Istanbul days and nights

Greeted by outrageously bright sunshine and 30+ degree heat with a dash of humidity, I immediately took a liking to Istanbul.

Okay, I am being dramatic again! I did like the weather, but getting ripped off as soon as we arrived (by an excessively nice [not so much in retrospect] middle aged man promising to give us a good deal to catch a taxi into the city) did dampen the initial liking-ness. However, as we continued to get ripped off [allegedly] throughout the entire week I came to accept it/care less.

We were there for a family reunion. Mum's family. 3 uncles and aunties (plus their significant other) and 5 cousins I had never met. My grandma that I had seen only once before in my life. Mum had not seen her brothers and sisters for THIRTY years. There were 21 of us in total - 5 brothers and sisters with their family and one cute granny. Needless to say it was emotional and amazing! Unfortunately I had a cold (thanks to the netherlandy "summer") for the first few days, which I then kindly passed with full force onto my "better half" [allegedly]. BUT, it was ok, we battled through to visit the bazaars, ancient mosques and palaces.

Below are some pics from the week... (also more will be put on facebook).

Turkey is still delightful

Er, I think my brother mistook a foot-rest for a hat.

Inside the harem at Topkapi Palace.

Intricate designs... everywhere!

Inside the Blue Mosque (what?! It's red!).

More Turkish delights

More family and the Blue Mosque in the background

The Blue Mosque (the blue part is on the inside)

Inside the Aya Sofya Mosque

All the brothers and sisters (in age order) and grandma

My brother, grandma, and me and nick (obviously)

Turkish delights

Mum, grandma and uncle

How cute is my grandma!! (She reaches Nick elbow... maybe)

Cousins!

Nick taking a break at the bazaar

The Bosphorous

Return of the blogger

I'm back baby! With a vengeance! (Obviously referring to the fact that I am about to blog).

Truthfully, that's probably a bit dramatic, I'm probably not back with a vengeance. Facebook is just not working tonight for some reason.

Nevertheless, I am back! ..for now!

So, a lot has happened since the Queen's birthday (last blog post). In a nutshell:

Nick finished his ICC internship, and got a new one with the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Unfortunately, it fell through at the last minute and he has consequently/subsequently become my stay-at-home-husband. Not for long, I'm sure.

I got a job, then I was offered another, so I quit the first one and started the new one about 3 weeks ago. It is with company called Unilever. It is a nutritionist position. You may have heard of them, you may have not. If not, start looking on the back of all the packaged foods you buy - if you see a little 'U' ...that's us.

We decided to stay in The Hague for sometime longer. God knows why we made this decision. Summer is yet to rear its beautiful head... we continue to wander the streets in boots and scarves (not to mention umbrella's).

Anyway, the absolute HIGHLIGHT of the last couple of months was our trip to Turkey, which, sadly, ended yesterday. See next blog for turkish details.

Konningneneneeinach and konningendag

Hello all!

Well, what a fine week it has been where we have celebrated the birthday of our beloved Dutch Queen. Her birthday is actually in January, but who wants to have a street party in January? Not me amigo. So this day, is actually the birthday of the previous queen.

Anyway, Queen's day in the Netherlands is bigger than new years. There are massive street parties the evening before (The Hague, a city of 400 000, had about 5 free concert areas set up around the city and the carnival), and then on the actual birthday the partying continues with music, theatre and markets... everywhere.

See the pictures below!

God, continue blessing the queen

Ah, do you think you got enough fairy floss there love?

Note: this was the "small" size. Not kidding.

Carnival in front of the old parliament.

Here are the boys before they went on the carnival ride...

Here is Nick after the carnival ride... he is always at his happiest after experiencing pain or terror. interesting chap.

The following day (Queens day, rather than Queens night) is packed with people selling their trash/treasure in makeshift markets on the street. This is out our window.