Caucasus Journey XVI: Back in Istanbul

Monday, May 25, 2009 I arrived back in Istanbul yesterday, flying back from Van on Sunday morning. Now that I've had a day or so to get connected again to Istanbul I've put up photos from Kars and Van. The page takes, in some cases, a few minutes to load because I've posted so many photos over the course of this year. All the same, I think a lot of the photos from Kars and Van are really beautiful and invite people to check them out--scroll down about two-thirds down the page to find them more quickly. It's good to be back in Istanbul. Just about wherever I've left over the course of this past week, I've been sorry to leave: Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi, Kars, and the Turkish southeast were all places where I felt I could have spent at least a little more time. And now that I'm back in Istanbul with less than three weeks until I'm due to return to the US, I'm feeling a proactive sense of longing and sadness that I won't be here this summer. Today I worked in the archives, re-registering and submitting some orders left over from the last time I was here. There's plenty that I want to look at before I go, so hopefully my catalogue password will be up and functioning again soon so I'll be able to use the computer catalogues. Otherwise, I think the next three weeks or so will be a busy time for working, as is usually the case when I'm preparing to pull up stakes and move someplace. The next stop is Michigan, where I plan on spending the summer.