This rounds out this set of 3 weeks of travel with Pinar, 12 days in London!  She was gracious enough to host me in her amazing home in the super trendy neighborhood, Hackney Wick! I loved this neighborhood so much: the wall art was sooo cool, the canals running everywhere added a nice relaxing feeling, the bars and restaurants were excellent, and was super convenient to get to Central (~30-45 min)! 

I loved to be in the hustle and bustle of the city, it had a similar vibe to NYC. I was super lucky to have had some absolutely beautiful summer days, so it's not all gloomy all the time, making walks through the parks, by the canals, in the open air markets even more enjoyable! 

I had heard for years that the London scene was just ok but for me it was great! Danced most nights, everyone was really nice and welcoming, and dancing was great!​

​I've always had a crush on London though so I was happy to be there for a visit and will come back!

After Istanbul Pinar and I went to Belgrade for the ​Belgrade Tango Experience Festival/Marathon weekend. I loved the city!  It was easy to walk around, the food was delicious, and the people were so kind! Did you know that it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe and the world! 

While I was there ​Sofya Krasnova reached out asking if I wanted to participate in a mixed media project, well of course I do! Sofya found an amazing space, DIM, that had such an interesting mixed vibe with great cocktails! She was working with a tango music group of 2 ladies along with a few other tango dancers. The concept was to explore the idea of connection and how to connect as if we were showing it to an entity that didn't know what it was, gave me Graciela Gonzales vibes!  See the details below!

The event was a lot of fun: beautiful venue, great vibe, everyone was so laid back and friendly, and the dancing was great! This was the first big event that I even wore my heels for 1/2 the time, mostly the afternoons!

From Sofya:
"Hello, friends!
I can’t express the depth of grief that I constantly feel lately.
I also have a strong feeling of absurdness which I can express: here is the video of the performance “Instruction for Human” which we made in Belgrade in May. The full text of the “Instruction” in English. You can use the fourth comment to say hi. You can also add comments in the document to enrich this instruction - I will be glad.

Music: Evgeniya Popova and Katia Zeynetdinova
Voice of the Creator: Aysegul Okul
Models of the human being: Katarina Nikolic Anđela Stefanović Can Büyükbay Scott Boddye Marko Čakovan Jovan Stosic
Lens: Alexey Artamonov, Pasha paveilone

Thanks to the collaborator and the composer of my life Evgeniya, the kind audience (hi Polina and Нина), Marko Lukić, Igor, Slavna, Sonja, Vini, Senya, Valya, Tanya, Pasha, Ivan, Aleksandar, Indi, Nastya, Nikon, Baxx, Belgrade Art Residence and the team of Dim."

I had been to Istanbul once before and did all of the touristy things like seeing the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Cisterns, a Bosphorus tour, etc. So this time was more about hanging out and seeing the city and dancing. I had the absolute pleasure of traveling with Pinar (who's Turkish which is always great to have a native speaker along haha) and we walked for hours most mornings exploring the city. The dancing was fantastic, as expected, but we got waylaid by a continuously amazing experience.

On our second night I found a cafe, ​Smyrna Art-Gallery Cafe, that was this cool funky mix of art and vibes. I ordered the meatballs at the suggestion of what I had assumed was a customer at first but quickly realized was the owner. When the food came out they brought something else which I was ok with but he insisted I have the right dish so when that came out and I took the first bite, wow was it amazing! We ended up going every day after, sometimes twice a day, because the food was so good but more importantly because of the owner, Kuzey. 

Kuzey Yücehan turns out to not only be the owner of the cafe but an actor, business man, Instagram and Youtube influencer, and more! When Pinar and I were sitting there having our first conversation with Kuzey she tells me that there is a Turkish saying that if someone likes something a lot they want to "eat" it so he wanted to "eat my rings"! He was fascinated by my look and story so much so that he even invited me to be on his Youtube show "Say Yes" where the concept of the show is that he is talking to foreigners about different topics and the interviewer asks follow up questions but as the foreigner I'm just supposed to say yes. Needless to say I said yes but was kind of confused but did what any good non-native speaker does and just said "yes". It made for a funny moment for sure! It was quite the experience to hang out with such an interesting and coolest of cool guy!

Back to Istanbul! Walking the through the city is amazing, the incredible hustle of 15.5 million people means there's so much energy! Everyone was so nice in the shops, dining spots, and even just walking the streets! I was also lucky enough to not only find Mary, who's recently moved to Istanbul, but also Rie who was visiting which was so nice to see old friends!