jared
Planning the expedition – Part 4 – Wardrobe & "The Look"
People often laugh when I talk about wardrobe for the film. I am not known as a fashion guru. But the reality is – with 90 stops in 30 days and a feature length film I could easily be seen in a different set of clothes every 3 minutes! So for continuity sake (and ease of editing) I choose to wear the same outfit every day. Let me rephrase – I choose to be seen wearing an outfit that looks the same every day – I do in fact change my clothes.
Continuity with the 2009 start of the film is a problem – but it really isn’t. To be practical – in 2009 I weighed more, had a pony tail, and used a poorer quality microphone – so no matter what I do the 2009 footage of me will not match. However the interviews and b-roll are still good as I am not in them – so really only the footage ‘of me’ from 2009 is not useable and that’s not that much footage.
This gives me a clean visual slate. So what will I wear?
I love my blue shirts – I like the look of a blue polo and the feel of a polyester golf shirt is perfect for a hot summer day. I think the royal blue stands out and isn’t too overbearing – hopefully the color will stand the test of time. To that end I just ordered 12 new Izod golf shirts for the film. With 10 days between laundry days 12 is a safe number.
For pants I always wear black jeans. I know for many this is too hot – but I just find them comfortable in all situations and if they are crisp and new they can look dressy enough from afar. Of course my jeans will be Levis.
Normally I wear big black boots. Year round. People always laugh at them because they are huge & heavy but this year I decided to treat myself and upgraded to real hiking shoes and purchased some Merrells. I am amazed at how many people have asked me about my shoes since I started to break them in! They are very comfortable and I always add Dr Scholls custom fit orthotics (you know the machine at the store that measures your feet) it is like walking on air. And for a trip I always just buy new socks – it’s the big treat.
So, Merrells on the feet, Black Levis, Blue Izods. What else is left?
Whenever I travel I need a vest. I didn’t want to look sloppy so I got a well fitting black photographers vest (2 in fact to cycle regularly).
And to top it off a nice safari hat – there is still debate as to whether or not I need a new one or if my slightly worn hat has character – we shall see.
I did my one concession and will pack a single ‘trendy’ outfit for one of the nights in Paris – how this will play out in life or on film will be interesting.
A full equipment breakdown will be another blog entry as we get closer to packing – but the question here is what will be visible when I am on camera.
Equipment wise everything fits in my backpack – though reviewing the footage from 2009 I realize you can only see me wearing the backpack on occasion. I will need to pay close attention to that detail this year.
So what am I bringing and what am I not?
As a photographer I am bringing (and wearing) my digital SLR – it iss the Pentax K-5 with 2 lenses. This means a camera on a strap and one lens carrier on my belt. I got a new shoulder strap that hangs my camera at hip level. It’s part of my visual look.
As much as I love my toys I am NOT bringing: they Lytro camera, any 3D cameras, or any panoramic camera rigs.
This is a movie so I need to focus on filming.
The small Sony HD video camera (which I for the most part won’t be carrying and the audience will never see) has a nice built in microphone but I will also wear a wireless lapel microphone for the entire 30 days – this shouldn’t be visible if rigged properly.
In addition to the Sony camcorder I have my Pivothead HD video sunglasses, my iPhone, and a new GoProHD Black.
The Pivothead HD sunglasses will be in a lot of the shots because in my opinion nothing looks worse then seeing someone squint into the sun as they talk! The other two I don’t expect to be seen by the audience.
So fashion police, how does this sound?
The Production Team!
Jared Bendis – Co-Director, Executive Producer, Writer, Guide
Amanda Almon – Co-Director, Cinematographer, Editor
Tom Hayes – Writer
Pari Naraghipour – Production Assistant, Research, Transcription & Translation
Susan Almon-Pesch at Market4Profit.com – Public Relations
Planning the expedition – Part 3 – The Car
Road tripping around France can be fun but you really need to think ahead. We don’t simply need to rent a car for a day or two – we need to rent a car for 23 days – and we will be putting some real miles (excuse me KM) on it!
