The Widow and the Spinster: The Search for Adventure, Enlightenment, and the Quest for Forbidden food - Bacon, Bacon, Bacon, and New TR Link! 5/23

[franandaj]

Whew, finally got caught up again.

Glad you're caught up! I need to keep up a steady pace of updates. Posting an update every three days, I will be lucky to finish this TR before I go to WDW in April!

 

[franandaj]

I recognized dates, bananas, and nectarines. The bananas were much shorter than we have in the US....we'll see more bananas when we get to Luxor.

Thanks for that. I was so intent on getting the picture that I wasn't really noticing what I was taking a picture of!

The grilled meat was amazing and my favorite part of the trip although everything was tasty.

It was super tasty! After an overload of that kind of flavors, I think I'm back to wanting to eat it again!

Yes! very poorly

 

[franandaj]

Ah. Copy, red leader.

I don't have a witty response for this.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Interesting food updates. That $32 for laundry doesn't seem that bad to me after what we paid in France back in 2019.

I know its silly - but I keep looking to see if there are any Salukis in your background of photos. We just had our specialty weekend for the breed in Conroe, TX & I received yet another camel item.

 

[franandaj]

Interesting food updates. That $32 for laundry doesn't seem that bad to me after what we paid in France back in 2019.

Yikes! I'm afraid to ask what you paid in France! But now I want to know!

I know its silly - but I keep looking to see if there are any Salukis in your background of photos. We just had our specialty weekend for the breed in Conroe, TX & I received yet another camel item.

No you're not going to see any of those. I had to Google the breed, but all the dogs basically looked the same. Some were brown, some were black, some were lighter colored, but they were all a very similar breed. Nothing as exotic as Salukis. It was like the same breed of mutt populated the streets. Jill would have been looking for Dachshunds if there were any specialized breeds, but no they were all basically the one breed.

 

[franandaj]

I woke up around 5AM after several other wake ups during the night, but at 5AM I finally gave up on sleep. I tried to do a leg bath with hot water from the sink. Remember neither Jill nor I could figure out how to get hot water in our tub/shower. It did help, but it didn’t last long, the tub had a leak and I couldn’t keep getting up and out of the tub to fill it from the sink, that would be against the point of relaxing my legs in the tub.

We were meeting Achmed again at 8:30AM today, so we planned for another 7AM breakfast. Also I needed to get more small bills. The last time I changed $200 for small bills and they gave me $20s, I was down to 4 of them. They go fast when you have to give one to someone every time you go to the bathroom.

This morning I decided to try making myself a grilled cheese in the toaster. It was one of those kinds that you put your piece of toast on a metal conveyor and send it through several times to get it as dark as you want. I sent the toast through a couple times and then once through for the sandwich. If I try it again, it needs 3-4 times for the sandwich to go through. I didn’t try it again.

I also had some apple “salad” with a little yogurt, and this yellow cake. Yesterday I tried the chocolate version. Both are really good!

After breakfast we went up to the room to collect our things. We boarded the elevator on the 14th floor and proceeded down to the lobby. At some point on the way down and older man in a thobe (google it folks) entered the elevator. He looked at us with a sort disapproving sneer, and flicked his Tasbih beads (islamic prayer beads) at us. As if to ward off our American femaleness.

We went to the bank to get more little monies, and were standing there politely waiting to be recognized by a teller. This same guy just barges in past us and walks up to a teller and starts speaking in Arabic. No idea what he’s saying or doing, but he finishes his business and walks out like we weren’t even there. The teller who helped him, didn’t even signal or anything so Jill just said, “go up there.” He helped us as well.

So far that was the only weirdness we have experienced thus far.

So our guide asked us to meet them “outside the gates” because security gives them the 3rd degree just to drive inside. When they say outside the gates, this is the gate that vans drive in to access the hotel. There is a separate one in front for cars.

Here is the street area right outside our hotel. Our room looks down on this part of the street. This is the area where the dogs were running around barking that first night.

Here we are on our way to our first destination. Cairo is very busy in the mornings and urban Cairo is very different than country Cairo where we were yesterday.

The streets can have any mix of motorcycles, cars, trucks, pedestrians, horse or donkey drawn carraiges, Tuk tuks, and other interesting vehicles.

Buildings like this were super common, and by “this” I mean the dingy color. Almost all the buildings were this color, and dirty. Also what I mean is all the clothes drying in the air. As we later learned, self service laundromats are non-existent. When folks want their laundry “done,” They take it to someone who does their laundry for them and returns it to them folded and clean, just like I showed you with ours yesterday.

There’s just so much to unpack in this picture. All the satellite dishes on the top of the building. The random AC units hanging off various places. Notice the blue balcony at the top of the building. I noticed that a lot of people painted their balconies to spruce them up.

We drove past the the citadel of Salah El-Din. Construction on the the Citadel was begun by the Kurdish Ayyubid ruler Salah al-Din between 1176 and 1183 CE in order to protect Cairo from potential Crusader attacks and to provide a secure center of government for his new regime. Technically we were supposed to visit both the Citadel and our next destination, however, remember I mentioned that the guide switched things up yesterday?

