The flight which took off at 7:05 landed in Cairo at 8:10. At baggage claim, all of our bags arrived except for Aki’s. We had to wait almost a half hour for them to find his luggage. The van dropped us off at the Egyptian Museum which was a highlight for most people in our group. The ride went past Tahrir Square which had lots of people but was pretty quiet.
It truly is a magnificent museum with an overwhelming amount of exhibits. We went upstairs first to the King Tut exhibit which was huge. There were no cameras allowed which made it difficult for me to keep track of all that we were seeing. I tried to take notes instead. We started our tour at 10:15. Aki had provided headsets so we could hear all that he had to say without disturbing other visitors.
Here is some of what we saw that I can remember, all of which is from the Tut collection: chairs, guard statues, mask, earrings (with large screws), Tut’s two babies’ coffins, cat with gold that one sees copies everywhere, bows, arrows, sarcophagus, alabaster boxes/vases (one fragile and quite beautiful one carved from a single block), lots of wood items covered in gold (maces), bedframes, beds with papyrus as the woven mattress, and on and on.
I gave up the tour at 11:45, went to the bathroom, and on outside to sit in the Movenpick café. I ordered a coffee and sat reading the menu. Parts of it were quite amusing: Florida Sandwich – grilled hot dog served with mustard and ketchup sauce, Oriental salad (mixed salad), tahine, balady, yogurt, col slow [sic], pickles, each. I asked what in the world this was and was told that each of these items should have been under Mezza instead of Oriental Salad. It was pick and choose with a single price for each item. I asked about the balady and the waiter had to go find out. He came back saying it was probably an error because balady means ‘in the local way’, but in this instance, they meant a common tomato and cucumber salad. I also liked rings of onion. Under ice cream they had a caramel flavor with the description – the ultimate for sweet teeth.
The waiter who was answering all of my questions started to get very sad and told me that every time he met an American woman, it reminds him of his true love whom he met 4 years ago. He is married, but he loves this woman who apparently did not want to be woman #2 in his life. It was a very strange conversation.
Everyone else came out of the museum at 1:15. The van took us back to the Fairmont Nile City Hotel where we got our new rooms (1224 – 5 floors higher than we were before) where we washed our hands and went to the Bab El Nil restaurant for lunch. It is a hookah place, too, so I was thrilled since I had wanted to try it even before we left for the trip. About a dozen people were sitting in comfy booths (and outside) smoking. It was not a ‘smoky’ smell, but more of incense type of smell. Dot was definitely not pleased. We told her we could sit outside or split up. In the end, she sat with us inside. We had a wonderful meal of mezza – hummus, baba ganoush, tahine, grape leaves, cheese and spinach samosas. As if that wasn’t enough (and it seemed it never was), we then had grilled chicken which was quite good. We got a lovely fruit plate for dessert.
Sandy and Judy went back to their rooms. Dot and Michael headed out to Coptic Cairo. Bill stayed with me while I smoked a shisha. I ordered the apple tobacco from a whole menu of different flavors. The shisha is like a large hookah (waterpipe). The water container is on the bottom. Then there is a silver candle-stick like base, and the tobacco is on top with charcoal on top of that. With some instruction I finally figured it out and had great fun blowing smoke. Bill got some interesting photos.
I went to the Sky Pool for a last relaxing look at Cairo. Bill went to the room for a nap. My friend Ahmed had left early, so I missed him. However, Baha’a was still there, and we had a nice chat. I sat in ‘my corner’, had some coffee and enjoyed the view. I left at 4:20 to go wake Bill and then on to the business center to send one last email. When I walked in the center, Marian saw me, smiled, and said “Welcome back.” I thought that was sweet that she had remembered me. Everyone at the Fairmont Nile couldn’t have been nicer.
At 5 we got ready for our final, farewell dinner at Saigon Restaurant in the hotel. This was a really upscale, lovely restaurant, but it wasn’t very Asian. The amuse bouche was a shrimp. The salad plate was quite pretty with 4 different items: beef and chicken satay, glass noodle salad, 2 pieces of sushi, and a mango salad. My entrée was a beef filet (best one on the trip) with a micro salad, mushrooms and caramelized onions and peppercorns which was quite spicy. Dessert was a large standard crème brulee with a very interesting carrot sorbet.
We all said our farewells and goodnight and gave Aki tip envelopes. Then it was upstairs to finish packing and hit the bed.
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