Most people just head to their favorite car rental agency – the problem is that renting a car in Europe isn’t as customizable as it is in the US and I really need to control the options in the car.
First, I need an automatic – I can’t drive stick (very well) and I don’t want to deal with stick. Most rentals in Europe are stick.
Second, I want diesel. Remember in Europe diesel is cheaper and it gets better mileage and you want the most bang for the buck.
Third, and this is the kicker, what is the deductible in case of theft, vandalism, or accident? Most companies have deductibles of over $1,000 which would be something you would need to budget for in case of emergency. The MasterCard program that allows you to ‘waive’ insurance is only for 14 days or under (if that program still exists) and therefore doesn’t work here.
So instead of trying to rent a car I go through a leasing company out of NYC – http://www.ideamerge.com/
Here they actually sell you a new car (as a very short term lease). You are the first owner – it is brand new! Then when the trip is over – they take it back and resell it. I am told it is all about taxes on new vs. used cars and somehow it makes sense. And not only can I pick the exact car I want (Automatic, Diesel, GPS) – but it is totally covered by insurance with zero deductible.
The lease for 23 days is like $1,500 and I am estimating about $550 for gas and tolls.
To estimate KM, travel time, and tolls I use – http://en.mappy.com/ which I have found is a little better for France than Google Maps.
I then check my France petrol prices here – http://www.aaireland.ie/AA/Motoring-advice/Petrol-Prices.aspx
Since the car is new the stated mileage is usually pretty close. Though they don’t use Miles/Gallon they use Liters/100KM which involves math but you can calculate a good estimate from.
For the 23 days we are estimating – 4200km (or 55 hours of driving) and 158 Euros in tolls.
The downside with leasing the car is that the license plate is red (indicating foreign owner) and both times I have done this I have had my car broken into (though there were other contributing factors and people say that thieves can spot rental cars just as easily).
So let’s talk about those contributing factors.
In 2004, I rented too small a car that had no covered trunk. I drove from Paris to Chantilly (which is a tourist trap right off the highway) and left my car (with the luggage visible in the trunk) in a wooded parking lot. When I came back the car was empty but no damage to the car (they jimmied the lock). It was very frustrating and I spent the afternoon and the police station. I had good renters insurance at the time and my contents were covered with the police report. Lessons learned? Don’t leave stuff exposed in a car, get the right sized car so your stuff is covered. I could not have left stuff in the hotel because I didn’t have one yet. I could have brought the bags into the castle and asked them to watch them and I have occasionally done this since. This year we check into the hotel before Chantilly – I am superstitious about this place.
In 2009 it was a little trickier. The rule when traveling by car is as follows – never go into the trunk right before you leave the car. If you need something out of the trunk you get it as you go INTO the car but not as you leave it. This takes some careful thinking. When we were in Marseilles we were going to see the Chateau D’If which is in Marseilles harbor. So we needed to park the car downtown and take a boat. We found street parking on a side street but before we left the car one of the members of our trip remembered something they needed out of the back and against my better judgement I opened the trunk for them.
When we returned to the car several hours later I noticed broken glass next to the car. They had smashed one of the small windows and gotten into the car. The broke the arm rest (thinking it opened) and grabbed one bag from the car – in fact the reached into the trunk. Ironically, the grabbed the one bag on top which was the bag of the guy who made me open the trunk in the first place. While not a lot was stolen – the broken window meant I had to spend several hours in the Marseilles police station (which was rough) and while I could have had the window replaced we instead opted to just stuff a jacket in the hole for the remaining day and a half we had the car. It changed the schedule a bit but in the end all was ok (except when it rained).
I have arranged that for this trip to Marseilles – our hotel is walking distance to the dock so we can leave the car secured and our bags in the hotel.
Up next – how you map out 30 days of adventure!
