Yes, yes, yes, I’ve got Istanbul for you today. But first, something much more important! HUGE congratulations to my wonderful friend, the immensely talented, generous, and all-around lovely J.T. Ellison, for signing a second three book contract with Mira to continue her amazing Taylor Jackson series. Let the list-hitting begin!

Obviously, the drink for today is champagne. Personally, I think Dom Perignon is always nice for celebrating book deals…

And now, some Istanbul. I’m afraid I’m not at my best at the moment–busier than I’ve ever been. So we’re mainly going to rely on pictures and will be somewhat short on witty commentary. Suffice it to say that Istanbul is an amazing city: exotic, familiar, seductive, mesmerizing.

Some highlights:

*Muttering obscenities to myself upon stepping into the Blue Mosque, blown away by its breathtaking beauty, and then feeling with calm certainty that I’ll be headed straight to the special hell for even letting words like that enter my brain in such a place.

*Realizing there’s no better way to get to know new friends or get reacquainted with the old than sitting around naked for hours in a hamam. My skin has never been so smooth and my absolute number one priority in life now is to find a Body Slave who will hamam me on command. If I lived in Turkey, I would hamam (note how I’ve turned the word into a verb) daily.

*Taking a ferry up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea and discovering that there are, in fact, some things that blow away even the most romantic of expectations. And it’s even better at night.

*Walking so far so frequently that I literally wore more than an inch off the back of my shoes.

*Getting to celebrate a dear friend’s birthday in a truly magical setting with the single most amazing group of people I’ve ever had the honor of hanging out with.

*Finding Topkapı Sarayı to be everything you’d want a sultan’s palace to be. Not a hint of disappointment anywhere. And I’ve got to admit that the harem is so inviting and lovely–you can just imagine it teeming with life–that I wouldn’t half mind being locked in. Heck, I hear most of those girls never even had to deal with the sultan anyway……

There’s so much more. Like Turkish beer, spicy salads, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar, standing on the Galata Bridge watching a deep orange moon rise over the Asian shore, carpets so soft and beautiful you want to roll around on them naked.

But it’s the walking I love the most. Wandering the labyrinth streets, pausing only for important things. Like baklava. I’m babbling now, and it’s very late and I’m very tired, so I’m going to leave you with some pictures: first of people, then of stuff.

I’m off to a busy weekend, by the end of which I’m going to be in more dire need of new music than ever (lots of driving in store for me; I’m sure to be tired of the contents of my iPod by Sunday night). So if you’ve got a heart, give me some more suggestions, people….

xo
Tasha