Short trip to Paris

Wow. What else can I say?
I am on the way back from a short but intense trip to Paris.
Left early on Thuesday morning to arrive at noon and thought for another time that one should go to Paris more often, since it's only a 4,5 direct train ride.

I went to Anasma's place where I met her, Willow and Geneva Bybee (another dancer). I took those two to Pigalle and up to Montmartre.

Later this evening we did something interesting: The three of us taught a workshop together on Tango Oriental fusion. I covered more of the tango side, Willow added the Oriental flavour and Geneva put it all together with a tribal fusion edge. Sounds interesting? It was - and you can book us :-) I think we profited at least as much from each other as the students did.

At night we went to a Milonga together. But I was a bit dissapointed. I'm so spoilt from getting to dance with many men in Istanbul and Zurich but the Parisians chose to completely ignore me. I only got one dancer, because Willow had danced with him before and told him to ask me.
Most people only danced with the same partner all night long.
On the other hand I tried teaching Willow's friend Anthony a few steps. But of course it's harder for the guys.

On Friday I went to Notre Dame with Willow which was not so easy because a lot of shops got into our way... :-)
I had to run from there to go to the tech rehearsal for the show on the same night. After I was through there still was enough time for me to go to Forum des Halles and do some serious cheap shopping. I even found a purple handbag I had been searching for since about a year!

The show itself took place in an old round wooden theatre with a very nice athmosphere. There was a nicely mixed program with a lot of creative costuming.

Then we went back home to Anasma's place which is fortunately quite a big apartment, to have an after party.

Today I got up first and was apparebtly the only obe of us whith enough time and energy to go out and meet Anthony for a late breakfast at Angelina, a very nice old café where the chocolat chaud was so thick that it made me wonder if I should drink it or chew it?

Then I spent a lot of time in the Post museum that had an interesting exhibition on the history of sending messages.

Unforunately Willow got hold up and we departwd for the train station very late. Geneva drove us there and although she did her best ( she is used to the traffic in Rome and drove Italian style) we missed the train.
Well, we did get on an other train but now, instead of getting home directly, we will have to change trains 4 times and arrive very late....

Between excitement and trying to get some sleep...

Havin a house guest is a bit like being on vacation - if only one didn't have to go to work inbetween...

Last Thursday I went to the airport to pick up Willow who had arrived from Honolulu.
With 3 suitcases and a big box! It's always interesting to see how much stuff I can put into my small car :)

Since then it's been a mixed program of morning walks, shopping, tango nights, a dance show.... And not enough sleep for both of us!

Willow is fighting with her jet lag and me with having to get up early after going out at night and trying to catch up with naps during the day.

But it's fun!

After my tango spree in Istanbul I get to have another one here in Zurich. A good occasion to show off ALL my tango shoes :)

This morning I put Willow on the train to Paris - and I will follow on Thursday. Now I have 3 days of work, meetins, dance lessons... and am trying to fit in the packing and practicing my dance for the show on Friday in Paris!

And yes, I want my 7 hours of sleep!

And now the end ist near

So why did we get up on our last day after hardly 5 hours of sleep? Because as Katharina says, a visit to the hamam is as good as two hours of sleep. So we did our last packing, had some breakfast and went off to the Galatasary Hamam because it's only a 2 minutes walk from the hotel.
You know that you have been carrying a heavy handbag for a week when you get a massage... My neck muscles needed some special work!
Katharina's flight left two hours before mine so she left after some small lunch. And we promised each other to come back together as soon as possible, we had been such good travel companions.

I strolled up and down the street a bit and successfully avoided buying any more shoes - which was wise because at the airport it turned out that my luggage was overweight. No surprise! Stuff like hip scarves with coins or tribal jewellery is heavy! And I even had given the Bella costume to Katharina! Luckily the guy at the check in counter let me pass without charging anything.

I spent half of the flight calculating what I had spent for all my stuff - and I was even under budget for the costumes! Good girl!

Last evening in Istanbul....

We were both so happy with our new costumes that we had to take pictures. Fortunately the hotel has a very nice, old fashioned lobby which makes an excellent backdrop.

Then we packed our tango shoes and went to Özsüt for a late cake dinner. Of the different milongas going on this evening we chose BailaTango because it's practically situated in the same street as Araf where we planned to go later. Besides this I have been there before and liked the atmosphere.

Like many buildings on Istiklal Caddesi this one has a club on every floor. You might find an 80ies party on the first floor, traditional Turkish music on the 2nd floor, salsa on the 3rd and hard rock on the 4th - while they are playing house music in the basement! You also find a lot of bands playing live music. There really is a party for every taste - if you get bored at night in Beyoglu, it's your own fault...

Although we had been warned that there would be "only 5 people" the milonga was pleasantly crowded and the owner of the dance school, Metin Yasir (who is rather famous dancer and teacher) even sent us two dancers over in the beginning to make sure were dancing. Then one dance partner followed the other with hardly 5 minutes to breathe inbetween. I have never had such busy milongas as during this week!