Planning the expedition – Part 2 – Hotels
Planning the hotels is really a chicken & egg thing. You can’t choose your hotels until you pick your cities and you can’t pick your cities until you pick your destinations, you can’t pick your destinations unless you know your schedule, and your schedule revolves around which cities you are going to be in. Suffice it to say – there will be another post explaining how I built my big map around France.
The trick is to pick a city to spend the night that is not too far from the next day’s first visit. I want the rhythm of the trip to be: get up, eat breakfast, and start filming. While there will be some driving during the day – I want all of the big stretches to be at the end of the day when things are closed (usually around 6pm-7pm) leaving flexibility enough to eat, drive, and check-in as I like.
Traveling like this is tricky because we don’t get a ‘base of operations’ (until we hit Paris). Most of the time – we are working out of the car. Though for security reasons there are several times that we do check into a hotel first. I had my car broken into on two previous trips to France and I do try and be cautious when I can.
For the 29 nights we will be in France we will be staying in 23 different cities!
The first challenge is: Sure it looks good on the map – but are there even hotels in those cities (and then rooms on those dates)?
In 2004 I tried to just wing it – didn’t make any reservations – didn’t have any plans – just drove and stopped. I ended up having to sleep in the car 4 times. Don’t laugh – sleeping in the car – kills your body. One night I was trying to find a place to park where there were no street lights and found that I can pulled off the road next to a cemetery – freaked me out – had to drive to the other side of town. So winging it really isn’t an option.
In 2009 we stayed at B&Bs. This seemed like a good idea – especially because we were trying to get interviews but in reality most of them didn’t pan out and quaintness usually doesn’t translate into basic comforts. Not everyone has Internet, elevators, or air conditioning!
So this year I opted to stay at hotels. Normally I use hotels.com to book my hotels because I like the idea of getting all of my travel rewards in one place (even when staying with multiple companies) but I also wanted to try for a better discount and the Accor hotel chain (IBIS, ETAP) let me sign up for a business account (and a loyalty card) – they also offered to help me get a discount in Paris which is 7 nights.
On my previous trip to Paris I stayed at this great little hotel that is really off the grid. Very nice and all but the last day they couldn’t run my card and wanted me to pay in cash. I don’t think so. The adventure we planned on having shouldn’t be about the hotels!
I created a spreadsheet with dates and locations and started to go through the Accor database. They often have multiple hotels in each city and sometimes give a 30% discount if you prepay. All of the hotels have free wifi and some ofter free breakfast. Some have free parking and some have pay for parking – and as I found out some don’t have ANY parking which I am glad I caught before I booked.
8 hotels have charge for parking but 9 hotels have free breakfast so you take the good with the bad!
Of the 29 nights in France I booked 24 nights with Accor hotels. The prices vary greatly but I not only have reservations in-hand but most are prepaid which means we can even check in late if we need to.
So what about the other 5 nights?
I had budgeted roughly $3,100 for the 29 nights of hotel. And as I started to book each night – the saving started to add up nicely.
I have 2 free nights from hotels.com and I wanted to take advantage of them before they expired – that saved a little more money.
So I sent some emails explaining the project and for 3 nights we are actually staying at castles that are allowing us both to film at then and to conduct interviews!
The three castles are:
The 18th century Château de Rochecotte, formerly the private home of the Duchess Dorothée of Dino and Prince of Talleyrand, it is situated in the heart of the Loire Valley. We filmed there in 2009 and they were very gracious to us and took us around the grounds and gave a lot of history.
Built in 1224, the Château de Pray is also in the Loire Valley – it’s pretty cool looking!
The Château de Etoges is near Epernay, built in the 17th century it was visited by Louis XIV, the Sun King and also by Louis XVI during his flight to Varennes in 1791, it is said that even Napoleon Bonaparte visited (and now us).
In the end the hotels cost right around $3,000 which is a pretty good deal for a month in France in high-season!
Up next – how I booked the car!
As always we thank you for the support of this project be sure to Like us on Facebook & tell your friends.
