Cairo...Finally...

So I wrote all the words for this post last week but then Firefox crashed and it didn't save right so I lost it all. This time, since I just need to get this blogged already, I won't be as long winded and there won't be a theme. The last one was pretty good, Things We Learned in Cairo. It was a funny one, but now I have no energy to be funny.

---------------------------------------------------------------

We went to Egypt to visit my sister and her family who have been living there for the past year. Brent and I had never planned on going to Egypt and we certainly couldn't pass up seeing the Lewis' while we happen to live on the same half of the planet (they are moving back to the US next month) so 2 wins for us!

Friday: arrived and stayed up ridiculously late talking.

Saturday: Slept in. Toured Coptic Cairo, the Christian section of the city and also where (supposedly) Mary, Joseph and Jesus hid.

Coptic Museum where I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside. They had some pretty cool, really old stuff (stone reliefs, tunics and book from several centuries ago, art, etc)

St. George slaying the dragon is all over the place in Coptic Cairo. Seriously, pretty much every building had a (or 5) portrayal of this scene. Maybe I should Wikipedia him...

The Hanging Church.

Then we went back to the house and chilled (literally, we had to cool down) played with the kiddos, chatted etc.

That night the adults went to a Whirling Dervish show. It was pretty awesome. According to Sara & Kevan, it was one of the best things they've seen in Cairo for reasons including, but not limited to, it started on time, it was clean (as in sanitary), it was professional (most of the stage lights worked), and best of all, it was free! Can't beat free. The show was put on by a foundation trying to make the public aware of their religion, Sufi. It was fun to watch. One guy spun for 22 minutes. In the same spot. And didn't throw up at the end.

We ate dinner at a Lebanese restaurant by the Embassy. It was super tasty. The best hummus I've ever had. Wish we would have taken a picture at the restaurant.

We walked along the river (after playing frogger to get across the road) and took some pictures of Cairo Tower.

Stayed up really late talking. Again.

Sunday: Slept in. Again. Friday is the Sabbath in Islam so we didn't have church to go to.

Went with Sara and Kevan (the kids were at school and the youngest stayed home with the housekeeper) to tour Islamic Cairo, where most of the biggest mosques are.

I think this is a good time to interject with an explanation of driving (and walking in Cairo). Picture if a city of 8 million people was being attacked by giant monsters, just for fun we'll say mummies, and needed to evacuate IMMEDIATELY. Hopefully you're picturing tons of crazy, old dusty cars all crammed onto the freeway, loaded with as much as they could fit into their car (people and stuff) some driving slowly as to not tip over due to sheer weight of vehicle, some slowly because they are old people who shouldn't be driving at all and everyone else going as fast as humanly possible whilst weaving in and out of the slow cars. Well, take out the mummy and evacuation thing and you've got it! Seriously, why they even paint lines on the road, I don't know. On most of the major motorways, there are 3-4 lanes but the cars drive 5-6 wide. Honking is constant and no one pays attention to what the other cars are doing. It's all about the Number 1 there. They have no forethought to their actions. Luckily, Kevan is a good driver. He was weaving and bobbing with the rest of them only they drive a big silver SUV with a loud engine. People move out of his way. Most of the time. It was scary for like 5 minutes, then it was just pretty amusing the rest of the time there. Walking, is much the same. No ones looks where they are going, they just walk and if that happens to be in the middle of the road, whatever. Funny stuff. I wish I would have taken pictures.

So, after driving there, we toured the mosques. They are quite beautiful in a massive, ornate, ancient culture kind of way.

The first one we saw was at the Citadel of Salah Al-Din, the Mohamed Ali mosque (no, not the boxer dude, this dude). It is really beautiful with the arches and the color and texture of the stone is gorgeous.

To go inside of these mosques, you have to be covered to a certain standard. At the Mohamed Ali mosque, the attendants thought my (past knee length) shorts were too short so I got to wear this lil' beauty, which when the wind blew, was shorter than my shorts. Awesome.

The next mosque was the Mosque of Al Rifai. It houses the tombs of the last Egyptian royal family. It also houses an awesome chandelier with blinking LED lights. Sara has asked for one when she dies, consider it done.

Then we went to the Sultan Hassan Mosque. It was originally built in the 1300's. While we were there, the prayer call was made. I probably wasn't supposed to sneak a picture but when else am I going to be able to watch a muezzin lead a call to prayer while sitting in a 14th century mosque? We did leave before the prayers were started, though.

Then it was off to one more mosque, which I don't remember the name of (or have a ticket stub to copy the name from). I think it's supposed to be the oldest mosque in Cairo? It was the only one we didn't have to pay to get in to.

We were also the only tourists there so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Kevan talked the guard into taking us to the top of the minaret. It was a bit of a climb but the view was totally worth it. If the air was clear, we could have seen the whole city. I did a panoramic series but haven't figured out how to combine them into one.

Sometime while we were in one of the mosques, the Lewis' diplomat license plate was stolen. Dumb. Maybe it was this guy, he wanted to get his horse cart into places restricted to the general public?

