Hitting the road

Here's one clear benefit to being in London: easy access to all kinds of interesting places, "emerging" and otherwise, within a few hours flight. In our household, this benefit has accrued only to me so far, with a trip last week to Istanbul (and, less glamorously, Frankfurt). Hopefully before long all four of us will get a chance to hit the road, and we do hope to make it to a few destinations in Europe and possibly beyond next year (in search of sun, which we haven't seen much of lately).

This time, I spent two days in Istanbul in what is a rather typical work routine for me (unfortunately): dashing around from one meeting to another, lots of time in conference rooms presenting my latest spiel about emerging markets, seeing the city in a rush, through windows (of conference rooms, taxis). But even such a perspective allows for a certain feeling about a place, and there's no escaping the sense that Turkey is doing very well these days. Such a contrast from the mood in most of Europe (or for that matter the US): the economy is bouncing back rapidly, people are generally optimistic about the future, unemployment is falling, the currency is strong (which means Istanbul is no longer the cheap city it was when I first visited as a student in 1991: mojitos at one neighbohood bar cost $18 each!). Visually, Istanbul is a truly stunning city, like no other with dramatic hills, the deep blue Bosphorus separating Europe and Asia, and architecture of many different civilizations piled one next to the other, with each day punctuated by the exotic sounds of the call to prayer emananting from the minarets... wonderful. After these glories came a rainy day Frankfurt which was completely forgettable.

And then back to London, where Karen seems to have held up the fort admirably. One major improvement to our routine occurred yesterday night when we hired our first babysitter (sitters.co.uk) outside of our usual nanny, and it worked out great. The babysitter (from, of all places, Turkey) was excellent, the kids didn't freak out, and Karen and I finally made our first trip to the neighborhood pub and the Indian restaurant around the corner since we arrived. Namaste.