Planning the expedition – Part 1 – Air Travel
People are always asking me about how I plan a trip and manage all of these complex details at once.
It really isn’t that hard once you break it down into its core components.
First we start with the plane tickets.
I wish I could tell you I had some magic formula about when to travel and when to purchase. In the past I have tried to plan the trips a little bit ‘off-season’ to reduce costs. But while traveling ‘off-season’ to Europe can indeed make the flights and the hotel cheaper – you may also find that many places have reduced hours. Regardless, my schedule for this trip (and the past few) has been dictated by the schedule of my life. My teaching responsibilities ground me through mid-May (which can be a lovely time to go to Europe both weather and price wise) and my big academic conference and other class take place in June which pushes me into early July. Since I have to be back in August to get ready for the next semester I am pretty much stuck with traveling in July (and the first week in August). This is the worst time to travel to Europe from a price perspective.
With my dates pretty much set I start looking at the usual websites (Travelocity & Expedia) to see what is possible. I know there are tons of websites out there for purchasing flights but the reality is that there are very few ‘deals’ when you are trying to plan precisely. For this trip I found that the best prices (and flights) were via US Air and United. Don’t be afraid to go directly to the carrier you think you will be flying – often the prices are the same or even a little better and from a customer service standpoint there are fewer things to go wrong if you purchase direct.
For this trip I found the flights from Cleveland to Paris were around $1,560 per person. I started looking about 4-5 months out and used $1,600 as a budget item which is my worst case scenario. Watching flight prices can be maddening – it goes up and down and then up again and you could easily miss the sweet spot. I never look for the lowest price – I look for the lowest price with enough lead time to make me feel comfortable about the rest of the trip. You shouldn’t make your hotel and car reservations if your flights aren’t booked!
This year it was even trickier because I found some flights as low as $1,350 per person but with a 23 hour layover in Philadelphia! That’s crazy! I don’t even want a 4 hour layover in Chicago. I know I can’t fly direct – but ideally I want a quick commuter flight, a quick layover, and then a long flight that I can sleep on.
I also avoid the multi-carrier tricks you see on Travelocity – its a great way to lose your luggage or get hit with extra baggage fees.
Baggage fees are something else to look into. Most carriers will give you carry-on luggage plus one bag for international – but I know I might need that extra bag or two and $100 each-bag each-way could add $400 to the price of the flights. One carrier charges $70 per bag which would be a worst case scenario of $280.
Friends often suggest I look into alternate airports. I know one person who drove from Cleveland to Toronto and left her car in Toronto. I don’t care how much money she saved – I don’t see any savings. I’m also driving not to Akron and leaving my car there for 30 days. I’m gonna fly out of Cleveland and figure out which friend is going to take me (and maybe pick me up) – remembering a taxi ride could add another $100 round trip.
What about frequent flyer miles? After all these years of travel I have a ton of miles – but July/August travel isn’t the time to try and use them – I always look but am rarely surprised when the dates just don’t work out.
For my purposes I want to fly out on a Saturday and fly home on a Sunday. This year however I was able to squeeze an extra day out of the office and will return on a Monday. I like to leave on a Saturday so I can finish work on Friday, enjoy the chaos of packing, and then arrive early on Sunday morning ready to start the adventure (yes we start the moment we land).
So – I check the prices every day, see the shifts in schedule and try to purchase right around 2 months out. Some people will tell you that 6 weeks is better and while they might be right I have to get all of the other details arranged and you can’t risk waiting for last minute on everything.
Last week I noticed the prices dipping from $1,560 to $1,525 – then $1,512. I almost bought at 1,512 but my patience paid off and I got each ticket for $1,463.50. I feel good about that price.
Once you get your tickets – you have to STOP LOOKING! If the price goes up you won’t feel anywhere near as good as how bad you will feel if the price goes down. It’s like a slot machine – its not your business what happens when the next person spins the reels.
Tickets in hand it’s time to get a car.
As always we thank you for the support of this project be sure to Like us on Facebook & tell your friends.
