Micol in Cairo

Micol arrived shortly after my return from Morocco. It was great having her here. She loved the excitement and chaos of Cairo.

Now that I had a visitor is was time to do all the tourist attractions. We began with the Egyptian Museum. All I can say is AMAZING!!! Every history museum I've been to has an exhibition on the ancient Egyptian civilization, but this was an entire museum dedicated to it. Tons of statues, artifacts, mummies, animal mummies, sarcophagi, etc. The King Tut room was incredible. The gold mask that was on the cover of National Geographic was in the room and it was stunning. So ornate and perfect. 11 kilograms of gold! After a while the museum didn't become boring, but it became mundane; there's just too much amazing artifacts that your brain begins to fry and things don't look so amazing anymore. After about 3 hours we left and wandered around Cairo for a little.

One night we took a falucca (a replica of ancient Egyptian sail boats) out onto the Nile. It was so peaceful and relatively quiet. It provided a great escape from the noisiness and hecticness of downtown.

The Salhadin Citadel was interesting. It was built by Islamic conquerors as their fortress overlooking the city. The walls contain the most stunning Mosque I have ever seen. It was huge and the interior had all the elegance and decor of a Renaissance European Church. The ceilings were vaulted and painted, there were massive crystal chandeliers and the walls were all marble. The Citadel also provided some amazing panoramic views of Cairo, it was crazy seeing my home from this viewpoint. The Military Museum inside the Citadel was interesting and a little unnerving for us. It truly portrayed how proud Egypt was of the October 1973 War (Yom Kippur War). The government pushed the perception of victory and the sentiment expressed by the display reminded me of the perception (we didn't lose) of the Vietnam War back home, except here the soldiers who died are portrayed as martyrs.

We took the subway to Coptic Cairo. I had heard rumors of the metro's creepiness, but it was surprisingly pleasant and easy for us. A one way ticket cost 1 LE, so about 20cents US. Coptic Cairo was very unique, it almost felt weird walking around a completely Christian section of Cairo. The area was filled with tourists and believers. The followers of Coptic Christianity would touch certain pictures of Jesus or Mary or the glass cases containing the remains of Saints and then kiss their fingers. I'm not sure why this is practiced, but I did learn about Coptic Christianity. The Holy Family came to Egypt when they were exiled by King Herod from Israel, they spent about 2 years hear until an angel (I think Gabriel) told them it was safe to return home. Due to their travel throughout Egypt, there are many holy sites in the country. Coptic Cairo became the center of the Christian population in Egypt. Coptic Christianity is now a branch of the Orthodox faiths so there was a huge Greek influence and lots of Greek writing throughout the area and on tombstones in the cemeteries. Unfortunately, Ben Ezra Synagogue which is in Coptic Cairo was already closed for the day by the time we got to it. This Synagogue is the oldest in Cairo and is supposedly built where Moses was found in the reeds of the Nile River.

After looking at the Churches and cemeteries, Micol wanted to do some shopping. We were looking in one store and I was intrigued by the chess sets. The shop owner told me the price and when I told him it was too expensive he offered to play me for the board. If I won, the board was mine, if he won nothing happened. So I figured I'd give it a shot. Well once I agreed, he leaned out into the street and called his brother to come play. His brother was pretty good, I lasted all of 15 minutes, but it was an entertaining match.

One night we went to the top of the Cairo Tower. Similar attraction idea as the Empire State Building or Sears Tower. We got a pretty cool view of the Cairo night skyline. Off to one side we could watch a soccer match form above and see the development of every play and move by both teams.

After a few days and a small taste of Cairo, it was time to head out of country with Micol. We wanted a mini vacation and some time to explore somewhere new. We wanted something not too expensive and not too overwhelming since we only had a short amount of time. Well guess where we picked...Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!