As part of Sarah's grand tour of the (safe parts of the) Middle East, we spent five days in Egypt.
We saw the Pyramids at Giza, Dahshur and Saqqara. We visited the Mosque of Muhammad Ali at the Citadel, the Mosque of Ibn Toulun, the Mosque of al-Rifa'i, Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan, the Blue Mosque, and some really old Mosque by the Bab Zuwayla that we got lured into. We saw the Gayer-Anderson Museum, Church of St. George, Hanging Church, Ben Eliazer Synagogue and the Roman Fortress of Babylon. We looked at mummies and statues and ancient Egyptian Afros. We watched a Dervish show and sailed up and down the Nile in a felucca with Abu Ahmad (who had six daughters who were all married and offered to find us husbands as well). And we did quite a bit of shopping.
In all these goings-on, we learned many things about Cairo and about ourselves.
1. The "this way to the gym" pose has been employed by men for centuries:
We saw the Pyramids at Giza, Dahshur and Saqqara. We visited the Mosque of Muhammad Ali at the Citadel, the Mosque of Ibn Toulun, the Mosque of al-Rifa'i, Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan, the Blue Mosque, and some really old Mosque by the Bab Zuwayla that we got lured into. We saw the Gayer-Anderson Museum, Church of St. George, Hanging Church, Ben Eliazer Synagogue and the Roman Fortress of Babylon. We looked at mummies and statues and ancient Egyptian Afros. We watched a Dervish show and sailed up and down the Nile in a felucca with Abu Ahmad (who had six daughters who were all married and offered to find us husbands as well). And we did quite a bit of shopping.
In all these goings-on, we learned many things about Cairo and about ourselves.
1. The "this way to the gym" pose has been employed by men for centuries:
2. Everything in Egypt costs 5 Egyptian Pounds (or you can get if for free if you want an Egyptian boyfriend along with it):
3. If you're going to get a fancy new camera before your trip, you should probably read the owners manual so you don't ruin priceless photo opportunities like riding a camel in front of the Pyramids. Once you do figure out the settings, though, you can get some awesome action shots:
look how happy he is!
4. As an infidel western woman, going into a mosque can require a lot of extra clothing:
5. The insides of Pyramids smell. Also - climbing inside and out of them will give you achey thighs for days:
6. Visiting said Pyramids might just possibly give you an uncontrollable urge to walk like an Egyptian or start kissing things:
7. The Ancient Egyptians wore deodorant cones on their heads, which slowly melted during the day, keeping them fresh and spicy smelling:
8. The only way for me to stop from opening my mouth and looking atrociously stupid while doing awesome air kicks is to put on a smug-face. I can't decide which is worse:
9. Our Broadbent irreverance is irrepressable:
photo bomb!
I'll get you my pretty...
and your little abaya too!
10. Diet Coke is strangely hard to find:
at laaaast!
11. Lastly, I had some pretty beautiful, funny, smart, amazing and wonderful traveling companions:
1 comment:
Soooo how good looking were the boyfriends you picked up in lieu of Egyptian pounds? So awesome that you've been the pyramids! Have you ever read any Elizabeth Peter books with her Egypt Archaeologist heroine? That's where all my knowledge of the pyramids comes from.
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