Then we stopped at the commissary because Sara needed to pick up a few things. I took the opportunity to ask her to get me some US products we can't find here (Crest toothpaste and Old Spice deodorant).

After dinner, we stayed up really, really late talking. It was awesome. Sara is a sibling I didn't have the pleasure to live with for most of my time at home and we've never had much of a chance to connect on an adult level. It was SO great to be able to have so many hours of uninterrupted sister bonding time.

Monday: We went to the Giza pyramids! This was one of the best parts of our trip.

We had no idea they were so close to the city. They are right at the edge of town so all those pictures you see of them being out in the desert? Well, it's all about the angle. And the pollution.

We went inside the great pyramid. There's not much to see, like I hear you can at other pyramids throughout the country but it was cool, nonetheless. It was a fantastic work out, too. The passageway to the tomb room is uphill and only half height so you walk up an incline for about 5 minutes doubled over so as not to hit your head. No pictures allowed though. Darn!

The room itself is just a big open room with an empty carcophogus. It was fun though, Kevan found the acoustic sweet spot and made some creepy echoing sounds and the attendant tried to help "enhance" our experience (in hopes of getting some money from us) by pointing to the carcophogus and stuff but we didn't need his help, thank you very much. The climb back down was harder than going in. Downhill=hard. The attendant at the door hit on me a bit saying that "you break my heart" because apparently he thought I was good looking but then asked if I was married. Too bad for him!

We walked around the great pyramid and as I took pictures, kids on camels came over and wriggled themselves into my pictures and then asked for money (a common theme in Cairo, everyone and anyone will try to figure out how to get money from you). Sorry kids, no money. Kevan also told them to go away in Arabic.

Then I saw this camel sitting so perfectly waiting for me took take his picture. I had Brent stand near it but then the owner came running up spouting something about "you want picture?" "come closer" and "no money" and started dragging Brent by the arm. Brent tried refusing but the guy kept insisting "closer" "eese ok" "no money". By this point they were next to the camel and Brent was wearing the guys headdress and the camel was yelling. Kodak moment I tell you! When all was said and done, and Brent got his hat back, the guy asks for money. Ha! Good one, guy! You thought you tricked us, but we don't carry any money! So he asked Brent for a caramel. Awesome. Sorry dude, no caramel either. You were pushy and you lied so nothing for you. I know that sounds mean but they are like birds, if one sees you giving to another one, they all flock over and want your money for doing nothing. Brent didn't even want to be that close or wear that thing. It was all just a big bonus for me!

Then we drove over to the other pyramids and took some more pictures.

Then it was off to the lookout spot where you can see all 3 and the city. We got some fun pictures. Too bad I'm not better at jumping pictures. Still fun.

Then off to the Sphinx, which is smaller than I thought it would be. Still cool, though.

Then back to the house to finish dinner and make dessert and get the kids so we could go on our faluca ride down the Nile.

We hired a boat and he took around the Nile while we ate and enjoyed the breeze and the sunset.

Brent worked his "Uncle Brent Magic" and entertained the kids.

It was another one of our favorite experiences on the trip.

Tuesday: We went to the Khan el-Khalili, the huge marketplace in Cairo.

As another example of the "wanting money for nothing" mantra, the policemen standing in front of the closest parking area said there was no parking but then Kevan gave him some money and he opened the gate. Bribing police? Oh, just add it to the list of things that would be considered illegal in the US that we did that weekend.

The market was interesting. You could probably, after hours of bartering and searching, find anything you wanted. Especially if you want something with a pyramid, scarab, or Nefertiti's head on it.

I found some pretty cool scarves. One of the shops was a bust though. We found some really great ones there and when Sara went to barter on the price, he totally tried to gyp us! Sara has bought from him before so she told him what he charged her last time and he countered with something almost 3 times a much! Not even! I liked the scarves but not that much. So we walked out.

We ate lunch at a yummy little cafe at the market. I wasn't paying attention and accidentally had some mint that was mixed into the tehini and my lip got all tingly and started swelling a little. Oops! Still VERY allergic, I guess.

After lunch, we found a set of 3 little alabaster pyramids for our souvenir. It will look good on our shelf of souvenirs from other countries (which currently only houses a mini Eiffel tower).

Then off to the airport. We got to leave from the brand new terminal, it had only opened a week before or something like that. It was so clean and new and air conditioned AND the restrooms were free and had toilet paper! It was the nicest place we'd seen in Cairo.

These pics are from throughout our trip and need to be kept together:
J. Reubes' appearances.

Funny signs and graffiti.

It's funny because it's not really a Hard Rock Cafe...

Posing like our favorite Dervish.

We had a really fabulous time in Cairo and are so glad we got to go. Especially because we got to see the Lewis' and they were able to show us the good stuff and skip the not so great stuff. It was also SO helpful to have someone speaking Arabic to be our guide. We got lots of funny looks and responses when Kevan would start speaking to them, the funniest one is documented here, on their blog.

Here is the online album with more pictures if you're interested. We took over 1,100 but don't worry, they're not all on there. I managed to keep the web album to under 300.