modern.istanbul

Shortly after Istanbul modern we took a funicular uphill to Taksim, the modern city center and it was really crowded on Saturday. From there we connect to Metro to a super modern and mega shopping mall called Istinye Park.

It is located at the suburb north of Begloyu. It was hard for me to imagine that I am in Istanbul because this futuristic gigantic mall is like any of the American mall and the brands that it carries also made me believe that I am being transported to USA.

It is very atmospheric even though Turkish in general not celebrating Christmas but this is the first time I heard of Christmas carols that proclaiming the birth of Christ....

People enjoyed seeing Santa clause and all the Santa babes dressed in funky red dress. It puzzled me a bit as awhile ago, some of the Dutch schools were afraid to even put up a Christmas tree in fear of offending the muslims (whilst Christmas tree is not even a religious symbol) but yet right in this Istanbul, a city of muslim country, there are Christmas trees every where and even Christmas carols...It is really ashame of the Dutch who marginalize their faith...

On the ground level, you can find all the big names (from LV, Miu Miu, Giorgio Armani, Burberry etc) under one place and outside there are plenty of posh cars standing in line to pick up the passengers after the shopping.

I did hop over to another shopping mall before heading back to Taksim. From Taksim I walked the so called vibrant and lively (too lively, too crowded) Iskender caddesi. It was drizzling and in principle too much of human traffic that made the stroll a bit uncomfortable. There are plenty of shops and eateries around but I didn't checked out any of them...

The Byzantine Istanbul at Sultanahmet area may be old an full of historical evidences but the modern Istanbul is really modern...

silent.night.istanbul.way

We arrived Istanbul already.... First impression is positive and a rather safe place to be.... We manage to navigate to our hotel by Light rail train and then get ourselves oriented with the new surrounding...
The old town area, where we lodged is very small, it is just one evening we already walk to the waterfront area (major ferry area for cruise and water transportation) and Galata bridge.

New Mosque at the Galata Bridge
In fact we were quite confused and thought that this is either Aya Sophia or Blue Mosque but it turns out to be a 400 years old mosque

The Galata bridge, view from Sultanahmet, under the bridge is a stretch of restaurants and we dined at one of them

First night dinner at a restaurant under the Galata Bridge, I had a grilled sea bass while Johannes has a mixed grilled kebab


Later, he tried the fish sandwich from a boat stall, the sandwich is made of half mackerel fish and lots of salad and onion

Turkish has sweet tooth and there are plenty of patisserie or sweet shops every other corner or a few shops in a row, here are some picture of them... I would like to try them but I am afraid my life is too sweet for them at the moment, so lots of pictures and for my eyes only...

merry.christmas

Merry Christmas to ALL, may you be filled with the love of Christ and His peace. For some parts of the world, Christmas already arrived and for us there are still an hour and a half to go...
And I bring you greetings from Istanbul, Turkey!!! We left ice age Holland this morning and arrived warmer Istanbul in the late afternoon. Just came back from exploring the area surrounding our neighborhood.

white.zoetermeer

We arrived home after 6 hours of driving, Zoetermeer is also covered by a thick blanket of white snow and in fact making the driving for the last part of the journey the most challenging one...

Johannes walking on the thick layer of snow

Zoetermeer looks very different with a layer of white snow (at least 15cm)

Our neighbour made a giant snowman, much bigger than a human size...

And many big and small snowmen around the neighbourhood...

Our front garden coated with white

Around the neighbourhood, although it's almost 5pm but the reflection of the snow made the sky bright.... It's the first time I experience such a heavy snow in the Netherlands and the snow is here to last due to the low temperature....

Our back garden, serenity white

Will try to walk around the neighbourhood and take more photos tomorrow...

white.dusseldorf

Sunday morning, it's snowing as per weather forecast...

The surrounding area of the hotel is all white and even our car is covered by a thick layer of flaky snow....

Breakfast at a small cafe next to the hotel, it has a very nice atmosphere and a common place for locals to congregate and catch up with latest happening and gossip... We had German sausage with bread as breakfast, looking at the heavy snow outside, we would need the energies to sustain the drive....

Enjoying my large cuppa before braising through the snow on the homeward bound

On our journey home, driving practically at 40km/h, sit in a slow pace traffic, the whipper swapping hard to get rid of the snow on the front screen, some cars have the thick layer of snow on their roof....

The scenic view along the way...

We got home safely, thanked God for His protection, it took us 6 hours to reach home, nonetheless we are home.

ramen.dusseldorf

Apart from visiting the Christmas market, one of the other mission to Dusseldorf is to check out the Japanese street. We were definitely not disappointed with the Japanese elements in this city.

As soon as we arrived and checked-in, we hit the street by walking to the Japanese street and check out one of the ramen specialty shop. It was just past 12.30 noon, we were the second on the queue and we got in fast....

(Top Right) The queue starts forming after we finished our lunch (Top Left) Johannes miso flavored ramen with the egg cooked in Japanese way, hard egg white but soft egg yolk (Bottom Right) My lightly spicy ramen in Abashiri style from Hokkaido (Bottom Left) Freshly fried, crispy, juicy and meaty chicken karaage.

Me and my ramen, note that behind me is a typical tatami dining area

For dinner, we went to Na Ni Wa, a rather well known eatery, they have one branch with just sushi /sashimi and the other specialized in ramen. With -12C at night, we rather have a hot and tasty broth of noodles than cold cut of sushi or sashimi, again we have to stand in the queue for our turn.

The different facets of Na Ni Wa, an open concept kitchen like any other typical Japanese ramen shops but more airily and transparent

A huge bowl of Chashu Tokusei miso ramen ...

A rather salty, greasy bowl of Chashu ramen, the broth is full of minced pork and over powering flavors. It is definitely not bad but I prefer the other shop better where I can almost drink up the soup...

Nonetheless, a nice, warm bowl of noodles for a cold and freezing winter night....

christmas.dusseldorf

The Christmas markets in Dusseldorf is scattered around different locations across the city. After we have satisfied our Japanese curiosity, we walked towards the 'real' city center to try to locate the Christmas market.Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) in the old town, the light indicating we are walking toward a right direction....

Typical scenes of a Christmas market where there are plenty of stalls selling wooden toys, nuts, handicraft, curry wurst and gulhwein... Somehow, we don't find the Christmas market in Dusseldorf charming or attractive, there isn't enough atmosphere and the crowds are rather rude and rough as well... I find the Christmas market in Aachen, Cologne or even Oberhausen more interesting and atmospehric then this one...

Johanes drinking a cup of gulhwein, it is obsulotely necessary to keep our body warm...

Christmas market at Marktplatz, it was really cold at that time of the afternoon