Cairo Day 5 – the first day of our tour
I don’t know if it as a combination n of excitement, too much sugar or too much caffeine, but I did not sleep well last night. It made me worried about how I was going to get through today.
First, we had breakfast with the group, and then we had our introduction. Our guide is very knowledgeable and has a solid background in Egyptology. Now only does he work at the Egyptian Museum, he is on the Board of Regents and is on the Board of Tourism. He also teaches and lectures on the TV.
Our first stop was the citadel, of which we spent about five minutes and then a mosque, where we spent an hour listening to him talk about how wonderful Islam is and how all the problems are the fault of the US. Happily, the legs did fine, but the back got grumpy because we stood around a lot and there was no place to sit.
At least there was time on the bus to relax (and there’s a bathroom on board) before our time in the Egyptian Museum. That was fabulous and there was so much to see. Wale (pronounced Wall-e) said that after two hours, you get numb and he was right. After we saw many exhibits and, lastly, Tut, we head headed, convenient right at the gift shop and cafe. While I shopped, TBG got some iced tea and guava juice.
Then it was time to head back to the hotel for some lunch and a rest. I was more than ready for both. We headed to our favorite café and shared some fish and chips. While we waited, TBG made dinner reservations. Lunch came quickly, for a change, and we ate and headed to our room.
Boy, the bed felt good, but after an hour, I woke up and that was that. At least it gave me some time to play catch up on the computer and rehydrate. A nice hot shower helped even more. I will take care to not have any dessert or caffeine tonight.
Despite eating at 2 and having reservations at 7, I decided that I wanted dinner by 6, so we headed down to Sapporo, the hotel’s Japanese restaurant. All I wanted was a nice glass of hot sake – surprise, no sake! I ended up with a vodka tonic instead. It was a very odd Japanese restaurant. There was a very loud teppan yaki grill show going on for only two people (there was only one other table besides us seated) and the décor was a sort of traditional meets anime. Food was very good, though. We started with miso soup and TBG had won ton, then some potstickers, followed by a tiger sushi (tempura shrimp sushi covered with a mango sauce) and fried noodles. It was all delicious, although just a little different enough so that we knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore. :D
After that, I crashed – the moment I’d been waiting for all day. I wonder if I will dream of mummies or pyramids…
First, we had breakfast with the group, and then we had our introduction. Our guide is very knowledgeable and has a solid background in Egyptology. Now only does he work at the Egyptian Museum, he is on the Board of Regents and is on the Board of Tourism. He also teaches and lectures on the TV.
Our first stop was the citadel, of which we spent about five minutes and then a mosque, where we spent an hour listening to him talk about how wonderful Islam is and how all the problems are the fault of the US. Happily, the legs did fine, but the back got grumpy because we stood around a lot and there was no place to sit.
At least there was time on the bus to relax (and there’s a bathroom on board) before our time in the Egyptian Museum. That was fabulous and there was so much to see. Wale (pronounced Wall-e) said that after two hours, you get numb and he was right. After we saw many exhibits and, lastly, Tut, we head headed, convenient right at the gift shop and cafe. While I shopped, TBG got some iced tea and guava juice.
Then it was time to head back to the hotel for some lunch and a rest. I was more than ready for both. We headed to our favorite café and shared some fish and chips. While we waited, TBG made dinner reservations. Lunch came quickly, for a change, and we ate and headed to our room.
Boy, the bed felt good, but after an hour, I woke up and that was that. At least it gave me some time to play catch up on the computer and rehydrate. A nice hot shower helped even more. I will take care to not have any dessert or caffeine tonight.
Despite eating at 2 and having reservations at 7, I decided that I wanted dinner by 6, so we headed down to Sapporo, the hotel’s Japanese restaurant. All I wanted was a nice glass of hot sake – surprise, no sake! I ended up with a vodka tonic instead. It was a very odd Japanese restaurant. There was a very loud teppan yaki grill show going on for only two people (there was only one other table besides us seated) and the décor was a sort of traditional meets anime. Food was very good, though. We started with miso soup and TBG had won ton, then some potstickers, followed by a tiger sushi (tempura shrimp sushi covered with a mango sauce) and fried noodles. It was all delicious, although just a little different enough so that we knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore. :D
After that, I crashed – the moment I’d been waiting for all day. I wonder if I will dream of mummies or pyramids…