Part Two

Saturday, Day Three, Rasha picked us up right on time and we headed off for a full day at the Museum, Citadel, Mohamed Ali Mosque, and Khan El Khalili Market (again for me).

The museum was fascinating but very crowded. There were tons of large tour groups there that day so at times it was a bit difficult negotiating the displays. Rasha did a FANTASTIC job of avoiding the large crowds and giving us the history of the pieces we could get to easily. When the crowds thinned around the prized pieces we were perfectly positioned to jump over and get a great view. If you are interested in such things you could easily spend two days in the museum. I highly recommend a guide though. Rasha told us volumes more than there was on the cards on the displays. The Citadel is amazing and the Mohamed Ali Mosque is a true work of art. Rasha again did a great job telling us about the mosque, its history and flaws, very interesting. At our prodding she told us about Islam and how it differs from Christianity. I had no idea we had so much in common with our Islamic brothers.

All too quickly we were headed back to the market for lunch and a quick run around the shops. Last time I was less than impressed by the merchandise this time I was out right angered by the merchants themselves. I read a lot about how this was an Islamic nation and that contact between opposite sexes was really not acceptable, especially if the two were unrelated. Apparently several of the merchants thought my wife was their long lost sister. I can’t tell you how many times my wife was grabbed by the arm the instant my back was turned. That’s unacceptable anywhere! Apparently the merchants weren’t listening when they were at noon prayers 10 minutes earlier. Just walking down the street was almost impossible. I tried my basic wear my mirrored sunglasses, look straight ahead and acknowledge no one. The merchants would step in front of me and when I’d move to avoid them they’d move to cut me off. I actually had to gently push a few of them out of the way. Oh and could someone please send out a memo, barking “how can I take your money? “is NOT going to work. Fed up with my wife being grabbed and the obnoxious vendors we left, just in time. I’ve been to the bazaars in Kathmandu and they are tame by comparison. I’m not easily rattled and you need to work to anger me. This was a bit too much. The highlight was watching two vendors duke it out in the street. A police officer intervened pretty quickly and it was all over but interesting never the less.

We met Rasha at the Egyptian pancake house. We had a basic pancake with powdered sugar. Oddly enough if I’ll miss one food the most it’ll be that, just heavenly. Thankfully my taste buds had almost completely recovered. Rasha dropped us off and only then told us another couple would be joining us for our tour on Sunday. Hmmm I signed up for a private tour and don’t remember telling her it was OK to add people. This would be my only complaint about Rasha. Had she asked it would have been fine but to add people and then inform me they would join us was a bit annoying. I wasn’t willing to make an issue out of it and ruin the other couples trip and ours by having a fit, so we’ll see how it goes.

The conference organizers once again had dinner all lined up for us. We ate at the Khanelkhalili restaurant in, you guessed it, the bizarre. The food was very good, over priced but very good. We had, tahina, grilled eggplant ‘dip’, a fava bean puree with mint (my favorite so far), hummus and Kabob/ kafta.

Sunday, Day Four and we got to see the real attractions Sakkara, Memphis, the Pyramids, and the Sphinx. We meet the ‘other couple’ first thing. It was good I didn’t make an issue about them being added, they were cool, this won’t be a problem. We started with the Step pyramid. It’s nearly 5,000 years old….5,000…. years old… holy smoke, just amazing, nearly overwhelming. Once again Rasha is a real pro explaining everything in great detail and fielding additional question with ease. A little free time to wander the funeral complex and off to a well preserved tomb (of some dead guy, sorry don’t remember) and pyramid (of Teti,), that looked like a pile of rubble. The tomb was interesting. I did go into the pyramids burial chamber. Here’s hoping you don’t have a bad back if you want to go in. Down a long steep shaft, about 75 feet, bent almost 90 degrees at the waist and then through a horizontal tunnel, still bent over, for about 50 feet. Inside we hit our first scam. Some guy pointing at things and that was pretty much it. When he finished he clearly expected a tip. One LE wasn’t enough in his opinion but it’s all he was getting. After leaving we headed off to Memphis. The highlight was the broken statue of Ramses II. It’s amazing even broken it’s huge and the skill of the stone work is flawless. After Memphis we stopped for a quick lunch and I was, very uncharacteristically, not hungry (uh oh). Then it was off to THE pyramids and sphinx, in a word, overwhelmed, they are just amazing, no pictures can do justice to the majesty of these structures. My wife and I just stood and stared. To think that they were built without modern equipment and the stones moved using no more than rope and muscle is almost unbelievable. After a quick up close tour we head off to a hill to get a panoramic view of all the pyramids. Beware the camel herders. They are pushy, take a picture next to a camel... then on a camel… then a short ride. I didn’t fall for it but one in our group did. The sphinx is equally amazing, hard to believe it’s so old. Back to the hotel. None too soon either I had an appointment with the ‘thunder bucket’ and my pillow. All was not well in Cairo this night.

Monday, Day Five, our one and only day to shop. And we were both stuck in the hotel all day. We’d been very careful up to this point watching what we ate but must have missed something. We were both sick with some gastro-intestinal bug. By late afternoon we were both better but still very leery of leaving the hotel.

Tuesday and we were headed Home. We arrived at the airport at 4:30 AM. After carrying our bags nearly all the way to the security check point some guy asks to assist me in moving my bags about 10 feet and putting it on the scanner. I said no thank you. He basically grabbed my bag and started tugging at it. I said NO thank you. He persisted and then basically wrested it from me. Then he leans over and asked for a tip. I said “you went a tip? OK, the next time someone says no thank you move on.” He may still be standing there with his hand out I’m not sure.

FYI!!! On board the Air France flight after they closed the doors it was announced that in accordance with internation agreement the cabin would be sprayed with an approved insecticide that is safe for use around humans, at one point DDT was approved for use around humans. Well isn’t that just dandy. My wife’s pregnant. Had I known I’d have packed an activated carbon mask for her. After that we had no difficulties until we hit Detroit. The plane had mechanical problems and we were put on another aircraft about an hour late. All in all not a big deal.

As always it's good to be home.