Images of Istanbul

First, Istanbul was incredible!!!

Second, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! I'll talk about what we did today, tomorrow :)

So, Turkey, Before going we met some hesitation about our trip to Turkey from only a few people. Which is understandable seeing as it shares a border with Iraq. But we felt confident enough in our research about Istanbul and recent events and travelers there about being in Istanbul which is on the other side of the country that after giving it a little thought, we figured, we would be fine...and we were. As we sat in our hotel room in Istanbul watching the news I was thankful we didn't choose a "safe" destination like "London" to go to, as all the crazy stuff with the bombs and the cars was going on. Just goes to show, no matter where you are in this world, you can never truly know what to or what not to expect.

So, Turkey, in short, it was a very interesting city with easily the nicest people in any place I have ever been. The turks even put Lubbock to shame! Which, if you have spent time in Lubbock, you know it is full of some of the friendliest people ever.

So, these are just a few images of the things that are completely Istanbul in my eyes. I'll get more in tomorrow as well...these are just to wet your pallet.

View of Istanbul from a bridge where everyone was fishing into the river. There were hoards of people getting off all the boats and ferries. Reminded me of a time where people would come from all over to bring their merchandise to sell and come to shop in the big city.

Carpet shop across the street from our hotel.
Carpets, are to say the least, a big deal in Turkey. Every corner you turn there would be a carpet shop or 20. I said the people are friendly and they are, and with that, they are very good sales people and everyone will talk to you on the street if they are selling something. EVERYONE. Even restaurants would call out, Hi! Look at my menu! And carpet salesmen would say, come look at my carpets, they are pleasures for the eyes. So of course, our first day in Istanbul we are walking to our hotel and on the corner is a nice man who starts talking to us and asks where we are from and then tells us to come look at his carpets, just to look in the window on our way to the hotel. Ok why not. but of course somehow we magically appear inside the shop. His brother works there too and they bring us tea (which again, is so very typical) The Turkish say that if you share a glass of tea, you will have 40 years of friendship. So we take his tea and we chat for a little bit, then he starts showing us carpet after carpet after carpet. and they were beautiful. Red ones, blue ones, big ones small ones, one fish two fish, red fish blue fish- sorry couldn't resist. In the end we got narrowed down to two we really liked, but of course, we didn't come to Turkey to buy a carpet (but EVERY carpet seller will immediately say, no one comes to Turkey to buy a carpet) We chatted for a bit more and left, and for the rest of our time there, we always waved to the two men in this little carpet shop. If you find yourself in Istanbul your trip could not possibly be complete without experiencing the carpet shop. Its not just a carpet shop, its truly an experience.

The Grand Bazaar seemed like something out of an old Arabian story. This covered bazaar was HUGE and contained 4,000 shops! Again here, everyone super friendly, everyone wanting to talk, everyone wanting you to come into their store to see their merchandise, and everyone offering tea. We got lost in here and because of here several times. Neither of us feel we have bonded with the city, until we find ourselves lost within its borders. I can honestly say there has never been a city outside of the United States where we didn't at one point (or more) look at each other and say, Where are we? And usually about 2 hour later, we make it back to the hotel exhausted from all the walking. Inside the bazaar was amazing, and much to my surprise, only very very very slightly touristy. But once outside, I was in love. It was clear we were obviously the only tourists anywhere around. It was like the bazaar but full of real life stuff and not just souvenir type stuff. The streets were PACKED and narrow. Men ran around carrying and delivering tea to the shop workers. It was the perfect picture in my mind of what I will remember Istanbul being. I however didn't take any pictures of the outside area. Too crowded and crazy to stop to get a picture. But this is a shop inside the grand bazaar.

We went to Topkapi Palace which at one time was the residence of the Sultan. We got there early in the morning and practically had the place to ourselves the first hour. The second hour we went into the Harem. Again, practically had the whole place to ourselves. When we were leaving the Harem back into the main palace grounds we noticed that it had become so flooded with people that we were shocked we were even still in the same place! This is a wall inside the Harem. I thought it was beautiful.

This is half of the view we had at breakfast every morning.

The Blue Mosque. Named so for all the blue tiles inside the building. Several times a day there would be a call to prayer (which I have on video and ill get that up soon). All the mosques have megaphones all over the towers. And at certain times you would just start hearing a man singing/chanting thoughout the city and people would make their way to the mosques and even sometimes to the side of the street with their carpets, get on their knees and have prayer time.

