Home again, home again jiggedy jig

Well I'm back home after a two week break. Ywo weeks with ups and downs as I guess is the way travelling as a couple. We both survived the trip but I guess that it exposed my doubts about moving in with Marie. She doesn't deal well with conflict and neither do I. There was a moment in front of the Dolmabahce Palace where I would quite happily have given her the guidebook and the card for the hotel and just gone off on my own for the rest of the day. Im also enjoying the rest of the weekend as we got back at a rather respectable 2 p.m. yesterday. Its funny to think that yesterday morning we were travelling through the mist shrouded streets of Istanbul and now Im back to the chaos of the flat.
I guess that compromise is the key to a relationship - and I guess that we had a compromised trip. We both indulged in pursuits that we wouldn't maybe have do - Marie - walking and me shopping. My frustrations are I think in that Im supposed to be the one who organises, Im the one that does the reading, Im the one who does the prep. and Marie simply comes along for the ride. The truth of course is that the joy is in the reading, its in the preparation and finding the places of interest.
Still we both enjoyed the trip. Different aspects of the trip but we DID both enjoy it. I was a think a little disappointed with Istanbul - I think that The first trip in October suited me more - with fewer tourists and a bit less heat it gives you more time and makes you more inclined to stretch yourself. Not that we did stretch ourself - OK well I didnt I think that the spectacle of Marie struggling up the hill to Arbanasi will stay with me for a while. Its a worry because iy wasnt really that much of a climb - Marie whined that I shouldnt always measure things in my terms but the truth is that unless shes ready to offer alternatives And Im being harsh, after her dissertation she was after a holiday while I as usual wanted a bit of an explore. And as I say we managed a bit of both, in fact I think that I probably got the best of the compromise. We did get around, we did see stuff and the holiday was confined to the occaasional sit and read in the shade. We did Ok there as well - a couple of cloudbursts but all in all good weather throughout - lovely while walking in the old town of Plvdiv or Veliko Turnovo not so more in the crowded metropolis of Istanbul!!
Marie has promised to arrange the next trip. Hopefully were looking at Berlin at the end of the summer...

Rudyard Kipling reprise

I realised a couple of days ago that theres another Kipling link - Beautiful Bundi. I visited for a few magical days between the traveller hellhole of Pushkar - full of arseholes attempting to outtraveller each other while sitting around navel gazing and the earthy charms of Kota and Chittorgarh. I suspect that Bundi would by now have been firmly established on the traveller trail so I don't think I'll be revisiting - but rather enjoying my memories of this quiet little rest stop, its castle perched precipitately on the side of a mountain and the blue town spread below that Kipling described as "such a palace as men build for themselves in uneasy dreams, the work of goblins rather than of men" of a cycle ride out in blistering heat to the Jait Sagar lake where Kipling stayed and of the Krishna tea shop after being accosted by a stentorian "Attention!" It takes something to excel in the chai department on the sub-continent but that particular establishment certainly did. I remember the hordes of minkeys being chased of by a caretaker and the astonishing engineering of the towns step wells. Reading back through my journal it seems that I was going through the worse of Yaz withdrawl - lying awake in the beautiful Haveli I was staying in, tears running down my face. And here we are 4 years later and barely in touch. How times change...hopefully in the right direction, I think in my case very much so although Yaz is still closeted. I also rememebr the lovely home cooking a coule of houses down which was a bit of a traveller hang-out chowing down with a tableful of new friends. Hopefully M and Iare in good shape and thinking of our next grip which will hopefully take in a taste of Bulgaria before revisiting Istanbul - this time in hopefully rather more seasonable weather. I think that the idea of staying inland from Malaga is prettyy much stymied. I have to say that its not a destination that really fills me with excitement. Ma and Pa also raised the possibility of a trip to Libya which is high on my list of dream destinations...but with Maries probable career change and also the prospect of moving in together we'll have to see...