Educator’s Resource Guide & Factbook
People were asking us about the educational component of the film.
So we just added this to the project description:
Educator’s Resource Guide & Factbook
As a supplement to the film, we are producing an “Educator’s Resource Guide & Factbook”. The Guide/Factbook is targeted at middle & high school students and offers additional insights on many subjects including: French Culture, French Cuisine, French Language (on a practical and introductory level), French & World History, & Art History. We also include smart & economical travel tips to assist students (and adults) on their own adventures. While the film is designed to be ‘edutainment’ (educational & entertaining) both of the filmmakers are educators and the Guide/Factbook will mirror much of the research that has gone into the planning of the film. The final Guide/Factbook will be published in print and also made available as a free eBook.
France Itinerary 2013
Let the adventure begin!
“Adventures in France: From Castles to Crepes” is a documentary travel film that takes the viewer on a whirlwind adventure around France as we scour the countryside for history, culture, food, & art. During this four week expedition, we guide the viewer around numerous monuments, castles, cathedrals, places of historic and cultural significance affording the widest possible vision of France.
The following is a list of the current day to day itinerary – there may be some changes along the way – but it should be pretty accurate with things timed and dated very carefully.
All places were previously visited during the 2009 expedition except:
* indicates new destination
** indicates visited (photographed but not filmed) in either 2000, 2002, 2004, or 2010.
The itinerary is coded as follows:
Castle 
Cathedral 
Ancient 
Prehistoric
Art-History-Culture-Food
Part I: Northern France
| Day 1 | |
Chateau de Chantilly |
| Day 2 | |
Gross Tour Du Roi |
|
Chateau du Compiegne | |
| Day 3 | |
Chateau de Pierrefonds |
| Day 4 | |
Amiens Cathedral |
|
Château de Gisors | |
|
Chateau Gaillard | |
| Day 5 | |
Monet’s Home & Garden |
|
Château de La Roche-Guyon | |
| Day 6 | |
Château de Caen |
|
Normandy Cemetery & Memorial* | |
|
Omaha Beach* | |
| Day 7 | |
Mont Saint Michel |
| Day 8 | |
Château de Fougères** |
|
Château de Comper* | |
|
Forêt de Paimpont* | |
Part II: The Loire & Western Central France
| Day 9 |
|
Chateau d’Angers |
|
Fontevraud Abbey** | |
|
Dolmen de Bagneux | |
| Day 10 |
|
Château de Saumur |
|
Château de Rochecotte | |
| Laundry! | ||
| Day 11 |
|
Château de Langeais |
|
Chateau de Azay-le-Rideau | |
|
Château de Villandry | |
|
Château de Pray | |
| Day 12 |
|
Château d’Amboise* |
|
Clos Lucé** | |
|
Château de Chenonceau | |
| Day 13 |
|
Collegiale St-Pierre** |
|
Château Baronnial** | |
|
Château d’Harcourt** | |
|
Château de Gouzon** | |
| Day 14 |
|
Gouffre de Padirac** |
|
Notre-Dame de Rocamadour | |
|
Remparts de Rocamadour | |
| Day 15 |
|
Roquefort-sur-Soulzon** |
|
Château de Calmont d’Olt** | |
Part III: Southern France
| Day 16 |
|
Cité de Carcassonne |
|
Chateau des Ducs de Joyeuse | |
|
Church of Saint Mary Magdalene* | |
|
Rennes-le-Chateau Castle* | |
|
Magdala Tower* | |
|
Chateau de Peyrepertuse | |
|
Chateau de Queribus | |
| Day 17 |
|
Palace of the Kings of Majorca |
|
Fort de Salses | |
|
Les Arenes | |
|
Maison Carré | |
|
The Tour Magne* | |
|
Pont du Gard | |
| Day 18 |
|
The Palace of the Popes |
|
Saint Bénezet Bridge | |
|
Arles Roman Theater | |
|
Arles Amphitheater | |
|
Thermae of Constantine* | |
|
Arles Cryptoportico* | |
| Day 19 |
|
