Here is what I hope Egypt will look like again, and soon.

I'm not super political, or at least generally try to keep that off the Internets (except when it qualifies for Case of the Terribles status).  But sometimes, you just need to say what is on your mind.  And as we in the 21st century do it best, I think I'll say it with pictures instead of words, and I have been feeling quite sad about the images I'm seeing and accounts I'm hearing coming out of Egypt these days.  Instead of doing a tidbits post (considering I never do it in a timely fashion, I think you'll survive), I've decided that I'm going to put up some of my favorite pictures from my March, 2010 trip to Egypt.  I was there directly after the Revolution in January, and can vouch for the kindness, happiness, and pride of the Egyptian populace in bringing democracy to their country.  You can read much more about my experience here.  

Here are some of the beautiful things I witnessed there that I hope we, and they, see again soon.  This starts with some of the most powerful images of national pride I witnessed, including the first true democratic national election:

This is the way I remember Egypt: a little girl and her father waving their flag and smiling at an Egyptian soldier working at a Cairo polling station, after her father voted freely for the first time.  March, 2010.

More images below:

Sayonara Cairo!

Sadly, this is my last Egypt post for the time being!  I will return to the land of soup and teen lit with vigor asap with some exciting new recipes and tasty books.  I arrived back in Cairo bright and early in the morning, just in time for rush hour!  Thusly, my epic Egyptian adventure had to come to an end.  But not before I did a few things.  Here are the things I did, followed by a few traveling to Egypt tips.


Thing 1:  I got my shoes (Dansko's) shined!  It was fabulous; they now gleam like the blackest onyx in all the lands.  I may have to start calling them my Black Beauties. We carried our own shoes there because it probably would have been really weird for the guy to shine our shoes with them actually attached to our ladylegs.  It was already taboo enough; he apparently got heckled while shining our shoes.  We gave him a large tip!  If you live in Egypt, the nameless faceless shoeshiner of Dokki is the best shoe shiner ever.

Deluxe Luxor, Day the second

Hatshepsut's Temple

On my second and final day in Luxor, I opted to take a tour through my hotel to see the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Hatshepsut's Temple, and other things.  It was a wise choice, barring the fact that our guide, though lovely, kept trying to sell us things, like necklaces of our names in Ancient Egyptian script.  That whole area is HUGE!  You can spend all day there and not see it all; we just did the alleged highlights.  By us, I mean myself and the only other person on the tour, a truly lovely Nicaraguan woman from, get this, my mom's hometown: Coral Gables, FL!  Photography is not allowed at all in the Valley of the Kings, which is for the best.  All the tombs there still have the original, beautiful, full color paintings decorating the walls.  I assure you, they are gorgeous to behold.  Our guide didn't go into the tombs with us; I kind of wish I had done a little preparing on my own to refresh myself on Ancient Egyptian mythology and art.  I later discovered that there is a whole section in the Lonely Planet Guide...oops.  I encourage you to check out the super cool Theban Mapping Project website if you are curious about the Valley of the Kings.  Of course, we could not spend all day at the Valley of the Kings, so off we went to Hatshepsut's Temple, where photography is allowed!

Deluxe Luxor, Day the First

 

I arrived in the AM fresh off the overnight train, checked into my hotel, had a bite to eat that was not pure butter and sugar, and promptly started touring!  My photo essay begins now. 
Welcome to Luxor Temple, a fairly awesome and well preserved temple that is not by any estimation, small in size. 

Overnight Training

 Okay team, I'm going to power through the next few posts photo blog style, simply because I want to get the Egypt posts done and return to the fun land of regular blog life.  Thusly, I give you the photos for my overnight train ride experience to Luxor and back!  It was definitely an good experience, and I'm glad I tried it.  It's not the most quick, nor is it entirely 100% comfortable or restful, but it sure beats a regular 10 hour train ride!

Plus, it made me feel a little bit like a character in an Agatha Christie novel.  Except for the lack of murder mystery, of course.  And it was nowhere near as elegant as the Express Train of my wildest romantic dreams.  But is the hallway on the left not capable of inducing thoughts like that? (Of Agatha Christie, not murder.)

