Off To Cairo

Friday, Dec 17, 2010 3:10 PM

Hard to believe but true: we are stuck in the Rome airport because of snow! This is so unheard of that staff people in the airport came running to the windows to check it out. There isn’t any snow on the ground but the rain and cold wind have combined to make de-icing a necessity for all planes taking off. I doubt that the capacity for this manoeuvre is quite limited. There is a long line and we are waiting to be given an approximate time for our turn. Only then will we be boarded. Shades of Toronto. We saw in this morning’s paper that the temperature in Cairo today is 21C degrees. Oh Happy Day. The Rome airport is vast. We came out on a train from the Termini; the trains run every 30 minutes directly but there is obviously a high demand. We arrived almost a half an hour early and by then the train was already almost full. You buy an open ticket and use it when you will and when you can catch a seat. It’s chilly here in the airport – nothing seems to be heated anywhere even though it’s colder than usual right now. But it’s also interesting being here. There is a vast array of chic stores to browse through, lots of duty-free, restaurants, book stores, galleria, and, tons of people from all over. A group of kids behind us from South Africa are chatting and giggling in Africans. Mothers struggle with restless and tired and tantrumous children. Some people snooze – I had a snooze earlier in the downstairs lounge, flat out on a row of seats.

11:45 PM  Our delay lasted over three hours so we arrived here in Cairo shortly after 9:00, took an hour to get some Egyptian pounds, buy an Egyptian visa, get our luggage and get through customs. (One Canadian dollar is worth about 5 Egyptian pounds.) A further hour was spent being driven into the heart of the city by two lads sent by the Gap Adventures people to meet us. The road in is a 12 kilometre highway without access once past the airport area, into downtown Cairo. It is built up over parts of the city; it’s about 2 lanes but 3 cars at a time drive along it. It was completely packed even at that time of night as it is the only fast road into town from the whole of the east part of Cairo. The city is 22 million people – almost ten times the GTA. You really get the feeling of the size and power of the place coming in.

The hotel where we are staying is a block from the Nile, on the Giza side. It’s several levels up from the one we had in Rome. A couple of women waltzed by as we entered, dressed to the nines! Needless to say I did not pack my formal gown. But we’ll manage. Internet is quite expensive at this hotel – about $31/day. We found out though that one can get ½ hour free internet if eating or drinking in the cafe on the ground floor. So here we are – enjoying some babaga ganouch, lentil soup, and some cheese things in a pastry. Very tasty. Opposite us are two musicians playing exotic sounds on a mandolin and a tambourine; the mandolin player is also singing. A fellow close by is quietly enjoying a hookah – Mark says that is some flavour of fruit that is inhaled. Another lad in a long white gown and white headpiece is strolling about with something that looks like an incense holder but which carries live coals to place into hookahs as needed.  This is fun.

It’s midnight Cairo time now – one more hour ahead of Rome. We are now 7 hours ahead of Toronto, 10 ahead of Vancouver. Tomorrow is a free day and we plan to spend it looking about the inner city. At 6PM we’ll meet with our group leader and the others and get into the first phase of our tour. I had no chance to take pictures today so I’ll simply leave the ones from the Villa Borghese up. Tomorrow ought to be a different story! Cheers. Brenda.