Where am I?

We arrived in Cairo incident free, although the airport did lose power about 7 times. It was #6 of our scheduled 11 flights and I have to say that I am impressed with Egypt Air. Airlines in the US could learn a thing or two from them about timeliness and luggage handling. I know. Egypt Air. ?!

We checked into our hotel, Le Meridien for a good nights rest and had a great breakfast in the morning, still staying away from fresh fruits and water but for some reason every time I am on vacation I feel unrestrained in drinking hot chocolate at breakfast. Whole milk, skim milk, water, whatever - every morning its hot chocolate. Me loves it.

The plan was early touring in order to beat the heat. (We felt so grateful that the high was only expected to be 100 degrees, about 15 degrees cooler than what we had experienced in Egypt thus far.) The first stop; the Mohammed Ali Mosque or Alabaster Mosque built about 1820 if I paid attention.

I guess my sleeves (and a few others) were too short so they compelled us to wear some highly used dresses for about .50 each. Smelly. Hot. Uncomfortable. I have a new appreciation for the burka.

Our guide is a practicing Muslim so we had the chance to sit on the prayer rugs and ask him a lot of questions - VERY interesting. He confirmed that the Quran teaches followers of Allah to be tolerant of all religions and that Jihad is only justified when fighting to protect your family and land.

From the hill the mosque sits on there is a commanding view of Cairo. City - as far as the eye can see, along with a lot of smog. Scott and I felt like recreating a 24 year old scene but they have roped off the area next to the ledge. We paid a guard $1 and he turned his back.

Its so hard to describe the streets of Cairo. There are painted lanes on the streets but as Drew put it, they must just be a suggestion because a 3-lane road usually has 5 lanes of cars. But not just cars; buses, trucks, taxis, motorcycles, pedestrians, bicycles and horse carts. You have to see it to believe it. We had our eyes glued to the windows when we turned a corner and saw this:

It’s so difficult to adequately describe what faces you when you stand in front of the pyramids. Overwhelming. Majestic. Awesome. Huge. Crazy. Basically, if you stand with your mouth open and eyes wide, you’ll fit in with the rest of the crowd. Some of the scenes are like going back in time - except - the camel driver is on the cell phone. (Maybe he’s talking to my camel driver in Sinai.)

We couldn't leave Egypt without making a visit to the Cairo Museum, where photos are not allowed. I guess the museum was built in the 60’s so, 50 years ago. I don’t think its been updated since. Or cleaned. All the exhibits are covered with grime and dust and the security is pretty funny. There is a small hole drilled into the wood door and case and a thin wire with a closure that could be snapped with fingernail clippers. Hope nobody has their eye on King Tut's stuff.

Did you know that the base for all perfume comes from Egypt? Yep. They extract the essence from all the flower sources and such - and then Armani, Burburry, Channel, etc., use them to make the most expensive perfumes out there. Mmmmm. Did it smell good.

We tried to call it a day, but we ended up having a fun 'last group night' where we each received silly awards. Two of the group were leaving us to go home (including Scott) and we had to catch our flight to Rome at 2 AM. Yes, 2 AM. It was really hard to say goodbye to Scott; especially since he got to sleep til 6:00 AM. But know what the best thing about a 4 AM flight is? Extra blankets, extra pillows and EXTRA SEATS!