Trip 1 - Belfast

the main building of Queen's University, the location of the conference I participated in in Belfast:

A "peace wall" (big green thing on the right) cutting through a neighborhood in belfast - this view is on the catholic side ...

the City Hall, Belfast's most impressive building ...

Senada and I inside the city council chamber of the City Hall ...

Book 2 !

The book I co-authored with my former professor from Columbia, John Stubbs, finally exists. I received my advance copy in the mail yesterday. Its so exciting. Here's the cover:

Istanbul !

I had a great time in Istanbul last week. I spent two days at the conference and two days sightseeing. It was a really interesting conference and I heard a lot of thought-provoking papers. And I saw some buildings on my life "to do" list so all in all it was great. Here are a lot of pictures (it was hard to choose).

A typical street in the tourist area (I bought a bag in the store on the right):

The Hagia Sophia exterior and interior:

Me in the Hagia Sophia:

Courtyard of the Shezade Mosque:

Inside the Suliymane Mosque:

The Sultan Ahmet Mosque (exterior and interior):

At the Topkapi Palace - the Heir the Throne's Living Area:

Also at the Topkapi Palace - the exterior of the pavilion where the Sultan and his Vizier heard complaints and other business from officials:

mom and dad visit

Mom and Dad were here this week-end on their way home from two weeks in Arizona visiting Aunt Maggie and Granma. We packed a number of activities into the 48 visit, including the ballet (which we forgot to take pictures of ourselves dressed up for). We did take some pictures in a lovely little garden that we toured and in which we all got inspired - even Miran wants to build a vine arbor in our backyard like he saw there.

While they were here, Dad also installed a light bar in my bathroom, which as you might recall we started redoing a few months ago. I replaced the dated medicine cabinet with built in light with a larger mirror (that Dad made), but hadn't replaced the light so have been getting ready in the dark. A few weeks ago we bought the fixture, but Miran hasn't had time to install it. Dad took care of it in an afternoon. He also replaced the light switch with one that includes an outlet, because there isn't a single outlet in that bathroom, which is very weird. So now I can put on make-up and straighten my hair in my bathroom for the first time since we moved in almost two years ago!

100,000 miles !

As we were leaving town yesterday for Atlanta, we also passed an important milestone ... the Passat went over 100,000 miles. I've had my camera in the car all week because I wanted to catch the moment. Its been such a good car these past few years and there are a few little things that need fixing, but overall its in great shape. Last week-end it got an oil change and I splurged on a car wash (including interior detailing) so it would look good for its big day.