We didn’t complain that he gave us an either/or choice on these two locations. If he had done that with the various pyramids, we might have complained. The Citadel would have involved a lot of walking and steps, and I don’t remember what other factors were involved, but we had the choice.

Since he gave us a choice, our destination today was the Salam Hassan Mosque. I think we chose it because there was less walking and steps, plus it had more history.

But first this is a different Mosque that we did not visit, but it was a pretty building.

Here we are at the entrance to the site. Again there was a guard shack with Antiquities Police, I didn’t notice if he slipped them a bribe or not.

There were lots of kitties here as well. You can see one in the middle of the walkway here.

I believe that Achmed got us through the entrance gate, and then he basically told us to hang out and take pictures. He was on the phone again. Who is he talking to so much? His bookie? Did he have a pony in the race? Was he putting his money on the Chief’s? He sure was on that phone a lot!

That’s where we came from.

And here I am amusing myself with the kitties walking around.

Eventually Achmed joined us and showed us the ropes. When you enter the Mosque, you need to remove your shoes. There is a gentleman at the entrance who stores your shoes for you. Make sure you have plenty of baksheesh because you’ll need to give it to him to get your shoes back.

Looking up at the ceiling in one of the main areas of the Mosque.

There was this courtyard in the middle of the Mosque.

It’s very elaborately decorated.

We were briefed in advance that we should have a headscarf for this visit to the Mosque, but as it turns out the rules were more relaxed. You can see Jill with the headscarf over her shoulders.

I don’t know anything about what is involved in being Muslim, but from what I understood from Achmed, this is where the person would deliver prayers to the worshippers.

The building was very ornate and decorated.

This was a very special room. I don’t remember specifics.

As you will see later in the day, Achmed is all about photo opportunities. He coerced us to wear the headscarfs for a photo opp. You probably can’t tell unless you zoom in, but Jill’s scarf has hidden Mickeys.

Once we got our shoes back, we went to another Mosque next door. The Al Rifa’i Mosque, where we promptly surrendered our shoes again.

Farouk I was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936 and reigning until his overthrow in a military coup in 1952. As king, Farouk was known for his extravagant playboy lifestyle. While initially popular, his reputation eroded due to the corruption and incompetence of his government. He was overthrown in the 1952 coup d'état and forced to abdicate in favor of his infant son, Ahmed Fuad, who succeeded him as Fuad II. Farouk died in exile in Italy in 1965. His tomb is in this Mosque

The Tomb of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919 - 1980), the last Shah of Iran, who was exiled in 1979, is located in a separate corner section of the Al-Rifai Mosque.

These kitties were paying their respects to the Shah

The kitties were not pleased when they were kicked out of the room.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

After leaving the Mosques, we went to Old Cairo. This area is mostly very small passages where there are churches and synagogues in very close proximity. I think we were only there for around 45 minutes total and we saw two churches and a synagogue, plus it was super busy and congested with a ton of people. Especially school kids.

We visited the tomb where Joseph, Mary and Jesus hid from the Pharoah,

And the panoramic view.

Back out in the church

See what I mean about small walkways that are super congested.

Then we saw the oldest Synagogue (no pics allowed) and the oldest Orthodox Christian Church.

A rare moment where we were able to escape the crowds.

And then we were out of Old Cairo. Our driver had to meet us at the end of this road as no cars could drive here. I took snaps of many kitties as we walked, believe me! I’m not showing you all the pictures I took!

After we left Old Cairo, we went to pick up my Scarab pin, it came out nicely. Then we went to a Papyrus art store. I think the tour company gets kick backs from these places when they bring in customers. While we did not like the idea of purchasing carpets, both Jill and I thought a Papyrus souvenir might be kind of cool.

They showed us how Papyrus is made, supposedly they make their own.

They also showed us the judgment and the Calendar on Papyrus hoping we might choose to purchase that. In the first post of the this TR I described the Judgment scene where the descendants heart is weighed against the feather of Maat. It was on the “sample tomb” of the Rosicrucian Museum.

The calendar is a wonderful example of the mythology of Ancient Egypt. The Ancient Egyptians were aware of the significance of the Sun, Moon and Stars as shown in this papyrus painting.The Egyptian Calendar was originally discovered in Temple of Dandara in Luxor. In this calendar the 12 signs of the Zodiac are in the center, along with people and animals. Supporting the zodiac is the god Horus (8 times) and 4 female goddesses. Horus represents the 4 directions, the goddess represent the 4 seasons. The months are represented by the adding the goddesses and Horus, for a total of twelve. If we add the total number of hands it is 24, or the hours in the day. If we take the number of fingers(10) and multiply it by 12 (8 Horus, 4 goddesses) the answer is 120. Dividing 120 by 2 we get 60 - 60 for the 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 for the 60 seconds in a minute. The hieroglyphics on the side tell the story.