Chateau d’If |
|
Swimming in the Mediterranean* | |
Part IV: Eastern Central France
| Day 20 |
|
Cathédrale St-Lazare |
|
Autun Theater** | |
|
Temple of Janus** | |
|
Porte St.-André** | |
|
Porte d’Arroux** | |
|
Château de Pommard* | |
| Laundry | ||
| Day 21 | |
Palais des Ducs** |
|
Tour Philippe le Bon* | |
|
Boutique Maille* | |
|
Amora Museum* | |
|
Well of Moses** | |
|
La chouette at Notre Dame** | |
| Day 22 |
|
Château de Etoges |
|
Moët & Chandon* | |
|
Mercier* | |
|
Reims Cathedral** | |
|
Vaux-le-Vicomte | |
| Day 23 |
|
Chartres Cathedral |
|
Chateau de Malmaison | |
| Return Car | ||
Part V: Paris
| Day 24-30 (No set order yet) | |
Château de Versailles |
|
Bastille Foundations | |
|
Chateau d’Vincennes** | |
|
The Louvre | |
|
Cimetière du Père-Lachaise | |
|
Les Invalides & Musée de l’Armée** | |
|
Les Catacombes* | |
|
Rodin Museum* | |
|
Musée d’Orsay | |
|
Musée de l’Orangerie* | |
|
Eiffel Tower | |
|
Arc de Triomphe | |
|
Moulin Rouge | |
|
Sacré-Coeur | |
|
Sainte-Chapelle* | |
|
Cathédrale Notre-Dame | |
| Head Home! | ||
Let the planning start!
Day 14 – Istanbul – Last Day! – Serpentine Column, The Great Masters, Museum of Modern Art, & Rahmi M Koç Museum
So sad – our last day in Istanbul!
The Hippodrome is filled with bits of culture and history and I only had one item left to shoot The Serpentine Column – it used to stand in front of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi but now most of it is gone – we have sketches and pieces of it – but mostly it is just a broken off twist of metal.
I left the last day for the less that important activities (in terms of the film) – we had seen the sights and done our shopping so this last day was just about a little bit of fun. I had asked John Grabowski (who is quite the Istanbulophile) what might be missing from my list of things to do and he suggested I check out the Rahmi M Koç Museum. My friend Andrea had suggest I also look into visiting the Prince’s Islands (where the banished Princes used to live) but it is impossible to go on the weekends and often tourists get stranded for the night without a ferry back. Reports also have it that while the islands are lovely and serene (no cars – only bicycles and horse drawn carriages) that it is also a huge tourist trap and a costly one at that. So maybe another year. Bilge was upset that I didn’t have dinner at Maiden’s Island.
Our first stop was to hit the Museum of Modern Art – Istanbul Modern, however when we got off the tram we saw a big sign for an exhibition we had seen advertised everywhere called The Great Masters: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and decided to check it out. It was in a very nice building – The Tophane Kasrı (which means Cannon factory – which the neighborhood was) – and after we paid to get in we realized it was kind of a scam. There was nothing original! It is a traveling exhibition of multimedia, replicas, and mounted prints. The audio tour is cute but it wasn’t worth the money – some interesting items to be sure – I liked the mirror room but overall not what I expected.
Across the street we visited Istanbul Modern – which is mostly Turkish Artists. It was a mix of – “that’s very nice” and “really? I’ve seen that before and done better” One installation of note had hundreds of books hanging from the ceiling creating an artificial ceiling – the effects was spectacular. They had a photography exhibition which again was mixed and had on display a very old panorama of Istanbul taken from Galata Tower – funnily enough I had just worked on one for work which was 6 years older!
