• We visited the catacombs of Shawqafa and the National Museum
• We saw artifacts of the sunken palace of Cleopatra
• We went to the library of Alexandria and I headed down to the information desk to ask where to donate a book. My mom, author Susan Blackaby, has a book published about the life of Cleopatra that I wanted to donate to the library. An executive came and met me and helped me fill out the paper work and printed out a bar code for the book. They said they were incredibly grateful for the donation and now my mom's book is registered for check out at the library in Alexandria. If you happen to drop by, check it out!
• Fun fact: we tried to visit the children's section of the library, but it is only open to children.
Mood: trying to absorb everything I am seeing as fast as I can
Weather: Hotter than hot
# of new people I have met: 3
Alexandria doesn't seem extremely modern (but I have seen 1 KFC, 1 Starbucks, and 2 McDonalds and a few newish hotels.)
• We drove to Giza and saw the pyramids. I felt like I was in a calendar or issue of National Geographic--it didn't seem real to be standing in front of the ACTUAL pyramids. We drove in Range Rovers across the desert (and if you know me well, driving in a Range Rover through the desert has been a dream on my bucket list for a long while) and we met a camel caravan. We hoped on camels and walked through the desert. Yes. I promise this is real. This happened. It was incredible.
• Lots of pollution
• Lots of garbage
• Saw people stop to pray on the street. Everyone prays when they hear the call to prayer.
• Virtually no traffic laws that I can see
Our Adventure with Mohammad
Two friends and I wanted to go to Cairo. We had heard that you could take the train so we got up early to make our way to the train station. We took a cab and our cabbie, Mohammad, wanted to drive us (3 hours) to Cairo, but we politely insisted that we were going to take the train. Well, we went to the train station and tried to get a ticket for about an hour and no luck. So we decided on plan B, which was to take a cab back to port and find Mohammad and ask him to take us. Mohammad was waiting for us when we got there and he was DELIGHTED! He had a pretty nice volvo and all along the way he pointed out little things like crops and houses here and there. He pulled over to get us drinks and pointed out clean/safe bathrooms. We made it to Cairo and Mohammad had friends that worked at the museum and so he got us tickets at a discount price and promised to meet us back at the entrance once we were through. We got to see King Tuts head dress which was really cool. We went and had lunch on the Nile River. On the way back to Alexandria, Mohammad was on the phone with his friend who owned a flower shop and Mohammad wanted to take us. It was getting dark and we wanted to get back to the ship, but Mohammad insisted that we see his friends shop. At the flower shop they cut us fresh flowers and offered us tea and coffee. We sat and talked about marriage, family and what we wanted to be when we grew up. After tea, Mohammad wanted to take us down the street to his friends jewelry store. We looked at all the jewels, but told Mohammad that we didn't have any money and so he took us to a bank around the corner in the bottom of a hotel. My friend ended up getting a bracelet and I bought a beetle stone that keeps good luck. Walking through the streets of Alexandria we saw little kids sleeping on card board, sheep crammed onto truck beds, people going here, there and everywhere. That evening we thanked Mohammad and returned back to the ship safe and sound. I will never forget that day. This cup of cosmos is for Sam, Emma and our dear friend, Mohammad.
No comments:
Post a Comment