Aya Sophia - built as a Catholic Basillica but later was turned into a Mosque. Inside you can see both aribic writing along with ancient Christian mosaics. At one time all the Christian influences were covered but with restorative work some have been uncovered.

And Finally Good 'ol Starbucks. Now why on earth would anyone go all the way to Turkey to drink Starbucks? Oh, thats easy, because your normal cup of drip coffee in Istanbul is just.. not good at all. And Second, because we needed a Starbucks fix. There is only one in Denmark that just opened a few weeks ago and its in the airport. So uually in the afternoons we would hop over here for a cup of coffee. It was almost right across the street from the hotel. By the time we left we were regulars. Michael liked it because one of the guys working there said, "excuse me are you a bodybuilder" to Michael. So that boosted Michaels ego a bit ;) Back to Turks being nice, at the end of any conversation we had, they would always thank us for it.

Happy Turkey Day!!!

No, not Happy Thanksgiving but happy day we go to Turkey! However, turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, and pumpkin pie sound amazing to me now, especially with the fall weather we have been having here, and the fact that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday by far!! sigh, thats still 5 months away. Anyways, we are soooo excited and so anxious to get to Istanbul. We are a little nervous about making our connection in Munich, but worst case, we spend the night in Germany. No big deal! I'm also excited to get some warm weather. Yesterday the high here was...58 degrees, it was overcast and raining the whole day. It felt like fall. People were walking around in jackets and some even had scarves on. A Dane told me about a month ago that they were predicting a cold summer here. So far, I think he was right. Yesterday in Istanbul the high was 100, but looks like it dropped today and will be in the upper 80's while we are there. Perfect!

We will be back late Tuesday night, so until then, Have a lovely few days!

Denmark Movie Theaters

From the first time we lived here until now, surprisingly one of the questions we find ourselves being asked the most and very often is, "What are the movie theaters like in Denmark?" It is a close second to "What do they speak in Denmark, Denmarkish? Dutch?" and "What are people from Denmark called, Denmarkians? Danishies?" By now I hope everyone that reads this knows that the language is Danish and the people are called Danes.

So, the movies are pretty much the same with a few differences. The biggest is that they have reserved seating. When you get to the ticket office they will either assign you a seat or you can pick it. We typically get our tickets and seats online and pick them up at the theater when we get there. 5 year ago, we weren't sure how we felt about the reserved seating. But after seeing only a couple movies we realized we LOVED it. We prefer sitting in the back row and when we can pick our seats, we don't have to be at the theater super early and race in to try to get the seats we want. When we moved back to the states, we really missed having the reserved seats.

Probably one of the few things that is cheaper here then in the states is movie theater food!! We typically only get a bottle of water, but just looking at the popcorn/candy/coke prices you won't go bankrupt because you wanted to eat. Crazy huh? We do however grab a beer at the little "bar" area and take that into the theater, because, well you can! And thats fantastic! :) I see several people with coffee in there as well.

Lucky for us Denmark shows movies in their original language so all the movies that come here from the states/UK stay in English and there are simply Danish subtitles throughout the film. We don't even notice the subtitles because we are so use to seeing them because they do this with TV too. However, some of the kids movies that come along are translated and some movies show a Danish version and an English version. Hopefully Shrek 3 will show both versions. But it doesn't come out here until August, and we are both anxious to see it.

We are lucky enough that the movie theater is literally across the street from us. Actually you don't even have to cross a real street, just a parking lot. If you look at this picture you will see our building, then the big black building. Between these two buildings you will see hidden a third building. It is white and can actually look like its the top of our building, but its not, thats the movie theater.

I started thinking about all this because we went to see Pirates of the Carribean 3 on Sunday and I was thinking about how nice it is to just walk over there in no rush and walk right back home without dealing with catching a bus or train home like we did last time we were here. This is the same theater we use to go to the first time we lived here as well, so we actually use to have to worry about the busses and trains to get here. In some of the longer movies, like Pirates of the Carribean, they will sometimes show it with an intermission. Our showing did have an intermission. They picked a really bad time in the movie to make the intermission, but was nice to have it there!!

Really, its not that much different, but I am always amazed by how many people are so curious to know about the movie theaters here. I would think it would be something like, What is Danish food? But I RARELY get that question!