Next we headed to Rahmi M Koç Museum. After I got there I realized I had heard of this place before. It is billed as a museum of transportation and industry but in reality it is a private museum that houses the bizarre collection of a very very wealthy man. There is the car collection – it has one of everything and it goes on forever. But not just cars, he has planes, tanks, boats, trains (yes trains), a ferry boat, and a submarine. This is the most insane collection of stuff I have every seen in one place – and it really went on forever! Each room was more lavish than the next. There was an extra price for the submarine and when we got there the man spoke Turkish (and only Turkish). Right before the tour I looked up the submarine wondering when the Turkish navy had one and it turns out that it is in fact a WWII US Submarine that was sold to the Turkish in 1971. As we went through the Turkish tour Amanda kept pointing out that the labels on everything were in English and that while the instruments and been relabeled in Turkish we could still get a good idea what was going on.
Upstairs the museum had a collection of – more of everything – but a lot of things about the Turkish Republic. Also technology – they had a display of almost every Apple Computer and iPod. There was also a hands on section where you could play with things like blocks and a giant bubble wall. This place really caters to all ages. The DC-3 was fun to climb into as where the Sultan’s private train cars.
Did I learn anything about Turkish history or culture? I can’t say. But I highly recommend this museum!
With the day winding down and lots of packing to do – we headed to the restaurant where we had promised to go to dinner and I had an excellent meal of lamp chops, rice pudding, and apple tea. Back at the hotel they asked to take our picture with them. In the past 3 years I have spent 5 weeks at this hotel – I am guessing that makes me a good customer.
I backed up the video files to an external hard drive (almost 400GB of data) and packed it all up.
In the morning we caught the shuttle to the airport and they crammed so many people into that van it was ridiculous!
At the airport Amanda was heading to the US and I was heading domestically to Antalya where I would then drive to central Turkey.
I waited to make sure that Amanda wouldn’t have any baggage problems. We decided to pool our souvenirs into a single bag and to have her check it back to America for the $100 baggage fee. At the counter there was a problem and after much waiting they said that while they could check the bag they couldn’t figure out how to charge her for it… so it was FREE!
After she checked in I headed to the domestic counter – baggage there is much different and every year I have to pay a lot of money. With domestic flights they weigh everything (even carry-on) and then charge you per KG you are over. However when I checked in – he only weighed my one bag and charged me 21TL for extra weight (which is $13). I was nervous all the way until I boarded the plane because my carry-on bags didn’t have the little ‘approved’ tag on them like everyone else. In the end – no one said anything and boarded without a problem.
In Antalya I was met by our non-English speaking driver who drove me the 2+ hours to Gonen (in silence).
Amanda had some trouble in NJ (not by customs but by security) but she managed to get everything home and nothing was broken.
Thus endeth the Istanbul adventure.
I will post more about my misadventures in Gonen soon – but not the “play-by-play” that I did for Istanbul.
Hope you enjoyed the stories and here are more pictures:
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Day 13 – Istanbul – The Hippodrome, The Arts Festival, The Istanbul Museum of the History of Science & Technology in Islam, and some shopping!
So it is Day 13 and we still haven’t filmed everything they have in the Hippodrome!
Our first stop was to the German Fountain – as I was giving my little bumper for it – a small crowd stood there watching. One lady asked if I was famous – I replied “not yet”. The students who are there to answer questions were looking on – I kept asking them how I was doing and they gave me the thumbs up.
Even though we have been walking through the Arts Festival in front of the hotel every day – we figured that today would be ‘the day’ for really seeing what it had. I have already mentioned the shadow puppet guy and the marbling lady before – and they really are the standouts. For most forms of art there are two vendors so when one is a jerk we go and talk to the other. There was someone making knives (like steak knives), someone making canes, and a variety of people making glass figurines using glass rods and a blow torch which seems really more like state fair than traditional art.
The festival also has lots of food stuffs from Halvah to Coffee and this weird Energy Honey and something called Boza which is fermented bulgar wheat as a drink! My favorite is till the Sultan’s Drink which is a mix of fruit juices and spices – must find the recipe when I get home. We didn’t do much shopping at the festival – fun to watch but both the prices and the quality were only so so.