Katharina left first because one of her friends was already waiting at Araf, I followed her a little later. I am not sure at what time because it was the night when they changed from daylight saving time to regular time. Fortunately for us, it meant one hour more of sleep... (comes in handy if you get up at 9 am after a long party night!)

Last full day

Today we walked a lot... first we started by Dolmabahçe and wanted to stroll along the Bosphorus. But we had to find out that there had been so many palaces and other big houses built right by the shore that there was practically no way to walk by the water. Instead we walked along the noisy street behind these buildings until we had enough and caught a bus out to Bebek.

Bebek is an area a bit outside that's quite pretty - a place where rich people have their weekend houses and maybe a little yacht in the
harbour...

After taking a little snack we walked back, enjoying the view on the Bosphorus. After about a total of 2 hours of walking in the sun we were getting tired. So we got a taxi and went to another part of the city called Nisantasi. It's a great shopping area, in case this should interest you :-) But most of all we went to have a kebap t Hacibey - it's really expensive but tastes absolutely delicious! No comparision with any kebap you have ever eaten!

Then it was time to collect our costumes. Katharina got hers from SIM very quickly. I then went to Legends, but they were still working on it - 4 women sewing like crazy. But the result is absolutely stunning!

Now it's time to pack and get ready for the last night - we plan to party hard!

between hectic and relaxed....

Just after we got off the ferry (relaxed) we went back to shopping, checking off some of the last things on our shopping lists. So we first went to the fashion jewellery and glitterstone shops behind the Egyptian basar. I even found the most tasteless golden soap dispenser
in the world, just perfect for my bath!

Then we had to run up to the Grand Basar to pick up our orders from Gülseren before they closed the shops.

By now all the relaxation had faded away... But we went to visit one of Katharina's friends at his cozy hotel and had dinner there to cool
down a little.

Then it was time to get ready for the milonga at TangoJean where we were already expected by all our fans :-) Kathrina danced so much she got blisters on her toes! By now I think we can say that she's an official tango addict...
Of course I also had my share of good dancers. And I tried to explain to a beginner dancer that he should slow down and dance more to the music instead of cramming all the moves he knows into one song which results into a rather gymnastic experience. But he didn't really get it... Maybe in a year...

Some fresh air

Even we need a break from shopping -so today we took a ferry to Büyükada (princes island) and took a round trip in a horse carriage. It wasn't spectacular but quite nice. Then we had lunch in one of the many fish restaurants.

By the way, if you are wondering when I get the time to write my blog: I write most of it on my iPhone when there is some "sitting around time" like waiting time like at the costume tailors or right now spending 1,5 hours on the ferry back to Istanbul.

Tango fun multiplied

Last evening I waited for Katharina to get home from her tango lesson.... I waited a long time. When she finally arrived it was clear why: she was carrying several bags from different shops... That's what you get from having one of Istanbul's main shopping streets as your way home!

She was quite exhausted and had to take a nap during which I sorted out my own aquisitions, went through my e-mails and prepared my clothes for the night.

In the end we got out after 10 PM. Fortunately we had had a real lunch for a change, so we decided to have some big, fat cakes for dinner.

Then we walked to the milonga which took place on the top floor of a nice hotel. Again a great view that few people were looking at ;-).

Katharina had planned to mostly sit and watch - but she actually was asked to dance several times. It's funny to see that she is now where I was 6 years ago: a bloody beginner in her first ever milongas in Istanbul!
For me it was the moment to dance in my brand new shoes. I mostly danced with Özdener, my newfound tango soulmate. He's a pianist in his fifties - and musicians often make good tango dancers because they really feel the music.

Day four... getting tired...

So, all that heavy shopping and a slight (hahaha) lack of sleep are starting to affect us...
Our main adventure today was to go to Çedikpaşa hamam, my favourite. Not expensive, but spacious. And they have an extra sauna room and a little pool. We really needed the sweating, scrubbing and massage....

Then Katharina went for her tango lesson and I picked up my shoes - and had a siesta...

Nightlife

We met up for dinner with one of Karharina's friends and two of his friends. I seem to be eating some sort of meat for most meals... köfte and the like. But so far I haven't gotten bored with it :-)

The we splittet, I went to the milonga at TangoJean. Katharina just came along shortly to arrange a private tango lesson for the next day, then went to party with the boys.

I was very busy dancing with a different man for every tanda (round of 4 - 5 songs). I guess I have arrived at my goal of becoming a decent social dancer :-) I don't have ambitions to teach or perform this dance, but I want to be good enough so that men want to dance with me more than once. A woman even complimented me, saying that I am a "çok güsel dansöz". Mission accomplished!

After the milonga was over I joined the others at a club called Araf - motto: All Music From The World. And that's exactly what they played, it eas so much fun! We had a blast there until nearly 3 AM...