Mostly this place sells artwork on Papyrus. It looked like your typical art gallery, except that instead of works on canvas they were on papyrus. I decided that if I could find one of my favorite Cat Goddess that wasn’t too expensive I’d buy it. I found one of Bastet that was around $30.

And just the weekend before Thanksgiving I found a frame laying around the house in a closet, I got it on sale for $13, so I framed the picture and hung it with some of my Aristocats in the kitchen near my coffee bar.

Here’s a close up. It doesn’t quite fit the matte, but I like that cause you can see the edges and that it is papyrus.

Jill got one with the Ankh on it with her name written in hieroglyphics. Here is the guy writing her name on it in Heiroglyphics.

After we left the Papyrus store, we went to yet another place, but here’s another donkey cart shot I took on the way there.

Then we went to a “cotton store”, I think it was just a big warehouse trying to sell clothes and other goods. There was sure a lot of stuff here. Yes they had high thread count cotton sheets, but I wasn’t going to buy those here. I might have bought a hat or a T-Shirt, but nothing they had said “Egypt” on it. Everything was American Brands or sports teams, way to go marketing department.

We were basically killing time here before lunch. There was absolutely nothing there that we wanted, but we picked out these things for Jenny and sent her back some pictures. She didn’t want us to buy them for her!

Then we were on our way again. Here’s another one of those pictures with a lot to unpack. I took the picture initially for the donkey cart. But right in the foreground is that broken barrier with the gnarled rebar sticking out, and then next to that is the accumulation of litter that has obviously been building for quite a long period of time.

And here’s another one. I can’t read the writing, but from the pictures on the sign, I’m guessing it a car repair shop, probably a body shop. But notice the livestock in the yard. I believe I see many goats, and even a sheep and a cow. Nothing to see here! :laughings:

Now in this picture, I’m sure I took it for the horse cart, but I want to point out something different here. Take a look at the sedan in the right side of the picture. Notice the dents on the side of the car, by this second day in, I noticed that lots of cars had those dents from getting too close to other cars.

There would be little random food stands on corners everywhere. Then again these sorts of things have started to pop up in California as well, it started about a year and a half ago when the state legislature approved some law that allows taco stands to pop up on every corner.

Another donkey cart….

On our way to lunch we caught a glimpse of the great pyramid.

This is a street that we drove down to get to the restaurant where we had lunch on this day. Oh look! I caught a picture of the spiderman action figure that our driver kept on his steering wheel!

By the way, I should mention this. Our driver never really spoke to us. He spoke to Achmed in Arabic, but our understanding was that he really didn’t speak English. He was a very nice man. LIke I mentioned the day before, every time that I got out of the van he was there offering his arm to steady me as I got out of the van. It was kind of a big step down for me and while I’m not disabled by any means, I’m not a spring chicken and had moderate difficulty with all the steps and uneven pavement. I also noticed that he was a very sharp dresser. He had some very nice expensive shoes!

As we drove down that street, these guys were sitting on the side of the road shucking corn. Seemed super random to me.

Those guys shucking corn, were at the end of that dirt road I showed you, near an intersection with another similar road, and just caddy corner from the shuckers was this guy and his “convenience store”.

Then we arrived at the restaurant. I took this picture specifically to find the restaurant online, but I googled like crazy and couldn’t find a thing on this particular place. There were plenty of places with this name, but they weren’t the place.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Now Acmed pre ordered our lunch so we wouldn’t have to wait as long. He gave us a choice. I don’t remember what the other option was, but we went with the mixed grill, which was actually what we had the day before, but I was OK with that. I think the other choice was all lamb. But first we got a small buffet at the table. This simple soup was probably one of the best soups that I had on the entire trip. It was like a chicken noodle but with Orzo instead of noodles. I think Achmed was on the phone again and away from the table, so I couldn’t ask him what it was.

This is the basket of bread they served with the soup.

And pretty soon we got hummus and baba ganoush.

These Falafels were very tasty! Fun fact: Egyptian Falafel is made with Fava Beans and not chickpeas. I despise the taste of chickpeas, so I’m not a fan of hummus or traditional falafel. I enjoyed all the Egyptian Falafels that I ate!

I can’t remember what these were, flat samosas? They were really good!

These were a combination of stuffed peppers, eggplant and zucchini. I think I ate one or two of these.

I believe that they only put one of these on the table, the previous plates I showed you….everyone got one. Those weren’t just to share, those were all for me. I’m not sure how they expected us to eat the main course with all those we received.

They also served one of these for the table. This was the stuff that Achmed said was “soup” but I don’t think so.

Then we got a plate of rice and some veggies to accompany our meat. This is Jill’s picture, you can see all the extraneous plates around her plate for the main course. Neither of us were able to eat much of the little appetizer plates cause we knew what was coming meatwise.

