Yenikapı 12

hurriyetdailynews.com

As a writer, it's good practice to experience the things I write about, whenever possible. Research only takes a mind so far.

I never sailed in a wooden ship, but there is one scene in Burnt Amber where Sybil takes a very neo-byzantine ship up a river.

I did lots of research on the ship style, and left a lot up to the imagination of the reader. There weren't any Byzantine replicas at my disposal, but recently, I heard about Yenikapi 12.

A bit of history for you:

Istanbul is busting at the seams, population-wise. Ferries, buses, and trams crisscross the city to get pedestrians around, and two suspension bridges barely cope with the car traffic. The metro system needs an upgrade. New tunnels are being dug, left and right.

Tangent: If you travel by rail to Istanbul, you must get out, cross the strait by car or boat, and go to another train station on the other side. (Sirkeci, or HaydarPasa, depending on which way you're going.) The Marmaray tunnel project crosses underneath the Bosphoros Strait, connecting rail traffic from both sides of the city for the first time ever.

While workers were digging the metro station at Yenikapi, they ran into an unexpected archaeological boon: the world's largest shipwreck find.

Scholars are going to replicate one of the numerous wrecks found there, the Yenikapi 12. The plan is to learn about ship construction and materials of the Middle Ages. Hopefully, the ship will be seaworthy. Project leaders plan to test the Yenikapi 12 in the strait sometime in 2013, after which the ship will be put on display as a museum piece.

*Jumps up and down*
I want a ride! I want a ride!

Or at least I want to go see the ship, where ever it finds a home. I want to touch it, smell it, take it all in...get some new descriptors for my writing.

Who's coming with?


Replica of Byzantine ship to sail next year in Turkey

http://www.thepolisblog.org/2009/09/hyper-extensions-marmaray-project.html

Red Riding Boots



via Endless.com

Forgive my creative blogging slump for the day. I'm reworking a bit of my neo-byzantine world and I haven't any extra brain cells to spare! So I thought I'd ramble on about red...

Red boots in particular...not the Wonder Woman kind, or the patent leather ones that you might see on a woman of questionable repute. I'm thinking about a pair of oxblood riding boots- you know, the shade of reddish-brown that makes me think of a well-worn library chair, with tacking and turned legs. I've been wanting a pair of boots like that lately. Coveting the pair on the right, actually. Unfortunately, they cost $447.95 a pair. Sigh.

They're made by Frye and the company history makes me want them even more:

"The Frye Company is the oldest continuously operated shoe company in the United States. Founded in 1863 by John A. Frye, a well-to-do shoemaker from England, and family-run until 1945, Frye products have a long and illustrious history. Frye boots were worn by soldiers on both sides of America's Civil War, soldiers in the Spanish-American war, and by Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders. When home-steading drew adventurous New England families to the West during the mid and late 1800's many of the pioneers wore Frye Boots for the long journey. Today Frye remains true to its roots with its line of heritage boots, but continues to innovate as it introduces chic new handbags, pumps, and sandals to its collection." via Endless.com

So...why do I want red boots? Well, there's a story behind that. To the Byzantines, red shoes meant royalty, but I wasn't about to put my hero in ruby slippers, now was I? So I gave him a pair of tall boots....and now I want them!!!

This is good. right? We're supposed to write about things we like, things we know and appreciate so that it comes through for the reader.

What have you written about that's on your wish list?

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