Walking in the Rain

It was a slow Sunday morning, rain has been pretty coming in pretty steady since last night. After laying around the apartment until one in the afternoon I decided, rain or no, I should walk around the neighborhood at least for some exercise. So I bundled up and headed out the door.

I started out just walking the route my feet normally take me, towards the school. Rain was coming down pretty good and for the last bit of this leg of the walk the rain beat directly against me. So I passed the school and turned the corner beginning to head back down hill. I just wound around the back streets for a while, the rain wasn't so bad between the buildings and to my eyes the way the rain highlights all the greens and glasses over surface textures accentuating them, is very beautiful.



Running between the apartment buildings are many brick staircases, and occasionally I would emerge from the buildings to be on a small hillside looking out across the city. The rain makes Istanbul feel very lush, even though the trees are bare, the gardens are still green as snow hasn't come yet. Though I hear there is usually a few inches of snow on the ground by this time.

While I was walking on a staircase the mosque a block away began the call to prayer. It echoed just slightly among the buildings, but where I stood the sound came very clear and strong. I took a small movie clip of this, and I'll try to figure out if I can get it onto this website.



And of corse, the mandatory cat photo. She just watched me from her place under the shelter of a porch overhang.