Going on "Holiday"

We are finally going on another trip! A week from Thursday this will be our view from our hotel's rooftop terrace where we will be eating breakfast!! We will be able to be in Europe and Asia on the same day while roaming around what was once was the Ottoman Empire. Our trip will include the Grand Bazaar, Spice Market,, baklava, Turkish coffee and hearing the calls to prayer several times a day.

So, where is it? Istanbul.

Once upon a time we made a list of our top three places to visit. Mine included Costa Rica and Japan, which we have done. Michaels number 1 was Istanbul and finally we get to see it. He has wanted to go since our second year in college after a Crusades class he took.

One of Michaels co-workers in Dallas if from here. He immediately wrote him asking for suggestions on things to see and do while we were there, and as it turns out, he will be arriving in Istanbul a couple days after we do with his wife and kids to visit their families. Hopefully if all goes to plan, we will be able to meet up for coffee or lunch or something.

Bakken/Dyrehaven Take 2

We have been BUUUUUSY!!!! So, I have a TON to say, but I'll just have to keep some things for later :) Not this past weekend but the one before we went to Bakken again. This time with all the students that have been and are in the TTU/DTU program along with Dr. Chao, the Texas Tech professor that is the man behind making this program a reality. We ate at Bakken then wondered around Dyrehaven for a bit.

Micheal with Soft Ice at Bakken

Jason Slay, Daniel King, Roland Son, Michael Pate, Dr. Chao, Klaus Krogsgaard, Austin Mullins and Jens Olsen-Skovegaard

The Tech Students! Get Your Guns Up!

Walking through the park

A deer!

Our Danish classes are going well, but now we have a brand new teacher. We hadn't had a class in about 4 weeks because ours was sick then out on summer holiday, and now looks like found a new job. SO we got a new teacher last week and WE LOVE HER!!!! She teaches in the same manner that our first teacher taught and we couldn't be happier about it. Just in the first class we could tell how much we are going to benefit from her and how much more we will be getting out of our classes. YEA!!

And Finally Video # 6!
The Partney's in Denmark - Day 6 - Central Copenhagen Pt. 2

I Hate You Sun...Go Away!

I spoke to soon. I WAS enjoying the sun. At this point, I'd be ok if I never saw it again. Ok, not really, but pretty close to it. Now, it has been in the upper 70's and flirting with the low 80's and we are both melting and miserable. The guy that owns the gym we go to asked us while we were talking about the heat "Aren't you guys from Texas?" yes, yes we are... But at least in Texas we have this wonderful thing called, AIR CONDITIONING, where we can escape the god awful 100+ weather. The other day we had to go hop over to the movie theater to watch a movie because it was cooler in there. They have a little air circulation in the theater. We saw Oceans 13. Good Movie.

Finally, I went to our next door neighbor, Johannas Fog, for a fan. Its a big store with almost anything you need for a house. Like Ikea, but 100 times pricier and nicer. Apparently I wasn't the only one with the idea to get a fan... they had hardly any left, at least of the smaller cheaper ones but i did get a really nice one and it works great. Yea for fans!!

I actually wrote thisSave Now yesterday and today the weather is much better. Its back down to about 64 and we finally have relief! YEA!!!

I Heart You Sun!

Oh, Sun, the wonderful beautiful sun.

This is such a fantastic change from the long cold dark winter. The sun has been out and doesn't seem to want to go away. Its great. We haven't had too many rainy days either. There has been a little rain at night, but the clouds seem to clear up pretty quick. Only problem is, it has become really hard to get tired at night. The sun gives me energy and my body just doesn't want to shut down when the sun is still up. Oh well, Makes up for the not wanting to get out of bed in the winter.

I put timestamps on these pictures so I would remember the time I took them at. I took these last night and this morning. In the night shots, there is no flash nor did I do anything fancy to keep my shutter open to get more light in. I think the pictures actually came out a little darker then true life. We have about 15ish more days till the longest day of the year, then the days will start getting shorter again *sniff*

10:49PM
At this point those colors have been in the sky for a while already

11:20PM
Look still colors in the sky 30 minutes later

6:32 AM (look how high in the sky the sun is already!)
6:32 AM
Lots of people ask us if its hard to sleep. No, and we don't wake up because of the sun either. It's just really hard to GET sleepy. But once we force ourselves to crawl in bed, we fall right to sleep.