Today was designed to be a shopping day but I always like to sneak a few more things in so I surprised Amanda with a quick Metro stop to see the Istanbul Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam. Long name right? Well it is really a neat museum filled with all sorts of scientific apparatus – like astrolabes and clocks and medical instruments. Most of the items are models but they are fabulous models! They even allow for photography (but it was very dark) – I got a lot of interesting ideas – the sad part was – no gift shop! I would have bought a lot if they sold stuff.
One thing that they had out front was a replica of Galata Tower that was about 7 feet tall – pretty fun to play on.
OK so now back to shopping!
We headed to The Grand Bazaar – not really to film so much as to actually shop. The problem was – it was dead – I mean it was pretty empty. You would think this would make it enjoyable but in fact it made everyone even more obnoxious – you couldn’t look at anything without sales people jumping all over you. This one guy trying to sell me a carpet just kept following me around!
Eventually, we found one guy who had good stuff and good prices – and my motto is you find one person and buy a lot from them – this way he gives you a better deal and you don’t feel as bad because he got a big sale. He was good – if he didn’t have what we wanted it magically appeared from his other shop! There was one item I looked at (for myself of all people) and he saw I wanted it and wrapped it up and then proceeded to just keep dropping the price until I couldn’t say no. Pretty funny.
Most deals are not in the Bazaar but outside of it. Amanda wanted to buy me a vest so we headed to where they said the vests would be outside of the Bazaar. Everyone kept trying to sell me a leather jacket or vest and you can’t deflect them by saying you already own one – this makes you look like you are in the market. Instead I started telling everyone I was from Florida and they just looked dejected and moved on.
So we came upon a store and in front there is the exact vest I want – right color – right material – but no one is there! That’s right – the store is locked and while there are items out front – no one can tell us when the owner will be back! We marked down on the map where we were and kept walking. Soon we found another vest shop (in fact several) and went downstairs into this little basement that was just filled with vests. I was looking for a particular material and color and he wanted to sell me everything (if it fit or not!) – eventually we settled on two vests – one of them is really dressy and both are very rugged.
After we left the ‘vest district’ we came upon the ‘scarf district’ instead of 60TL or 30 or 20 they have them as low as 2.5 TL (about $1.5) – of course they aren’t the fanciest (though they are nice) and many places only sell them in bulk. Amanda found this out the hard way as she picked up what she thought was one scarf to find it was really 5 and they scattered all over the place.
The Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar are not near each other but they are connected by street after street of shopping so we eventually made our way towards it. A strange item they sell on the street are spirographs – good old fashioned plastic spirographs with colored pens. I have no idea why – but you see dozens of men with little carts selling them and demonstrating them. I approached one guy and we haggled for a bit and eventually I got 4 for 20TL – the joke was about 5 feet later I see a store that has them for 2.5TL each. Live and learn – it was still fun footage.
When the final film comes out I am going to be seen being overcharged on camera a lot – basically I am overpaying for the privileged of filming.
Near the Spice Bazaar there are a lot of jewelry places – not fancy – more like beads and stones and do it yourself kinda stores. I was asking Amanda about the quality of some of the items and she quickly showed me how cheap some of the stuff actually was – and we left.
Right outside the Spice Bazaar is another Art Bazaar which had some nice things but most were overpriced. Again for no reason I can figure right by the Spice Bazaar is where ALL of the shoe shine stands are – so I had my shoes shined. The guy was telling me that he has been doing it for over 20 years (since he was a kid). Good shine – very cheap – but after he tried to sell me shoe inserts and we had to explain that ours were from American Doctors and we couldn’t buy his.
We ate dinner close to the hotel – it was very nice – as we left dinner one restaurant guy asked how it was. We said good, he said if we came to his place tomorrow night it would be better! So we shook hands and told him we would have our final Istanbul dinner there tomorrow.
Only one more day left in Istanbul – who knows what might happen!
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