took us to Ankara, the capital of Turkey, where he participated in talks between US Defense Department officials and representatives of the Turkish Ministry of National Defense on the subject of Defense cooperation. We arrived on Saturday and had Sunday (and part of Monday) available for sightseeing.

Our first destination was Ankara Castle -- an ancient fortification on the central hill of Ankara. This fort dates from the dawn of recorded history of the area. Over the years, various successive civilizations took possession of the Castle and added to its defenses. Some of the additions to the walls made use of the debris of classic Greek and Roman buildings -- one can see carved stones, many with inscriptions (some upside down), that were used as mere raw material for the walls. You can see some of this in the photos at:
http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/1501872

From the Castle it was a short walk down the hill to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. (Anatolia is the Asian part of Turkey -- also referred to as "Asia Minor" in the past.) From reading the Old Testament you may remember the Hittites, the Phrygians and the Assyrians -- and more. These civilizations all existed in Anatolia, which is the site of hundreds of archaeological excavations. This is a museum for a full day, at least -- for anyone interested in ancient history. The exhibits include paleolithic, neolithic, bronze age, iron age and more modern objects. Cuneiform, one of the earliest writing methods, using wedge shaped styli on clay tablets is on display in the form of dozens of those tablets -- which represent warehouse inventories, laundry lists and letters to and from kings. This is a stunning museum -- and all labels and signs are in English as well as Turkish.


This is a shopping mall near our hotel.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was a highly successful Army commander in World War I, when Turkey was allied with the Germans -- he defeated the British and French in the Gallipoli campaign. After the war he masterminded two major victories over the Greek army which tried to occupy Turkey in the vacuum left by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In the 1920s his prestige was such that he became the first President of the Republic of Turkey, which he brought into being almost exclusively through the strength of his personality. He transformed Turkey into a modern nation, establishing parliamentary democracy and putting the country (which is 99% Muslim) on a sound secular footing. He also brought about full equality for women and abolished the old style of dress (for both men and women) that was traditional in the Ottoman Empire. (The first female fighter pilot in any air force was a Turkish woman -- in the 1930s!) He also implemented educational and other reforms. As a result, he is revered in Turkey -- occupying a position akin to a combination of Washington, Jefferson and Madison combined. Buildings everywhere are festooned with large photos of him -- and an office without a photo or painting of the man is truly rare. One of his reforms was the "surname act" which required all Turks, who had not previously done so, to have surnames -- parliament gave him the surname of "Ataturk" -- father of the Turks.

He is buried in a very large mausoleum/museum complex in Ankara which we thought was impressive, beautiful and, in the museum portion, very interesting and well-done. There are also pictures of the Ataturk memorial in our photos. There were a number of groups of Turkish teenage students touring the memorial -- and we had a lot of fun with some of them. They were very friendly and unfailingly polite -- and extremely fascinated by anyone who spoke English. We took some pictures with a few of them.

While Chuck was working, Kathi also visited the Museum of Ethnography which, while interesting, did not measure up to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. On Tuesday night we enjoyed a great dinner in the yard of a restaurant with the other eight members of the official delegation Chuck was part of. On completion of the delegation's work on Wednesday, there was a reception with Turkish industry representatives, then we were off to the Ankara airport for a 40 minute flight to Istanbul.

Again, there are Ankara pictures at: http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/1501872

Old Bells, Big Bells, Handbells

On May 13th, with about 20 other friends and acquaintances, we visited the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in the heart of London. This is the oldest manufacturing establishment in the UK -- which dates its founding to 1570, though there are references to it as early as 1490.

Some of the famous bells made here include those in St. Paul's Cathedral, the Liberty Bell of Philadelphia and Big Ben -- the largest bell in the tower of the Houses of Parliament. These are all examples of "tower bells", made to be hung and rung in towers of churches or other buildings, and there are thousands of them throughout the world that came from this small foundry, with 25 employees. The bells are still made using traditional methods (this is, after all, England -- and traditions, once started, tend to last forever).

Our guide was the "bell founder"; the "founder" being the person who runs the foundry. He was a member of the fourth generation of his family to run the foundry (which has been in existence for about 30 generations). The traditional process for manufacturing the large bells includes a molding "loam" made of horse manure, goat hair and clay. This mixture is placed in a large iron mold which defines the outside shape of the bell; the loam is scraped out with templates so that its outer surface conforms to the inner surface of the bell. The molten metal (bronze of about 77% copper and 23% tin) is then poured between the iron mold and the loam.

The foundry not only makes the bells, but they also make the entire mechanism to ring them in a tower -- including the wooden wheel attached to the bell frame, which the bell rope goes over, as well as the entire metal supporting structure. In fact, today, they tend to be hired to fully outfit a bell tower, making the entire assembly and sending a team to install, test and tune the whole installation.

They are also a major (there are only three) maker of English handbells for bell choirs. (This was of especial interest to Chuck, who has played in the handbell choirs in three churches for a total of about 9 years.)

Some photos from our tour are at: http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/1503802

Did YOU Bring the Camera?

We frequently head into the city center on weekends to attend theater or a museum or some other event. Sometimes we just wander the city in an unplanned way -- there's always something interesting going on. There have been many times when we've come across a really stunning site or interesting vista and figuratively kicked ourselves for not having brought the camera. In fact, this has happened so often that about 8 or 9 months ago we made a solemn pact between ourselves to NEVER go out into the town without the camera. And we were good at remembering that for a while. But, as with so many good intentions and resolutions, we have, of late, gotten a bit careless.

Yesterday we went to Leicester Square to get our usual half-price tickets to see the musical "Mack and Mabel". Since we had gotten a late start we took the Underground to Picadilly Circus. As we walked up the steps from the station to street level we were confronted by an enormous mechanical, walking elephant, no more than a few feet from us. You had to be there to be able to appreciate our level of surprise -- the beast was huge, being operated internally by 5 or 6 men and, up on his back carrying a platform with 4 or 5 Indian dancing girls on it. (Kathi pointed out to Chuck that the dancers were topless and he pretended not to have noticed until she told him.) And, you guessed it, WE HADN'T BROUGHT THE CAMERA!!

It was all part of a 4-day "performance art" extravaganza that had not been previously publicized. An 18-foot tall puppet of a little girl was part of the "cast" and you can see her with the elephant in one of the pictures. (Since we hadn't brought our camera, we've had to resort to getting photos from on line.) Note the size of the men operating the girl and the elephant.

We've included a picture of some of the dancing girls, too -- but apparently taken before they came to the "topless" part of the script. (And remember these girls are on a platform ON TOP of the elephant.)

Needless to say, we have re-promised ourselves we will not leave home without the camera again. Here's hoping we're better at it this time.