This “Mixed Grill” was just for Jill and myself. Achmed had ordered his own which was not mixed. I think he got all lamb. I was thrilled because my favorite Merguez sausage was part of the mix. In addition to the vegetables in there, I believe there is chicken, kofta, lamb, and merguez. So tasty, but so much food! We were already pretty full, but I forced myself to eat the merguez and a few other things.

Here’s a shot of the restaurant.

After lunch we were able to go up and choose some desserts from the buffet. I only grabbed a couple things since I was so full.

Then it was off to the pyramids, but that deserves its own chapter so I'll be back with that.

Next Up; We Climb a Pyramid

 

[pkondz]

I woke up around 5AM after several other wake ups during the night, but at 5AM I finally gave up on sleep.

I hate nights like that... and have far too many of them.

I tried to do a leg bath with hot water from the sink. Remember neither Jill nor I could figure out how to get hot water in our tub/shower. It did help, but it didn’t last long, the tub had a leak and I couldn’t keep getting up and out of the tub to fill it from the sink, that would be against the point of relaxing my legs in the tub.

Ugh. Nope. Not relaxing even a little bit.

The last time I changed $200 for small bills and they gave me $20s, I was down to 4 of them. They go fast when you have to give one to someone every time you go to the bathroom.

So the money goes when you go.

At some point on the way down and older man in a thobe (google it folks)

I did. Have seen the garb but had no idea it was called that.

He looked at us with a sort disapproving sneer, and flicked his Tasbih beads (islamic prayer beads) at us. As if to ward off our American femaleness.

So many thoughts and will just shut up here. Anything I might say would probably have gotten you in trouble.

We went to the bank to get more little monies, and were standing there politely waiting to be recognized by a teller. This same guy just barges in past us and walks up to a teller and starts speaking in Arabic. No idea what he’s saying or doing, but he finishes his business and walks out like we weren’t even there. The teller who helped him, didn’t even signal or anything so Jill just said, “go up there.” He helped us as well.

Hmmm...
I wonder.
There's a bakery that I go to on occasion that has one of those "take a number" systems. A lot of people miss it and get miffed when they don't get served. I wonder if it was either a cultural thing where you should have just walked up without waiting or the man just assumed that he had privilege over women or foreigners or both.

Here is the street area right outside our hotel. Our room looks down on this part of the street. This is the area where the dogs were running around barking that first night.

Looks very "normal".

urban Cairo is very different than country Cairo

So I see!

Almost all the buildings were this color, and dirty.

I've noticed that.

As we later learned, self service laundromats are non-existent. When folks want their laundry “done,” They take it to someone who does their laundry for them and returns it to them folded and clean, just like I showed you with ours yesterday.

I'd be hanging my own laundry too if I had to pay $30+ a week to clean them.

Notice the blue balcony at the top of the building. I noticed that a lot of people painted their balconies to spruce them up.

I did not notice.

We drove past the the citadel of Salah El-Din.

Looks very imposing.

Since he gave us a choice, our destination today was the Salam Hassan Mosque. I think we chose it because there was less walking and steps, plus it had more history.

I'm going to say you chose wisely.

But first this is a different Mosque that we did not visit, but it was a pretty building.

There were lots of kitties here as well. You can see one in the middle of the walkway here.

You and your kitties. I'd have been shocked if you didn't mention them!

I believe that Achmed got us through the entrance gate, and then he basically told us to hang out and take pictures. He was on the phone again. Who is he talking to so much? His bookie? Did he have a pony in the race? Was he putting his money on the Chief’s? He sure was on that phone a lot!

Mom. Always gotta make time to talk to mom.

no?

And here I am amusing myself with the kitties walking around.

See!

When you enter the Mosque, you need to remove your shoes.

Interesting. I know that's custom in various parts of the globe and the opposite is true in others.
In Canada it was more or less universally custom to take shoes off when entering a home, but that's fallen more and more by the wayside now.

There is a gentleman at the entrance who stores your shoes for you. Make sure you have plenty of baksheesh because you’ll need to give it to him to get your shoes back.

That just... a place of worship and they basically charge you to get your shoes back.
Ah well, I guess that's no different than Churches (or other places of worship) charging a fee to enter.

Looking up at the ceiling in one of the main areas of the Mosque.

Pretty.

There was this courtyard in the middle of the Mosque.

It’s very elaborately decorated.

The amount of work to go into building that...

We were briefed in advance that we should have a headscarf for this visit to the Mosque, but as it turns out the rules were more relaxed. You can see Jill with the headscarf over her shoulders.

I wonder how relaxed they'd be if Mr. Thobe had been around!

I don’t know anything about what is involved in being Muslim,

Nor I, I regret to say.

but from what I understood from Achmed, this is where the person would deliver prayers to the worshippers.

So different from a Christian place of worship. I've seen photos of worshippers kneeling and bowing... no pews.

The building was very ornate and decorated.

Agreed. Beautiful.

As you will see later in the day, Achmed is all about photo opportunities. He coerced us to wear the headscarfs for a photo opp. You probably can’t tell unless you zoom in, but Jill’s scarf has hidden Mickeys.

