Nov 29---London once more!

I arrived back to London this evening from Marrakech. It was a quiet exit out of the city as Saturday marked the beginning of
Eid al-Adha Festival (The Festival of Sacrifice)


Into the night, I could hear the sheep in the houses near the Riad and I knew that come morning their time would come to an end. It was a sad farewell for many reasons. Marrakesh is a labyrinth of madness and magic. I was hustled, had long talks with friends over long cups of menthe te, made the acquaintance of a few special people, spent my days in the heavy sun covered from wrist to ankles in dark clothes and boots while exploring the city, and spent amazing nights in the heart of the Medina. I hope some day to return for a much more in-depth exploration of the country...first on my list...the dessert.

Sunday is market day here in London so if the weather permits I'm off only to eye...not to buy!!!

Pictures soon...really....

Marrakech Nov 23

After a long day in Barcelona and a midnight flight I made my way into the city of Marrakesh. It has been a long day of haggling, hustling, and all manor of excitement that the constant bustle of an economic epicenter can offer. Tomorrow early style I am abandoning my scruffy digs for the tranquility of my pre booked Riad...I am hoping to spend some time in the Souks and surveying the city and possibly maybe a trip to the Desert.

Will be in London in a weeks time and I will post picts of all that I have seen in the last few weeks.

In the meantime I am wishing everyone in the states a happy Turkey Day!
and
happy happy birthday David and Nneka

Nov 22...Another midnight flight...

CURRENTLY spending my last night in Barcelona...had an amazing trip filled with lotts of new friends and some I hadn't seen in nearly 5 years but I'm so glad we connected...this is a place I could live a while...while I plot to work that out I'm packing my things and heading to Morocco...I wonder if I can have turkey with my tea??

giving thanks....siempre

Turkey Recap (Nov 1 - 15)

CURRENTLY: I am in Barcelona, Spain home of Gaudi and all manner of great weather and culture. Heading out this morning with the hopes of getting to see a bit of the city on foot. I am without a guide of any kind so we´ll see how my first day of vibrational Barcelona pans out...good thing I can actually communicate here...ha ha

Not sure how many images I can get together from Turkey just due to the lengthy uploads while they are being compressed...more to come...lo prometo.



Aya Sofya - Istanbul (Sultanhamet)

It was a busy morning so we were hearded in amongst the masses of tourists trying to get a peak of the sites

Interior of Aya Sofya the scaffolding has been up for over 5 years I´m told...This structure began as a church. Centuries of ruling empire changes saw the Aya Sofya´s interior walls plastered and used as a mosque only to regain it´s original form and become a church....at some point centuries ago the fighting over this structure ended and it became a museum under the Sultan...he later erected the Blue Mosque to out do the beauty of the Aya Sofya

The Blue Mosque from the terrace of our hotel

CURRENTLY - Heartbroken....

so folks I had planned to blog and catch up in Bursa but I found that all...yes ALL my pictures from NY - London - Granada are gone...my heart is terribly broken...but I'm trying to put together bits of what I can...thankfully Lauren ("Sorry, Thanks" Producer/Writer extraordinare) has generously offered to share her Spain picts. with me upon my return to NY in Dec...technology my a@#...I'm going back to FILM!

granada, Spain (Oct 25) - Movie Night

later that evening "Sorry, Thanks" had its international premier at the Young Filmakers Festival in Granada, Spain
STILL: I was so excited to read my dialogue in spanish
STILL: Bar scene with bff Rachel...aka my great friend Raluca
Andrew Bujalski was also in town to screen his latest film "Beeswax" (he plays Max's best friend Mason in our film)
after the show its....you know the rest. We headed out for a night of eating and drinking...lotts of tapas involved.

Granada, Spain (Oct 25)

after chocolate and churros we headed over to the theater where the film would be playing later that evening. It was super impressive.
back stage...
the engineers worked hard at trying to fix a slight issue that had persisted for days...there was NO sound on the film. Dia had help from the states and finally the problem was solved...
Lauren, Dia, Kenya...las chicas de "Pardon, Gracias" ("Sorry, Thanks")

Granada, Spain (Oct 25)

Arrived to Granada "knackered" as the Brits say but the Festival arranged a pick up for me in style.
Hotel Carmen was right on the main road in the center of town and the sign was right above my balcony...wicked! ha ha
Went for a stroll and met up with everyone at Cafe Futbol which has the most amazing chocolate y churros in the world.
Dia (director of "Sorry, Thanks") and her mom Nina
Lauren (producer "Sorry, Thanks") working on her cute summer look happy to have escaped the NY winter for a bit.

London to Granada, Spain (oct 25)

I woke up a 330 am (only sleeping 2 hours) and headed to Heathrow for my 7am flight to Granada, Spain via Madrid....
the queue was out of control
It's like everyone in the EU came over to sit in the airport at 430 am
after a hectic run to make the plane after being given an earlier flight that I then missed me and the tall gentleman (almost 7 feet) were assigned the same seat...the man on the left was on his way to catch a cruise boat in Spain that was heading to Puerto Rico...he's Kenyan...so we became BFF...
the airport in Madrid was so beautiful I had to take a pict...can't wait to explore more of Spain soon.