An 83000 square meter palace - Istanbul Day 2 afternoon

The previous post in this series is here..

Afer a quick stop at our hotel to wash and change clothes we had to make it back to the German water fountain to meet our guide and other group members. The little one who was busy studying for the exam of a lifetime, decided to stay put in the hotel. The three of us made it in time and went for a long long walk with the guide to Topkapi palace.

This was a monstrous palace. There were way too many sections and this is also a very large museum. There were sections that showed life as it was during the Sultanate 500 years ago, to the French style addition in early 1900’s.

This is some diamond on display at the museum! Not going to go into the details here.. but it is 86 Karats and is called the Spoonmaker’s diamond! Has a very interesting story behind it!

Two vertical pano shots and a horizontal pano.. the views were amazing both inside and outside the palace. We would have spent more time here if we were not on such a tight schedule and it was cooler outside.

We covered as much as our legs would let us. There is no AC in the rooms. On a hot afternoon where temperatures were in the 90’s it was tough covering what we did. Not adding too many pictures of the artifacts save for a very special diamond! You can see the entire experience in the video highlight reel..

After this the tour was done. We could disperse when we wanted. So we took an Uber from the main road and went to the Galata Tower. This was one attraction that was on the other side of the bridge. Once we reached the tower, the crowd was overwhelming. The line to go up the tower was more than 500 people. So we decided to skip going up. We saw a nice rooftop restaurant right next to the tower and had some snacks while enjoying the views of the tower and Istanbul.

Once done we had a tough time finding an uber back (this place is extremely crowded). You are better off walking out a few blocks to get the Uber. We made it back in time to the hotel for another change of clothes. We had an hour to take another long ride to go on our last adventure for the day!

That one alone has 250 photos.. so might be a few days before I edit them all and post..

A weekend getaway with friends to Bodega Bay

For over 20 years we have wanted to visit Bodega bay. An old friend and colleague Kevin kept raving about this place after spending a weekend there with his wife. The opportunity never came. In early April, our friends called us to join them for a weekend at Windor (same area). They had access to a timeshare. We drove the two plus hours on a rainy Friday evening to Windsor. It was a cute apartment. Even if we did not go anywhere outside and were just chatting it would have still been a great weekend.

The trips to Bodega bay, the local estuary walk, telling them about the bench photo tradition, lunch at a Nepalese place in Sebastapol, visiting Healdsburg, spending time at a bookstore there followed by some delicious ice cream, walking in the rain and drizzle through the streets and art galleries there… all of that was just extra. Every family has a crazy person and a sane person.. you would have come to that conclusion if all our conversations were overheard.

We had fun!

More pics.. The late lunch at Namaste Kitchen was delicious! The ice cream and hot cocoa on a rainy afternoon at Noble folks in Healdsburg was out of the world!

Walking in Sebastopol on Florence avenue to admire the junk art was a great exprience. We met Patrick Amiot and thanked him for his creations!

while walking around the place we saw a very real reminder of current events.

A video highlights reel..

We are all getting to a different phase of our lives with the kids becoming young adults. It is great to feel young again.. only friends can do that with effortless ease!

Here is to many more getaways! The kids are probably rolling their eyes as they read this.. but will take that!

Revisiting Alamere falls after three years

Alamere falls near Point Reyes is an amazing waterfall that goes straight into the beach. Our first visit to this place was in 2021 in the middle of COVID. There was minimal socializing and we made the most of it.

In March we got a chance to go again. It is a long drive followed by a long hike. When you go with a group, both of those don’t seem long enough.

Given I have already described everything about this place, an updated set of photos and a video highlight reel!

Last time we went in November. This time we went in March.. the landscape on the hike was a lot greener, there were wildflowers that started coming out.. but it was windy and chilly both times.

It is now blog policy to open posts with a bench photo. Got a lot of yoga pose photos as well on this visit!

Had fun playing with the long exposure options in iPhone. Carrying the SLR up a 14 mile hike would have been an additional challenge.

went close to the falls and put the iPhone upside down on the sand to get this one.. had to crop it to a square shot. Water drops blurred part of the image.

When all surfaces are vibrant, had to stop and take pictures of small plants, lichens, buds… was slowing the group down a lot this time with the pictures..

The video highlights reel..

If all goes well, we will visit this place again in a few more years. The walk on the beach to the falls and the race against time is always interesting!