Trotsky, trotsky, trotsky

Trıed to fınd Trotsky's house this week and failed. When he went into exile from the soviet union, Leon Trotsky fled to a small island in the bosphorus called butukada. A few days ago we tried to find his house, the address of which was listed in our guidebook. Sounds easy, right? İ was so psyched; İ had prepared a celebration that involved doing a russian-inspired dance and humming the theme song to tetris. Unfortunately, our guidebook neglected to tell us that the address numbering scheme on the island made little sense when it came to trotsky's house. We followed what we thought was the correct street for an hour or two, only to find that his purported address, 55, did not exist where it should have. After Russian-dancing and tetris-theming around the island for a bit, we gave up and went home. İ felt like stabbing Trotsky with an icepick, but them İ found out that someone had beat me too it. Other than the lack of trotsky, buyukada is an interesting little island. İt is kind of like a turkish saltspring. İt has way more cats and stray dogs and horses, and way less hippies. İstanbulians use it as a nice little getaway in the summer. Very idylic.

Aside from our little island hopping excursion, we have been to two of the three main palaces in İstanbul this week. İ guess technically there are four palaces, although İ hear one is now a shopping mall so it doesn't count as much. Topkapi palace is big, marble and cold. Kind of impersonal, with the weight of centuries of sultanic power behind it. İ was surprised to find out that the sultan only had about four wives and maybe eight favorite concubines out of a harem of 500 or more. İ used to think that the sultans were super manly dudes, but come on, having twelve women at a time is only kind of manly. Now having 500...... Another thing about this palace is it's excellent collection instruments of death. The armoury clearly shows that the turks have always had a certain flair that the europeans lack. Old Turkish pistols are inlaid with giant jewels and precious metals, as are their swords. When you were killed by these guns, you were killed by good taste. On the other hand, the europeans may have been trying to get by on a sheer terror factor; the armoury also contained a medival european broadsword that was, no shit, over seven feet tall. İ have a picture. İ cannot even imagine the man that could wield this thing. Not very stylish, but very, very effective.

The second palace, dolmabache, is much younger and much more ostentatious. İt is all hardwood floors and gilded walls and ceilings. The doorknobs are made of porcelein. They have a crystal chandelier that weights over 4 tons. Biggest in the world. Everything in it is ridiculously expensive looking. İ was afraid to breathe, thinking that İ might upset a giant vase or other precious work of art. Now that is what İ call rulling!! İf your people are going to be poor, then you should show off that you are extra, super rich, by having four palaces in one city, stuffed with every ridiculous thing that you can think of. They even had entire dinner services made of gold and jewels. That was in addition to services in silver, opal, and jade. 'This silver and opal plate makes my food taste less than rich, do we have anything fancier? A solid gold one you say? İ guess that will do.' When İ think palace, İ think dolmabache. Less old than topkapi, more over the top. Also, it is haunted by the ghost of atturk, seeing as how he died in one of the rooms.

Spoooooky

Will