Izmir is my first city in Turkey, where we grew up, my brother was born, and we return to when we can. One early memory there is looking over our balcony, five stories up, down upon the dancing bear and the gypsy with a flute. We would toss kurus, the Turkish coins, down to him as the bear stepped around. I was only six I did not have the political correct version yet why this bear would walk the streets and dance. To me, it was a total delight, odd enough from my American experience to reinforce that we had just landed in a mysterious, exotic country. More later!