Out Post

Just a quick little post here from Greece... I am in Thessaloniki at a posh little cafe with a few minutes before my train leaves to take me home. Funny that Istanbul feels like home but it really does. I was going to stay here for one more day but I thought about my house and really wanted to get back there. Plus it is so SO much more expensive here. I am not so into the euro, really.

Well, leaving Istanbul has really given me some perspective. This city, the second largest in Greece, feels very European. And its Europeanness points again to the fact that Istanbul does not feel European to me. What that means exactly I am not sure. What is European? OK, this cafe is European - the lighting fixtures, the furniture, the cappucinos. But I think I could find a cafe that looks like this in Istanbul but somehow it would be different. I guess I need to think on this more.

I was going to write that this trip has been uneventful but that is not exactly true. On the way here I was in a sleeper car with a woman who struck me as a bit odd. I was NOT happy about sharing my cabin as I was convinced I would have the wagoncar to myself. I complained and complained to my Turkish friend Gokhan who had walked me to the station. The sleeper train was very, very comfortable and quite nicely designed... even had a little sink with a mirror - nice touch. The ride was about 13 hours and I slept a good 7 of that. So, anyway, when I arrived, there was this woman as in my car. She was a young black woman, maybe 25 or so, wearing really tight clothes. One of the first things she did was take out a handful of her hair extensions and just held onto them for awhile. Huh. She had the largest suitcase I have ever seen... the kind they sell on 14th Street. She claimed that she was transporting it for her sister who just had a baby. Weird as she said she was from France - so why the suitcase? And she seemed confused when I asked how long she had been in Istanbul. She was odd with all of her answers, so I was particularly careful in not leaving my bag when I went out to the bathroom. Plus there was zero security at the station - surprising as they have metal detectors at all the malls and metro stations. Once the train started up, this woman called someone and said "We are moving" and that was it. And she said it in English... why not French?? All strange.

Anyway, when we got to the border, the Turkish police were not happy with her passport that was actually from the Congo. The signatures did not match when they had her sign something. So they took her and her giant bag off the train... they had searched the bag on the train and I was curious too, so I looked down from my berth.. just looked like clothes in there. Anyway, the train steward came in and removed the bedding.. I tried to explain that she was in the station - apparently he knew that. Next the police came in and removed the cushions and pulled back the metal walls. Basically they ripped the cabin apart but did not find anything. I just stood there, trying to not be in the way. I was in the way though, I think. They did not touch my stuff. Never saw the woman again - wonder what was up there.

K, time to go to the RR station. Hopefully I will get a cabin to myself this time or at least a more normal person. Fingers crossed.