The Giza Gauntlet

Egypt threw down the gauntlet at the Giza Pyramids.  I wish I could say it was a really great experience, that the pyramids dazzled me, that I was inspired, etc.  But honestly, the hassling was so extreme at this tourist trap that I spent the first 45 minutes completely overwhelmed, frazzled, frustrated, and even near tears.  I knew it was going to be a bit intense, but what I realized retrospectively is though there were still busloads of tourists, I was more or less the only solo tourist visiting at the time.  Which meant open season on me.  I should have anticipated this; I already was aware that there were less tourists than usual (something that made me sad for Egypt's economy, but happy for my ability to actually see things and not be crowded at tourist places!), and that it was a pretty intense experience at the pyramids.  But holy. guacamole.  From the minute we approached the entrance in my cab, the cabbie let some guy hop into the front seat.  I was completely alarmed, and was all "What the what.  What are you doing?" We stopped at the "entrance" twenty yards away.  It was pretty clear it was not the entrance; thanks to my guidebook I was aware that this was a bit of a scam that is often run to get tourists to fork over extra money, rent a camel they don't want, etc.  

Librarian Mecca: Bibliotheca Alexandrina!

 As many of you know, I happen to have an occupational predilection towards libraries.  They excite me with their stores of fantastic knowledge and excellent organization.  Also, the big deal ones?  They tend to be kind of architecturally gorgeous.  Also:  books.  They've got them!  For all these reasons and more (as in, hello opportunity to visit the worlds first library even though the original was burned like six times so it's really not the real deal but whatever), I was stoked to visit the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.  And let me have you know: it is worth a trip.  I gasped when I walked in.  It is really that impressive, huge, and flat out architecturally gorgeous.  I want to go to there every day.  I want to work there.  I want to sneak in and live there in the way that the kids in From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler live in the Met.  No joke.  Am I gushing?  Is the Pope Catholic?  Deal.  I warned you of my occupational predilection.  

Rain and foreign book covers

 Hello friends. Shockingly, after an overnight train followed by a day in Cairo followd by leaving for the airport to travel 18ish hours home, posting was not a priority. I will update fully later so you'll get to know allllll about my adventures.  But to tide you over enjoy these phone pics from my last day in Egypt.

This picture? Evidence that it does actually rain in Cairo.  I was shocked! It lasted approximately 2 minutes, but I still think it counts, no?

Mmmmachiato @ Pottery Cafe, Cairo's hipster cafe.  Yes, they DO have sheesha and skinny cigarettes to accompany your skinny jeans!

I like the American cover sooooo much better.  Doesn't Katniss look like a Hogwarts bad girl?  There is no magic in the Hunger Games, cover artist!

Wall o'teen fiction at a Zamalek bookstore (yes, these are all in English).

Enjoy a gin fizz at a posh ye olde Victorian hotel with me!

Indiana Jones loves me

Hatsupet's Temple, where my boyfriend Indiana Jones likes to take me on adventurous dates. 

Ancient food porn

Shocker: another beautiful Egyptian morning

In case you did not appreciate my view last night:

I'm off to cross the river and go to the valley of death - I mean Kings and Queens.

Luxor sunset

I arrived in Luxor this morning at around 6:30am, just in time to see the sun rising as I pulled in. It is not so easy to use my tiny key
s or the tiny wireless signal at my delightful hotel, Hotel Nefertiti. Thusly I leave you with my sunset view. 

Alexandria Part Two

Photo essay, as I am on my way to catch an overnight train to Luxor.  I spent the day at the pyramids.  It was...overwhelming.  But I'll post on that later!  Enjoy some of my photos from Alexandra, the port city/former home of Cleopatria.  Maybe you've heard of her?  Sadly no pictures of her here. The only thing I did not take a picture of were the crypts.  I have never been claustrophobic or especially afraid of the dark.  But you know what?  I have always had an active imagination.  And when a place that is normally crawling with tourists featured just me and nobody else underground, wandering around in a crypt (the bodies were removed), where I had to walk around on planks of very unstable wood in places due to flooding, let me tell you: I gladly walked into a tourist trap and willingly followed around the "guard" who was the only other thing with a pulse two stories down.  I even tipped him.  Twas really cool, especially the mashup combo of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian funerary carvings in one area.  But I'm pretty sure it was responsible for my freaky dreams last night too! (I will devote a special post to the library because, hi, I am a librarian).

A pita maker in Alexandria

Alexandria

More on yesterday's day trip to Alexandria later, but I'd just like to leave you all with this image.  This will for SURE make you sleep easy, PopTart:

One of the many, many tanks I've seen in Egypt, but the first I have posed in front of. 
I particularly liked noticing that the writing on the tank is all in English...generally indicating American made.
Well done Team America.

 The other best part of this endeavor?

