The Glass Zoo

A lovely zoo full of animals, fish, birds, butterflies and bugs is located in the metro station in Taksim.  Many children participated with glass artists at The Glass Furnace, to make this mural.

 The mural is composed of smaller panels of fused glass.  My guess is that each child participant worked on one panel, which measures about 8 inches by 12 inches.

 There are quite a few colorful birds in this zoo, ...

 just one penguin, ...

 a child enjoying the zoo, ...

 a ferocious lion, ...

 a beautiful butterfly, ...

 ostrich and duck friends, ...

 a giraffe, ...

 and a non-talking parrot.

The children made such a striking zoo and it is quite an attention getter for the many metro travelers passing by.

February flowers and cats

Although it is February and we have had a more than fair amount of snow in Istanbul, we do have some flowers to cheer us up.  This quince bush thrives in between a busy gas station and the ferry landing in Kabatas.

Nearby, pansies, planted in December, still have beautiful faces.

In Emirgan, yellow flowering trees are in bloom at the Sakip Sabanci Museum.

Not many days ago, we had just a dusting of snow.  Have you seen snow on a palm tree before?

Inside, at the Istinye Park shopping mall, someone made an outstanding display of purple orchids.

A couple of cats posed for me in February.  This well fed cat rests on a wall outside of a fish restaurant in Yenikoy.

And this beautiful gray cat hangs out at the Kucuksu Palace.

February had beauty, but I am looking forward to a warmer March!

Death on the Balcony

This morning, we had a small freshly broken egg on the balcony.  Most likely, it belonged to a pigeon.  We have lots of pigeons in the neighborhood, which I have seen as a nuisance.  I think they are attracted to the cat food left outside for the stray cats.  During last week's snow, a number of pigeons were hanging out on our neighbor's balcony.

 Twice we have had snow for several days in a row.  Much, much more snow than last winter.  The city did put salt down on selected roads, and I never saw a snow plow or shovel.   But, back to the birds.  Since I am now feeling sorry for the new baby pigeon that will not be this spring, I pronounced the day "be nice to birds day".

 The pigeons in a tree by the Beykoz harbor today, were a pretty sight.  If you can't see them here, ...

a little bit closer, ...

 and a another little bit closer.

Seagulls are all around the Bosphorus.  Here are a few on the steps used to embark on the ferry, ...

 all pointing into the wind.

Hope you see lots of birds today!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am a couple days late in wishing you a happy Valentine's Day!  The holiday was celebrated at the shopping malls, ...

 at the baked potato restaurant, where this butter heart was about a foot in diameter!

 A bakery offered red heart shaped cakes with writing in either English or Turkish, ...

 An ornamental tree, ...

The original Love Bug, Herbie, was not here, but his close cousin Petunia was - and sporting some of last week's snow.

Hope you all had a lovely day!

Roman period glass

For glass lovers, Istanbul Archaeology Museum displays Roman period (30 BC - 395 AD) glass from excavations in Turkey, Cyprus, ...

Palestine and Syria.

Istanbul Archaeology Museum

Istanbul Archaeology Museum was established in 1869 by Osman Hamdi Bey.  He directed the building of three buildings, which now are all exhibit space, as well as the surrounding garden.

The most ornate building houses the ceramic collection, including pieces...

made by the Seljuks, who inhabited Anatolia 10-13th century.

The main building houses artifacts excavated in the vast geography of the Ottoman empire.  

Small tablets displaying contracts are some of the oldest artifacts.  This clay tablet, about 2 inches by 2 and 1/2 inches is written in the Old Assyrian dialect from the 19th century B.C.   For those unable to translate your own, the contract states:

"Ahatutum bought the daughter of Hana and paid half-a-mina and 1 1/2 shekels of silver.  If Hana seizes her daughter, she will pay 1 mina of silver and take her daughter home.  If, someone else seizes her, then Hana will seize Ahatutum.  If, she makes improper things and behaves badly, she will sell her wherever she wishes.  Two witnesses"

So, how much money in today's currency, did Hana receive for her daughter?  To help with that problem, 1 mina weighs about 500 grams and 1 shekel weighs about 8 grams.

While you are working on that math problem, here are some bead molds, ...

and some beads, not made from the above molds.

The museum has so much to see, so for the balance of the pictures on this post, we have lions.  One in mosaic, ...

one from the Roman period (30 BC - 395 AD), ...

one of a pair from the Neo-Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar II period (604-562 BC), ...

Babalonian tiled lion, ...

and one portal lion from the Hittite period (8th century BC).

This is barely the tip of the iceberg, which is the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.  For glass lovers, a separate post of Roman period glass will be forthcoming.

At today's rate of precious silver, Hana would have received about $280 (USA) for her daughter.  For this nugget of history, we owe her so much more than that!