Way to go Jill!

The Al Rifa’i Mosque, where we promptly surrendered our shoes again.

Eventually you'll become both Muslim and poor.

Farouk I was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty

!!
I had no idea that the name was associated with anyone other than the boxer!

Farouk I was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936 and reigning until his overthrow in a military coup in 1952.

Fuad... wasn't he the one associated with Lawrence of Arabia?

As king, Farouk was known for his extravagant playboy lifestyle. While initially popular, his reputation eroded due to the corruption and incompetence of his government. He was overthrown in the 1952 coup d'état and forced to abdicate in favor of his infant son, Ahmed Fuad, who succeeded him as Fuad II. Farouk died in exile in Italy in 1965. His tomb is in this Mosque

I find it interesting that he has such an ornate resting place given that he was overthrown and exiled.

The Tomb of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919 - 1980), the last Shah of Iran, who was exiled in 1979, is located in a separate corner section of the Al-Rifai Mosque.

Interesting. Know of him, but didn't know he was entombed in Egypt.

These kitties were paying their respects to the Shah

Holy c... uh... cat!

The kitties were not pleased when they were kicked out of the room.

Of course not. They know they're going to have to pay to get their little shoes back.

 

[pkondz]

After leaving the Mosques, we went to Old Cairo. This area is mostly very small passages where there are churches and synagogues in very close proximity. I think we were only there for around 45 minutes total and we saw two churches and a synagogue, plus it was super busy and congested with a ton of people. Especially school kids.

Did you (or Jill) feel at all claustrophobic from the tight confines? Or were you too busy just being interested in where you were?

We visited the tomb where Joseph, Mary and Jesus hid from the Pharoah,

Hmmm...

I won't debate this, but...
I always question things like this. "Believed to be..." or "Thought to be..." for things that happened millennia ago.
Out of curiosity, I measured the distance from Bethlehem to Cairo. In a straight line (which isn't necessarily the path you'd have to follow to get from A to B) the distance is 260 miles. At an average walking speed of 3 mph and assuming they walked for no more than 10 hours a day (and even that, with a newborn, is pretty unlikely I'd think) it would take 8 days to get to Cairo. Fleeing Herod into Egypt... Why not stop shortly after crossing into Egypt? (A much shorter 65 miles)
Do-able? Yes. But...

See what I mean about small walkways that are super congested.

Actually, that doesn't look as bad as I thought it would.

Then we saw the oldest Synagogue (no pics allowed) and the oldest Orthodox Christian Church.

Too bad no pics. Did they differ quite a bit from what you'd previously seen? Or similar?

I took snaps of many kitties as we walked, believe me! I’m not showing you all the pictures I took!

I believe you!

After we left Old Cairo, we went to pick up my Scarab pin, it came out nicely.

Good!

While we did not like the idea of purchasing carpets, both Jill and I thought a Papyrus souvenir might be kind of cool.

Ah yes. They've been doing that for a bit... my parents have one and I think they were there a few decades ago.

In this calendar the 12 signs of the Zodiac are in the center, along with people and animals. Supporting the zodiac is the god Horus (8 times) and 4 female goddesses. Horus represents the 4 directions, the goddess represent the 4 seasons. The months are represented by the adding the goddesses and Horus, for a total of twelve. If we add the total number of hands it is 24, or the hours in the day. If we take the number of fingers(10) and multiply it by 12 (8 Horus, 4 goddesses) the answer is 120. Dividing 120 by 2 we get 60 - 60 for the 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 for the 60 seconds in a minute.

Interesting!

I found one of Bastet that was around $30.

Reasonable.

And just the weekend before Thanksgiving I found a frame laying around the house in a closet, I got it on sale for $13, so I framed the picture and hung it with some of my Aristocats in the kitchen near my coffee bar.

Perfect!

Here’s a close up. It doesn’t quite fit the matte, but I like that cause you can see the edges and that it is papyrus.

I'm glad you said that. Because when I looked at the photo (before reading the comment), I thought "Oh, it didn't quite fit in the matte... but I like it better because you can see it's papyrus that way."

Jill got one with the Ankh on it with her name written in hieroglyphics.

Heh.
Either that or you'll have an Egyptologist visit one day and ask why you have a papyrus that says "chicken soup" on it.

here’s another donkey cart shot I took on the way there.

Jarring.

we picked out these things for Jenny and sent her back some pictures. She didn’t want us to buy them for her!

Opportunity wasted Jenny!

Here’s another one of those pictures with a lot to unpack. I took the picture initially for the donkey cart. But right in the foreground is that broken barrier with the gnarled rebar sticking out, and then next to that is the accumulation of litter that has obviously been building for quite a long period of time.

You're right... lots to unpack. Lots going on there.

And here’s another one. I can’t read the writing, but from the pictures on the sign, I’m guessing it a car repair shop, probably a body shop. But notice the livestock in the yard. I believe I see many goats, and even a sheep and a cow. Nothing to see here! :laughings:

Meh. Most auto repair shops have a few goats around, to keep the grass down. And a cow is always handy for creamer for your coffee.

by this second day in, I noticed that lots of cars had those dents from getting too close to other cars.

