Crossroads Between East and West

I arrived in Constantinople…err, Istanbul…over the weekend.

I’d never been to Turkey before now, so it’s been quite the experience.

I had no sooner been getting readjusted from the Bangalore time zone shift than I had to head back east, so melatonin is my new best friend.

Of course, much of the focus leading up to last night was the final match of the World Cup. I’ll concede that I was rooting for Spain (I caught the Spanish soccer fever two years ago when I was in Madrid and Spain was on its way to winning the Euro National championship), but it was a good performance by both The Netherlands and the Spanish sides.

I’ve seen some comments from friends and others that it wasn’t a very exciting game, but I thought, like a good and strategic chess match, it was well worth the staying up late for and the eventual Spanish goal.

Congrats to both teams, and to host country South Africa, for a very exciting 2010 World Cup. I wish I had been able to see more of the games, but it was definitely interesting to see during my travels the level of excitement and enthusiasm from so many across the globe.

I remember watching people watching games in the Houston airport, at a hotel bar in Bangalore, at another hotel bar in Istanbul, a Tex-Mex restaurant back in Austin…this World Cup really did seem to bring the world closer together, even if only for a short time. And I think even a few Americans got into watching the matches this go round, despite America’s early departure.

As to Istanbul, there’s not much I can say in a blog post that a picture or two can’t say for me. I’m very excited to be here to meet with our Central and Eastern European Web marketing team, and I’m also excited to be fortunate enough to check off another city on my world travel checklist.

For those of you who haven’t been here before, based on what I’ve seen thus far, the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque are must sees here in Istanbul, as well as the Basilica Cistern (the Medusa heads in which are an eery and real world reminder of the power of mythology!).

In my short day of sightseeing yesterday, we were also able to take in a couple of nice ferry rides across the Bosphorus, eventually ending up wandering around the renowned spice market.

For now, my meetings are about to begin again, so I’ll hope to write more later. But in the meantime, here’s a couple of pics I took along the way with my new Minox “digital spy camera (DSC).”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey.

 

Istanbul, Turkey.

It’s the replacement for my Nikon Coolpix, the one I think I mentioned I somehow left by accident in the south of India, and what it lacks in pixels it more than makes up for in portability.

Witness Tom Cruise in the new movie "Knight and Day" and you’ll see the very same camera — although no, that’s not where I got the inspiration to acquire it.

THAT would come from the duty free cart on the Lufthansa flight back from Frankfurt to Houston!