Warmer Climate

Snow Patrol - Warmer Climate Pin It

Totally Random Vienna

It feels like it has been a long hard trip, but today I start packing my stuff, sorting and deciding what I'm leaving here for my return in January and what I'm bringing home with me. I'd be more tempted to leave nearly everything here, but I did that last spring thinking I'd be back in Istanbul in 2 weeks, but then ended up staying home for over 4 months (I'm not complaining, it was an amazing summer.) It did, however, mean I spent all summer without my favorite pair of shoes and a few other necessities. So today I'm trying to find a balance of how much baggage I want to carry home with me and what I want to leave behind.

It struck me that we all make decisions about what type of life baggage we want to hold on to and what we want to let go of every single day. As I get older and gain a bit more experience, I find myself letting go of more and more and I'm discovering life is easier when I'm not carting around any of the emotional baggage that weighs me down.

Field Report - I Am Not Waiting Anymore
"I am fine, I am not waiting anymore." Pin It

Vienna's Museum Quarter

I'm starting this post on a Saturday morning, knowing I only have a few minutes before I have to leave from the office and I realize that the last time I had a weekend where I didn't work it was on this trip to Vienna. I think I keep posting the photos of the trip because it takes me back to a fun, relaxing time. Something that has been a bit in short supply lately.

The project I'm working on has been brutal - full of impossible timelines and pressure, and yet I find it oddly invigorating and empowering, I'm not quite sure what that says about my sanity!

I have started counting down days until I'm headed home for the holidays, ok, to be honest I'm nearly to the point of counting hours! It will be so amazing to see my family and to have a few days of down time.

Any one else out there traveling home for the holidays? Any tips for making the trip home more sane? I spend a lot of time on planes and at airports, but this time of year it is even crazier than usual.

Michael Kiwanuka - Rest

"Rest your soul, live in peace."

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Let Her Go

Passenger - Let Her Go Pin It

Vienna Faces

I'm usually too shy to take photos of other people - but there were a few faces in Vienna I just had to get brave enough to capture. How about you, are you a brave street photographer, or are you more like me - love it when you get home with pics of interesting people, but feel the need to sneak each one of those photos, hoping no one will notice you snapping?

The secret to this photo? I cropped out a guy using his iPad to take photos....for some reason I find it so odd to see someone holding something that big and using it as a camera.

I'd like to be as chic as this girl someday....

I know this one is blurry - and it is still one of my favorite photos taken in Vienna, it just makes me smile.

Colin Devlin - The Heart Won't be Denied

"I remembered how it felt to be alive"

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Vienna Opera House

Work has completely taken over life here in Istanbul. When your time sheet tallies into the triple digits that isn't time for much beyond sleep, which is my excuse for basically ignoring blog land. Still I have some photos left from Vienna, 15 minutes before the bus comes for me and a dream of getting outside the 4 walls of my office and apartment in just two short weeks.

I think the last time I counted down til Christmas (when this work deadline will be wrapped up) this eagerly since I was a kid.

I'm not big on Christmas music (what a grinch) but Joni Mitchell's River seems to get played at least once a day.

Joni Mitchell - River

"I would teach my feet to fly"

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May I Remind You

Amos Lee - May I Remind You Pin It

In the Park

I spent part of my afternoon in Vienna in this beautiful park. I did a bit of people watching and just enjoyed being outside on a crisp fall day.  I sat on the benches near this tree, which to me, looked like it had its arms open to embrace the world.

The Greencards - Here You Are

"It's a home to the soul going on."

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Inside St Stephens

Today's post is one with a glimpse inside Vienna's beautiful St Stephens and a post of very few words. With a looming deadline at work all my words and thoughts are focused there, as we work to finish in time to get us all home for the holidays.

Colin Devlin - Refuge
"To this refuge I will run." Pin It

Below My Feet

Mumford & Sons - Below My Feet

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Outside St Stephens

I started my day in Vienna at St Stephens, a fantastic church in the center of the old town. The church was beautiful and so different on each side. I think I could have wandered around it time and time again and still keep finding new and interesting bits and pieces.

I say it all the time, but I'm always amazed by the detail work done on older buildings. Especially when I stop and think about the tools they had to work with. I wish more of it carried over into modern buildings.

I think my favorite part of this church was the patterned, tiled roof. It was so colorful and it reflected the light of the sun so beautifully.

This amazing set of frescos and sculptures was inset on the back of the church.

The Lumineers - Morning Song
"May you return to love one day" Pin It

Fly Away

I arrived in Istanbul in early October, fully expecting to jump straight into my project and weekends spent working. By Thursday at the end of my first few days there, I realized I was going to have the weekend off, so I decided to get out of town with my camera for a weekend of fun. I did a google search for all the direct flights from Istanbul to cities I'd never been to before and decided a weekend in Vienna sounded marvelous.

Absolutely no planning went into the this trip, so I simply showed up, checked Lonely Planet for a list of things to see and set off with my camera. I only had Saturday and part of Sunday to explore, but I managed to pack a lot of things in, and still leave a few sights for a future trip.

The weather was gorgeous so for the most part I skipped going inside to museums and such to enjoy being outside with the amazing architecture and parks of the city. I'm really more of a planner, but I love holiday's like this, unplanned, with no agenda and simply time to wander where my whim takes me. It was the perfect way to prepare myself for what has been a punishing trip to Istanbul (the city is treating me well, but the work is intense and all consuming!)

So tell me, have you ever bought a totally last minute flight to a city you've never been to  on a whim? Would you want to? Where would you go?

Sugarland - Fly Away
"I want to sleep underneath a different piece of sky." Pin It

Lost and Found

Katie Herzig - Lost and Found Pin It

Bake Sale?

I stumbled across this group of women cooking and selling their goods in an Istanbul neighborhood. I'm calling it a bake sale, since I don't quite know what else to call it. I loved that it felt both familiar - something I'd see in my small home town, and get unique and different (sitting on the floor, the mats, the long sleeves and scarves.)

The more I travel, the more convinced I am that people across the world are more similar than they are different and that those differences are what makes the world a better place.

I mean, this collection of balloons including Hello Kitty and SpongeBob - could be taken from any place on earth. What similarities surprise you the most when you travel?

Joshua Radin - Anywhere Your Love Goes Pin It

Searching for the Museum of Innocence

One of my coworkers recently finished reading Orhan Pamunk's Museum of Innocence and read that the museum based on the book had recently opened in Istanbul. We decided to see if we could find it. We wandered through a LOT of area, got lost multiple times, but ultimately got to the museum.

I haven't read the book, so I was more interested in the photo ops along the way. Sometimes I think a city that is still new to you can be just like a museum, with something fascinating around every corner.

Like all big cities, Istanbul has a lot of graffiti - which surprised me for some reason when I first arrived. I guess I associate it with gangs and I tend to think more about the US when I think graffiti.

The museum was in a old house - so it was very much in a residential area. I managed to get a few faces of people watching the visitors to the museum.

I was also totally charmed by the little remnants of every day life we saw along the block: a kitchen window, with dishes drying in the drainer.

A forgotten shopping bag.

Yogurt containers used as flower pots.

A single forgotten shoe.

A flea market on the street.

I'm convinced the best way to experience a city is to get lost. You never know what you are going to find.

I'm loving the new Avett Brothers album, including the closing track: Life. Pin It