I wish my eyes were cameras... I wish I could capture everything I see. I wish I could transfer everything I've seen to you....
We just had a fabulous two weeks off. Becuase so much can happen in two weeks, I have a lot to say, which means this post is coming to you in installments. Here goes number one!
The Friday we ended school before the break, before everyone scattered on trips, my roommates made me an early birthday cake (from scratch!):
It was absolutely fabulous!
Tuesday, my actual birthday, Jo and Cassie and I went out to the atomium, a giant silver construction that looks like an atom blown up a lot of times, and Mini Europe, which is filled with 1/25 scale models of buildings, monuments and towns of countries in the European Union. the exception was mount Vesuvius, which they had to scale down farther to fit it in the park...
The next day, we left for EGYPT!!
Jen, Cassie and I spent 6 days in Cairo, some of it sightseeing and some of it relaxing by the pool... a perfect vacation! But of course, tons to tell. So here's the major points:
We arrived in Cairo after dark, after taxi, train, airport bus, plane, in-flight movies, lines, lines, lines and lots of passport flashing. Driving through the city in the dark - mosque minarets lit against the night sky, buildings of all shapes and sizes, and people everywhere: talking, walking, crossing, riding, sitting, smoking, eating, driving. Traffic controllers, soldiers. Men in robes and suits and jeans, women in robes and jeans but all with head scarves. Taxi-buses crowded, moterbikes puttering, speeding, swerving, screeching, flashing headlights everywhere, donkeys on the road, people crossing in between cars, close enough to touch. Signs in Arabic and English. Stop on top of Nile bridge. "get out!" Stand over the river, with warm breeze blowing, lights twinkling...
Hotel: Balcony in the warm night, courtyard with fabulous pool... dinner outside.
Next day: Hire hotel car. Mohammed, the driver, has been doing it for years and takes us around all week. Surprise stop at papyrus museum. Try hibiscus tea. We get the shpiel on how it's made, buy some... probably get taken, as we didn't yet realize we could bargain anywhere, even in "real" stores.
Onwards. How do we want to see the pyramdids: foot, cart, car, camel, horse. CAMEL!
So soon we stop. Where are we now? "Camels!" says Mohammed. Out of an alley come 3 camels. No price negotiations, no time to second-guess. Up we go. Off we go. through streets of decrepit horses to rent, tourists who had rented them, and locals. THen there they are. We plod around them, up to them, and away to get the view. Amazing. So much history. Never would have dreamed I'd be doing this! Hot and sunny, sandy. Sphinx is smaller than I would have thought. 2 hours later, we return, happy and sun-dazed, but ready to be done with camels.
In to pay. But first: We also make perfume! Have a cold drink, sit and hear about it. So we did. And then we bought some. He gave us a deal, of course... camels and perfume.
One last stop. A bazaar: store with various people selling really nice things. have a cold drink. Okay. I like this "Egyptian Hospitality." I keep the Arabic Pepsi bottle.
back to hotel, head poolside. Sun sinks early, we sit on balcony, have dinner in courtyard, enjoy warmness. Cairo is so incredibly smoggy, we can barely see the stars.
Day 2: HOT! Pyramids, Part 2: the pyramids of Seqarra, south of Cairo. Drive is great, along canal, looking at green, irrigated fields, palm trees, plantations, carpet schools, big houses for rich guys, small houses for poor guys, oxen, donkeys, kids, wagons, shops, soldiers.... Once there, we see ancient tombs, cool and dark with hieroglyphics and ancient art.. still so vibrantly colored and clear I'm almost sure it can't be real, can't be so ancient. Out in the beating sun, we explore the outside of the pyramid itself, it's stair-stepped shape, the surrounding ruins.
It's so hot, we make a quick stop in Memphis, oldest city in Egypt, for a quick tour of a museum with some really old statues. Then home to the pool. Ahhh. Then it was time for:
Dinner cruise on the Nile!
Belly dancers, guys with twirly outfits, a great buffet, Egyptian wine, sitting out on the deck watching the water go by and seeing the lights of hotels along the river, "driving" the boat.. once back at the hotel, I was out on the balcony (it was my favorite thing about our room) when I noticed a guy in a room across the courtyard who appeared to be locked out on his balcony. After some rigamarole and the front desk either not believing/not understanding me at first, he was saved. Good deed for the day. Then he came over to say thanks and gave us a good-luck thing from Korea, his home country. And we were careful with our balcony door.
next day: Egyptian Museum! Lots of old stuff: sarcophagii (sarcophoguses?), statues, jewelry, tools, pots... mummies that I can't believe are still so preserved, King Tut's absurd amount of burial riches...
Next the Coptic (Christian) area: Hanging Church (resting on pillars), St. George's church (he and his slain dragon are everywhere we go... ), a beautiful cemetery, and a shrine that supposedly is in the place where the Holy Family stayed when they fled to Egypt... including the well they got water from...
Easter Sunday was observed by having a day of rest and relaxation. Sleeping in, watching TV, sitting in the sun. Aaaahhhh.
Monday: Day trip to Alexandria! Driving through desert checkered with irrigated plantations to the Mediterranean coast. Beautiful, blue-green water, crashing waves, a fresh sea breeze... we had a really over-zealous tour guide who thought we needed to see everything in the city in an afternoon... so after we set him straight that we were after some sun and waves, we had a good time... driving through town,a citadel on the rocky shoreline, the ocean breeze flowing through all the rooms, walls overlooking the waves, sun shining... lunch at a hotel overlooking a stretch of private beach... royal gardens, a walk out towards a lighthouse as the sun started to think about setting, a man feeding a goat in a side-walk cafe, piles and piles of pita-like bread, a man on a bike in traffic while carrying a large load on his head, kids saying "hello, where you from? What is your name?" Sheep being herded down the highway, colorful Shishah pipes on the ground at cafes....
and then an arm-rest-gripping 3-hour drive back to Cairo in the dusk to cap off a great day!
The last day: Citadel in Cairo - Mosques, big walls... I learned some interesting Mosque trivia and realized I need to research Islam before I live in it next year. We saw the tallest mosque pulpit in Egypt, the Star of David the interior designer stuck in, and the clock that was a gift from a French king.
Jen had a necklace made with her name in heiroglyphics (a katush), and we got to watch it being made... then we went back to the hotel for one last sit in the sun. The next morning we left our hotel at 3:30 to catch a flight. That was early.
It was quite an amazing trip... yes, we could have seen more, gone to other cities, etc, but I liked relaxing and enjoying the sun as well. I never felt unsafe while I was there... although we were quite careful not to put ourselves in situations where we would feel unsafe... and I've seen enough to know that there is so much I need to return to see...
We went to Paris for three days before returning home, but I'm tired of typing and you're probably tired of reading, so I'll save that for another day!
