Wednesday August 30: 12:00 am
Istanbul

Locals tan on towels laid down on the side of the rocky road. The sun beats down heavy on all of the horses’ backs. We curve along the path that circles the island hill. The skinny beach is crowded all the way.

Finally a peak pokes through the trees, the big beach reveal. Tramping down we pass three women and a fire, a shack, and half a path to the empty rocks. Run out into shining corridor dividing the water and the sky.

Float on salty water, wading through schools of jellyfish. Flip backwards and let the waves take the body any way. Slip on sunglasses and close eyelids, thinking that the plane leaves tomorrow but today will never end.

Birds ate my face

-Istanbul, Summer Twenty-Eleven

Tuesday August 29: 11:00 am
Istanbul

Hung over from the second night of Wolf. Take breakfast with our motley crue of travelers and make plans for the Asian half. Take off down to the waterfront to find a ferry heading east.

Take the crammed boat from port to port, wondering where we are. Walk down new streets, climbing into each other’s brain. Walk through relationships, friendships, business, travel; sex.

Twist up and down the streets of the outer neighborhood. Turn back to the water and run back on the boat. Step back and shake foggy heads, hoping we picked a ferry to take us back.

Luck in and watch the boat pull up to home.

Sunsets and car crashes

-Istanbul, Summery Twenty-Eleven

Topkapı Palace

Skip past all long lines, sunlight leaked into stupid ears. Turn music on full blast and nod head back and forth to take the beauty in. Crop photos close to collage patterns together, the micro maxing out a bigger picture.

Gone go the long lines of columns over walkways and broad, impressive domes. All that’s left is the sunlight in a single passage and a dangling golden ball.

The quaint and the consumer

-Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, Summer Twenty-Eleven

Monday August 29: 10:00pm
Istanbul

Stay up most of the night playing Wolf with some Germans and a couple of Australians. Wake after breakfast and wander back to the Old City. Follow a graffiti covered entrance down an alley to a studio draped with grapes where an artist is collaging.

Next, into the park and through the tall tunnel of leaves and out to the ocean. Sit seaside at a café with a Coca Cola. Watch the boats move from the city out into specks of skyline.

Dance to BritPop all around an ancient palace. Lay down in the grass and stare up at the colours and patterns merging. Try shopping at the Grand Bazaar, but give up and into laziness, back to the hostel for a beverage.