Cairo, Day 1

We admired the view of the Nile from our hotel balcony while breakfasting on foul, labnah, feta, olives, and heavenly Egyptian pita bread. Both of us have been stymied and overwhelmed by the guidebooks and the reality of being in Egypt, so we decided to start our sight-seeing at the Citadel, since it had been recommended by M after a perusal of Cairo on Google Earth. The Citadel is a massive fortress on a hill overlooking Cairo, over 900 years old, and the nerve center of Cairo for more than 700 years. There are some mosques and a palace or two within the walls, and magnificent if dusty views of the city.

Here's where there should be an interesting photo of me and Jodi at the Citadel, overlooking Cairo, but this computer is slow and wonky as is the internet connection, and suddenly the heat and sun and walking and doing my washing in the sink has left me sleepy. And I have to get up early to meet our private driver to go to the pyramids, the sphinx, all that old stuff... More travel updates and witty observations and compelling photographs tomorrow, inshallah.

Dispatches from the desert

Long time, no travel, makes a Seattle girl very sad. But here I am waking up in sunny Cairo with the Nile flowing by my hotel balcony, a cup of coffee next to me, and a steaming plate of foul with sides of feta, labnah, and olives.

It's kind of surreal, and I'm not really sure how we got here, except about six months ago Jodi and had the following conversation over a beer (well, I was probably drinking wine, because beer makes me make funny faces.)

J: We should take a vacation, the two of us, we've never gone anywhere together.
R: Yeah, good point. That sounds fun. Where do you want to go?
J: I don't. Somewhere neither of us has been before...
R: I've always wanted to go to Morocco. And I can sort speak a bit of Arabic...
J: I've always wanted to go to Egypt.
R: I'd go to Egypt.
J: Ok, should we do it?
R: Yeah, let's do it.

I realize that more detailed and in-depth conversations have taken place regarding what grocery to buy the bacon from, but there you have it. It sounded like a good idea of the time, and it still does, of course. And fast forward six months and three tabbed guide books later, and here we find ourselves.

So anyway, it will be a grand adventure, and I'll be updating here for all you who want to follow along and live vicariously or just want to make sure we haven't been kidnapped by Sudanese bandits. Just kidding. That totally doesn't happen.

We arrived late last night, and somehow sailed through customs and met our Cairo friend Waleed who "whisked" us from the airport to the Cairo Marriott on Zamalek, an island in the Nile. And by "whisked" I mean navigated three to six "lanes" of traffic of closely compacting beeping cars for about an hour. But it was all part of the adventure. So far I am reminded of Riyadh but with more people, more cars, and a bit dirtier. So it's kind of a bizarre sort of homecoming...even bits of Arabic are coming back to me. I'm quizzing Jodi on the uses of "shukran" and "asif" (Thank you and I'm sorry) to give her a bit of a head start.

More photos and updates later today, once we hit the streets of Cairo....


Ma'salaamah,