Yikes. Note to self. Don't bring own car to Egypt.

On our way to lunch we caught a glimpse of the great pyramid.

Jarring as well... I forget how big it is! (And how close to the city.)

As we drove down that street, these guys were sitting on the side of the road shucking corn. Seemed super random to me.

Does, doesn't it? So many things that you just don't see on this side of the pond.

This simple soup was probably one of the best soups that I had on the entire trip. It was like a chicken noodle but with Orzo instead of noodles.

Ah! Okay, then Jill's papyrus says chicken orzo soup.

Seriously, lunch looked good and I'd eat or at least try all of that (except the stuffed peppers... peppers don't like me very much.)

 

[bcwife76]

I haven't been noting on your last few entries but I've been reading them all I'm excited to read about the pyramids!

 

[franandaj]

I hate nights like that... and have far too many of them.

I never used to have a problem sleeping. And now at home my sleep schedule has become crazy. Last night I was ready to go to sleep at 7:30. I'm not sure if I slept through the night, my fitbit doesn't think so.

I did. Have seen the garb but had no idea it was called that.

I had to google, but I wanted to properly describe what it was.

So many thoughts and will just shut up here. Anything I might say would probably have gotten you in trouble.

Yeah, I also worded that part of the update carefully. Other words came to mind, but I toned it down.

Hmmm...
I wonder.
There's a bakery that I go to on occasion that has one of those "take a number" systems. A lot of people miss it and get miffed when they don't get served. I wonder if it was either a cultural thing where you should have just walked up without waiting or the man just assumed that he had privilege over women or foreigners or both.

There was some serious hostility in the glares we were receiving on his part. I'm guessing that it was definitely cultural, and the man had some deep set opinions of what was proper for women, and running around showing our hair and faces, and wearing pants was not in that opinion.

I'd be hanging my own laundry too if I had to pay $30+ a week to clean them.

I'd hope you would have your own washer and dryer.

Mom. Always gotta make time to talk to mom.

no?

That's not the deduction that we came to, but you shouldn't have to wait that much longer....well with updates every three days, I guess you will!

Interesting. I know that's custom in various parts of the globe and the opposite is true in others.
In Canada it was more or less universally custom to take shoes off when entering a home, but that's fallen more and more by the wayside now.

A lot of my tenants take their shoes off before entering their apartments. I can see that in Canada especially with all the snow and such. Then again in my house, I would never go without shoes. Too many potential landmines.

That just... a place of worship and they basically charge you to get your shoes back.
Ah well, I guess that's no different than Churches (or other places of worship) charging a fee to enter.

It's more of an Egypt thing. You give money everywhere. Except a lot of the places we think it's appropriate.

The amount of work to go into building that...

They don't make them like they used to!

I wonder how relaxed they'd be if Mr. Thobe had been around!

Really!

So different from a Christian place of worship. I've seen photos of worshippers kneeling and bowing... no pews.

Our guide actually took time in the 2nd mosque for daily prayers. They pray like six times a day. First thing in the morning around 6AM and then several more times. OK, I googled, it's dawn, noon, midafternoon, sunset, and nightfall The Mosques would issue a call to prayer when it was time.

Fun Fact: In ancient times there was a person, the muezzin, who would issue the call to prayer. He would stand outside the mosque and call the worshippers. Today many of the mosques play a recorded call to prayer. Budget cuts?

Way to go Jill!

How about way to go for the person who lent it to her?

Look familiar?

!!
I had no idea that the name was associated with anyone other than the boxer!

That was one of the first things he told us on that first day while we were driving to the pyramids. He talked about the modern history, when Egypt parted from the Ottoman Empire, and later expelled the British.

Fuad... wasn't he the one associated with Lawrence of Arabia?

Would be potentially the correct time period, I think. I was going to google, but I wasn't sure what to google.

I find it interesting that he has such an ornate resting place given that he was overthrown and exiled.

Probably by the time he died, the people in power had forgotten his indiscretions.

Interesting. Know of him, but didn't know he was entombed in Egypt.

I remember him being exiled. That was just about the time when I started becoming aware of world events.

Of course not. They know they're going to have to pay to get their little shoes back.

But seriously those were probably among the most spoiled and best taken care of cats that I saw. It appeared that they spend most of their time in the mosque.

Did you (or Jill) feel at all claustrophobic from the tight confines? Or were you too busy just being interested in where you were?

Yes. There was one point where a door opened and an entire class of school children came pouring out. It was much worse than the picture I showed. At least in the picture that I took, I had enough room to raise my arms up and take the picture. There were times when we were literally shoulder to shoulder. I couldn't help but think about covid times.

Hmmm...