Election day in Egypt

It was election day in Egypt the last time I posted.  It was also my "I probably shouldn't have eaten that" date with destiny, we took it pretty easy and basically spent the day strolling through the fruit market and stalking the polling stations in Dokki, near Becky's apartment.  It was really very exciting!  Although the results (now published) don't seem like what the more liberal and/or educated Egyptians were hoping would happen, I still found it heartening to see so many people out and about, waving their fuscia dyed fingers in our general direction. 

This picture totally warmed the cockles of my heart.  Is that girl not the cutest thing ever, waving her little Egyptian flag, clutching her father and her pink stuffed bunny?  I love the expression on the soldiers face.  He's all, "Oh snap, what do I do with this cuteness? It is overwhelming me, play it cool.  Don't smile.  Seriously.  Stop it lips."  It was so much more adorable in person. 

Finally, you food porn enthusiasts, this one is for you:  Enjoy my bounty from the fruit market (ie. fruit stalls and the bakery I obviously visited.  I got some pretzel wheel thing with dates inside, a honey croissant, and some Fig Newton-esque other snacks.  Yum!

Deserts and fat cats

Hello friends!  I am feeling rather lazy and am going to mostly post pictures here today.  Yesterday, we spent the day out in the desert at what I believe is an oasis and also believe is called Al Fayum.  Spelling?  Probably wrong.  But that's okay, because Google's screen appears in Arabic and general confusion is thus expected.  It was totally fun!  I was under the impression it was a sit by the shore and cheer for dudes if you happened to be of the female persuasion, and dressed accordingly in a long dress and cardigan.  Except this was way more nature than I or my new gladiator sandals were anticipating.  Seriously.  Mudflats, hiking across the top of waterfalls, etc.  Plus, I'm pretty sure I scandalized an entire village by hiking up my skirt to ford the river.  Or rather, I probably blinded them with my blazingly white kneecaps.

Typos make my day.

No photos today; I spent yesterday at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, where your camera is confiscated at the door.  Because they take such good care of the antiquities there...sarcasm.  I mean, they do.  They are in a museum, there are guards, people were cleaning reliefs and things.  But the museum is not exactly on the standards of more westernized museums; we'll call it a little rag tag.  It's a little confusing to navigate and there are very few signs up about the multitude, and I mean multitude (the rooms are stuffed to the brim with antiquities) of items on display.  There are some super cool things there; I was a big fan of the animal mummies.  But as per, the emphasis seems to be on the gold coated things, not the every day cool things like mummification tools and make up equipment.  However, it is still really, really cool, and you could seriously spend all day there and not see everything; I kind of gave up midway through the top floor because I got tired of dead things. 

The other crazy thing about the museum is that it is directly below the burned out National Party buildings.  I knew they were close, but I didn't realize they were THAT CLOSE.  I actually gasped when I left the museum because it was directly above my head and the exit.  Those protesters weren't messing around!
Becky and I also attended the British Cultural Association or whatever they call themselves (seriously, they are mostly American) St. Patty's Day party, which amused me because...well, Britain and Ireland have such a notoriously loving relationship.  Twas fun!

But the best part of the day?  The two awesome typos I spotted that I wasn't able to take pictures of. 
The first:  in the museum, there is a relief of a king and a queen playing with their daughters.  The sign tells me about how "they are fondling their young daughters."  Don't they know I'm a boy of 12 at heart?  The second:  at our awesome dinner of Egyptian pizza (a calzone-like thing made w/filo), the menu offered me a tasty side dish of "Homoes."  Seriously.  I am still laughing. 

Holy Wednesday

Yesterday was a big day for me, religiously.  I got in with the big man upstairs FIVE TIMES, in three different religious, you guys!  Yes. That's right.  I visited two Coptic Christian churches (think Greek Orthodox), one very old synagogue, and two mosques.  Not only that, but we managed to crash services in both a church and a mosque, so I'm feeling pretty good about my juju today. 

Tahrir, Feluca, Koshuri, Sunset and a Stella

 As you can see from the above image, I walked around downtown Cairo today, which included a trip to the world famous recent home of the Egyptian revolution, Tahrir Square.  The square has largely been cleaned up - the army came in last week and forcibly removed lingering protester and thusly, there aren't a terrible number of street vendors selling January 25th memoribilia.  The Square still has some visible markers of the revolution; many sidewalks were chipped away by Revolutionary fighters to use as stone ammunition against the government thugs.  These sidewalks are now just swaths of sand, which is odd and quite the visual reminder.