Ok, now onto Video Number 5!

blah blah blah
(If you didn't see the first 4 videos, refer to the previous 4 posts to find out what these are all about and to watch the others, before you watch today's video) :)

"The Partney's in Denmark: Day 5 - Lyngby

Updates and Video

Here's something crazy. It was 5 years ago yesterday (June 4th) that Michael and I stepped foot in Denmark for the very first time. I would never have guess what an important part of our lives this little country tucked up in Scandinavia would become. That also means that today is the 5 year anniversary of my dads death. It is kinda bitter sweet that those two things will always be looked at together.

We have been great. We had the Tech students here for a couple nights and they are now in their own place. It was fun to show them around and be able to help them out their first days here. Someone did it for us and we were grateful. I hope they will look back and feel the same way about us. Saturday we went out to Jen's farm for a little bbq and to watch the Denmark-Sweden Soccer Game. It was, interesting to say the least. It was a great and exciting game until it got canceled in the last minutes of the game because an angry fan stormed the field and tried to attack one of the refs. Game was halted and then called off. We were in the midsts of some very confused and not so happy Danes. None the less, we had a fun time.

Today is Constitution Day in Denmark and tonight we went over to one of Michaels co-workers and his wifes house with Klaus for a bbq. It was a beautiful day and we sat outside and ate and had a nice time.

So, thats what we have been up to.

Now, Video Number 4!!
If you didn't see the first 3 videos, refer to the previous 3 posts to find out what these are all about and to watch the others, before you watch today's video. :)

"The Partney's in Denmark: Day 4 - Bakken and Dyrehaven"

Congratulations!!!

A lot of you that read this blog know our friend Blake Hlavaty, so I thought it was appropriate to post this one here. Him and Michael have been friends since they were itty bitty and went through high school together. The same way I met Michael, I met Blake: at band camp. He was also in marching band with me at Texas Tech. Blake is in the Navy and lives in Hawaii. (I would be super jealous if I wasn't living in a cool destination myself) Right now he is picking up his girlfriend in Texas to move her back with him. They have been together for quite sometime now and we found out yesterday that they got engaged!!! We are so excited for them and wanted to share the news with all of you :) So congratulations to you Blake and Ashely!

Our "houseguests" or should I say the students that we are hosting for a few days had a lot of delays and such in Dallas yesterday. They made it as far as Baltimore before they couldn't make a connecting flight. Tonight they will be boarding a plane to Iceland and then over to Denmark. To make a long story short, they won't arrive till tomorrow. Last night we decided to test out the Partney Suite so we slept in there. It was really cool waking up with a glass roof and walls! We couldn't see anything while we were laying down besides sky and clouds. Very very cool!

Now, Video Number 3!
If you didn't see the first 2 videos, refer to the previous 2 posts to find out what these are all about and to watch the others, before you watch today's video. :)

"The Partney's in Denmark: Day 3 - Hillerød

More Houseguests!!

A small handful of you (perhaps just our parents) may remember that when we moved to Denmark in 2002 we had NO IDEA where we would be living until about 1 week before we arrived. The housing office magically bumped us to the top of a waiting list for housing. The housing for students in Denmark is sparse. It is not a country you can just come to and find an apartment like you could in the states. While there are many many apartments, they are not overseen by one central office in each complex. Some people own their apartments and some rent them. Back to my story, we didn't know where we were going to live until the week before we got here. Fast forward to today. Tomorrow 2 new Texas Tech students are arriving in Copenhagen for the DTU/TTU program, and guess what? They don't have a place to live yet! We had offered to let them stay with us if they didn't get assigned anywhere before they got here, and sure enough, they arrive tomorrow and will be homeless. Well not completely, Their temporary residents is in The Partney Suite. They will stay with us for a few days at first because of our very close proximity to the university. Then they will start getting passed around from house to house. Tomorrow Michael and Jens (One of the Danes that went to TTU) are going to pick them up and take them to DTU and go with them to the housing office to get a place to live all set up. This isn't said much but one of both of our big motivators of really wanting to move back to Denmark was to help out a little more with this DTU/TTU program, so while getting news 24 hours before they came that they needed a place to stay might really stress out most people, we are glad we are here to help out. I've only meet them both once and Michael a few times. But we share that Red Raider Bond, so we aren't going to leave them wondering a new country on their own :) Now I'm off to set back up the Partney Suite, do some grocery shopping and making sure they have everything they might need! :)

And now, Today's video!
If you didn't see the 1st video, refer to the previous post to find out what these are all about and to watch the first video, before you watch todays video. :)

"The Partney's in Denmark: Day 2 - Central Copenhagen"