I won't debate this, but...
I always question things like this. "Believed to be..." or "Thought to be..." for things that happened millennia ago.
Out of curiosity, I measured the distance from Bethlehem to Cairo. In a straight line (which isn't necessarily the path you'd have to follow to get from A to B) the distance is 260 miles. At an average walking speed of 3 mph and assuming they walked for no more than 10 hours a day (and even that, with a newborn, is pretty unlikely I'd think) it would take 8 days to get to Cairo. Fleeing Herod into Egypt... Why not stop shortly after crossing into Egypt? (A much shorter 65 miles)
Do-able? Yes. But...

Well, there really isn't anything or anywhere once they get into Egypt. The Sinai Peninsula is a brutal piece of land. Currently there are only three major cities in the peninsula and they are either on the Mediterranean or the southern tip. In biblical times, Cairo was probably the only major city. I don't know whether I believe it or not. But I just took it at face value and moved on. I've never read the Bible, nor had any religious training other than a "Religious Studies" course in college. And my main takeaway from that class had nothing to do with religion.

Actually, that doesn't look as bad as I thought it would.

As I said above, this was when it wasn't nearly as bad as it got.

Too bad no pics. Did they differ quite a bit from what you'd previously seen? Or similar?

I'm not sure I've ever been in a synagogue before. My impression of the place was that it was very small.

Ah yes. They've been doing that for a bit... my parents have one and I think they were there a few decades ago.

It was something small, and easy to transport. Even if you bought a large one, it would still roll up in a compact tube.

I'm glad you said that. Because when I looked at the photo (before reading the comment), I thought "Oh, it didn't quite fit in the matte... but I like it better because you can see it's papyrus that way."

At first I was bummed too, but then I realized it was pretty cool to see those little frayed edges.

Heh.
Either that or you'll have an Egyptologist visit one day and ask why you have a papyrus that says "chicken soup" on it.

Well he only wrote four letters, and two of them were the same so that premise doesn't work....

You're right... lots to unpack. Lots going on there.

Meh. Most auto repair shops have a few goats around, to keep the grass down. And a cow is always handy for creamer for your coffee.

I never thought of that. I guess you're right.

Yikes. Note to self. Don't bring own car to Egypt.

Even better, don't drive yourself. Hire a driver. It's well worth the price.

Jarring as well... I forget how big it is! (And how close to the city.)

When I get to that update, there's a bit about how close to the city it is.

Does, doesn't it? So many things that you just don't see on this side of the pond.

Every day and everywhere we went. The only place where things weren't so different was basically in our hotel rooms.

Ah! Okay, then Jill's papyrus says chicken orzo soup.

It is possible. Orzo does have two of the same letters....

Seriously, lunch looked good and I'd eat or at least try all of that (except the stuffed peppers... peppers don't like me very much.)

Of the things that I ate, it was excellent. For me pretty much all of the meals we were served were good. Jill not so much.....

(foreshadowing)

 

[franandaj]

I haven't been noting on your last few entries but I've been reading them all I'm excited to read about the pyramids!

I'm not sure how interesting the update will be from a reader's standpoint. I mean for us being there it was amazing! There are some videos and I think they show how exciting it was, but there's no way for me to convey just how massive the Great Pyramid is and awe that it inspires to be standing there next to it.

 

[tiggrbaby]

The mosques were beautiful!

 

[pkondz]

Yeah, I also worded that part of the update carefully. Other words came to mind, but I toned it down.

There was some serious hostility in the glares we were receiving on his part. I'm guessing that it was definitely cultural, and the man had some deep set opinions of what was proper for women, and running around showing our hair and faces, and wearing pants was not in that opinion.

I won't comment further.

I'd hope you would have your own washer and dryer.

I have a rock down by the river, where I keep my van.

A lot of my tenants take their shoes off before entering their apartments. I can see that in Canada especially with all the snow and such. Then again in my house, I would never go without shoes. Too many potential landmines.

Fun Fact: In ancient times there was a person, the muezzin, who would issue the call to prayer. He would stand outside the mosque and call the worshippers. Today many of the mosques play a recorded call to prayer. Budget cuts?

I did know this!

How about way to go for the person who lent it to her?

Look familiar?

Way to go Alison!

Would be potentially the correct time period, I think. I was going to google, but I wasn't sure what to google.

It was Feisel... and Saudi Arabia, not Egypt. Although I suppose the entire area has changed borders over the last century.

I remember him being exiled. That was just about the time when I started becoming aware of world events.

Yes. There was one point where a door opened and an entire class of school children came pouring out. It was much worse than the picture I showed. At least in the picture that I took, I had enough room to raise my arms up and take the picture. There were times when we were literally shoulder to shoulder. I couldn't help but think about covid times.

Ugh... Not a fan of crowds.

At first I was bummed too, but then I realized it was pretty cool to see those little frayed edges.

Well he only wrote four letters, and two of them were the same so that premise doesn't work....

Soup... no... SOOP.

Even better, don't drive yourself. Hire a driver. It's well worth the price.

Good tip.

It is possible. Orzo does have two of the same letters....

