We're in Istanbul, since Monday. I'm so supersticious, I didn't want to write about the trip before we actually got here. And since both Marta and I are more or less sick, I was scared we'd decide not to go.

Marta did really well on the plane (that's a 3-hour flight), but I didn't: my right ear still doesn't hear anything. To make things worse, my nose is running like crazy, and I can neither smell nor taste anything. The loss of taste perception is especially depressing, as I love and always crave Turkish food.

Istanbul is incredible, as ever. I'd love to move here one day - live here full-time.

It's been almost two years since we were here last - in June 2005, when I was pregnant - and this gap, as well as the fact that I spent the happiest almost-a-month of my pregnancy in Turkey, somehow helped me realize how much I've changed since Marta's birth. Everything is about Marta now, nothing else really matters.

Everything, including my photos.

Marta is extremely popular here, but of course.



Mashaallah.

Finally, the rallies - Istanbul is so huge that the only way we could tell something was happening somewhere on May 1 was by seeing that black helicopter flying over us again and again. And I don't regret missing it; I went to Taksim Square today, saw the remnants of the riot police, but soon forgot about it - because to me, riot police is a Moscow thing, something that Istanbul knows much better how to transcend.

I'm sitting on the stairs at the hotel right now - because their wifi doesn't reach up to our room. So I guess I better go now. Iyi geceler to you all. Good night.