Aha!!

Of the things that I ate, it was excellent. For me pretty much all of the meals we were served were good. Jill not so much.....

(foreshadowing)

 

[franandaj]

The mosques were beautiful!

Yes! They were quite ornate and beautiful!

 

[franandaj]

I have a rock down by the river, where I keep my van.

It was Feisel... and Saudi Arabia, not Egypt. Although I suppose the entire area has changed borders over the last century.

That sounds a little bit more familiar.....

 

[franandaj]

We had just finished lunch, and now it was time to tackle the Pyramid Complex. Here we are on our approach to the drop off area for the Main pyramids of Egypt. This is the Great Pyramid of Giza.

At one time, the pyramids were “outside the city” maybe 100 years ago, but now the city edges right up to the pyramid complex.

Here we are at the entrance to the Pyramids of Giza Complex.

After we entered that building we went through the body scanners. I had my camera with me. And as I was leaving the scanning area, the person sitting at the monitor said something to Achmed. Now I’d heard that some monuments there is a “toll” for large DSLR cameras. They allow cell phones at no charge, but I’m not sure why they have a thing with DSLRs. Achmed handed her a bill and she waved her hand like, “OK you can go.”

Then we went through the ticket turnstiles and moved on to the pyramids.

Just like at Disney you can get different "characters" on your tickets!

As we were getting out of the van, I realized that I forgot my hat today. Now that we were standing in the blazing sun in front of the pyramid, boy was I feeling it! I also forgot to put on Sunscreen. Normally I did that in the car on the way to whatever our destination was. Since we spent the morning indoors mostly, I didn’t think about it.

I think it was around this point that Achmed starting referring to himself as “Speilberg”.

Even standing right in front of the Great Pyramid you can see how the city is just right there.

Now to enter the Great Pyramid requires an additional ticket, which was around $20. I’m not exactly sure how the decision “not” to go inside was made, but both Jill and I agree that when we go back to Egypt that will be one of the things on our do list. However, there is a path where you can climb up to where the entrance is and come back down. Here we go.

Looking out from our vantage point.

Here is where you would enter the pyramid. Next time.

Achmed took the video as we descended from the Pyramid

There was so much bread and food leftover from lunch, Achmed had them package it up. He planned to give the leftover meat to someone on the street, but he had us bring the bread along to feed the dogs that hang around the pyramids. Jill tried to spread it around but this one dog ate it all, taking it away from either of the other dogs she tried to give it to.

Then we took this video

Wanting to play “Speilberg” again, Achmed had us assume a number of poses.

After those antics, we started walking up the road. It was hot today, and without sunscreen or my hat, I could feel my skin just burning in the sun. Our driver came to the rescue and picked us up on the road to the next pyramids. I took this opportunity to put on Sunscreen. Achmed assured me that there would be ample opportunity to purchase a hat before our camel ride.

I think I’ll wrap this up here.

Next Up: The One Where We Ride a Camel.

 

[pkondz]

it was time to tackle the Pyramid Complex.

I had a pyramid complex. I tried to get help for it, but they told me I had to bring two friends and they each had to bring two friends and each of them had to bring two friends and...

now the city edges right up to the pyramid complex.

This I knew. I remember (several years ago) the first time I saw a photo of how close the city was and I was shocked.

Now I’d heard that some monuments there is a “toll” for large DSLR cameras.

Not exclusive to Egypt. I've encountered similar (or a tripod fee.)

Just like at Disney you can get different "characters" on your tickets!

Makes sense. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before Disney owns them... if they don't already.

As we were getting out of the van, I realized that I forgot my hat today. Now that we were standing in the blazing sun in front of the pyramid, boy was I feeling it! I also forgot to put on Sunscreen.

Give me a sense of scale here... roughly how far are you from the pyramid in this shot?

I think it was around this point that Achmed starting referring to himself as “Speilberg”.

Now to enter the Great Pyramid requires an additional ticket, which was around $20. I’m not exactly sure how the decision “not” to go inside was made, but both Jill and I agree that when we go back to Egypt that will be one of the things on our do list.

Interesting that you made the choice but both have decided to to in next time.

Also interesting that you're already thinking of a next time!

Looking out from our vantage point.

I haven't seen those vantage views before. Thanks!

You say in the video that the climb wasn't hard, but it looks awfully steep. Or at least the steps look quite high.

Achmed took the video as we descended from the Pyramid

Fun video!

he had us bring the bread along to feed the dogs that hang around the pyramids.

Huh. I'm a bit surprised by that. I'm so used to seeing signs not to feed animals...

Jill tried to spread it around but this one dog ate it all, taking it away from either of the other dogs she tried to give it to.

Greedy pup.

Then we took this video

Wanting to play “Speilberg” again, Achmed had us assume a number of poses.

Those are pretty funny.

It was hot today, and without sunscreen or my hat, I could feel my skin just burning in the sun.

Glad you got that taken care of. Did you burn at all?

 

[rentayenta]

All caught up!