Day 141

Monday June 9^th,

Well today is a pretty big day. Megan arrives. Unfortunately, yesterday, I left the ac adapter for my computer at the DDC, so I had to wake up earlier to catch the bus down there and then catch a taxi from there to the airport. The carbide over was quite enjoyable. The cabbie and I talked all about Egypt, traffic, and life. I think my Arabic amused him. I showed up the airport about the same-time that her airplane was touching down. I asked a bunch of people to make sure this was the terminal where her flight was coming through, because if I was waiting at the wrong gate she would be S.O.L. Once I was sure, I staked out a good spot and began the waiting game. It took a good hour and half for her to finally show up at the gate. She said she was like the last person to go through the Passport control. Not quite sure how that happened, as she already had her visa. But whatever, I was really excited for her to be there and so we made our way back to Zamalek. The taxi cost more than I originally wanted, but at this point I just wanted to get back so we could start our vacation. Besides the cabbie was extremely friendly and pointed out everything on the way, including the Crazy Hospital, which actually looked much nicer than most of Cairo, and the security that lined the street near Mubarak’s Palace all with their backs facing the street and their faces looking at a wall. Didn’t make much sense to us, but the sheer number of security did appear imposing.

Finally back at the Apartments, we got Megan settled in and then got Lunch at Eurodeli. Eurodeli has the best fries in Cairo, as far as I am concerned, and we were trying to be extra careful with Megan’s diet so she wouldn’t get sick in the limited time that she was here. After that we took the bus down to AUC, as it was free and then went to the Egyptian Museum. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and the guidebook and I wasn’t going to pay for a guide so we just had to use my memory of the first time I went back in January. Luckily, I remembered quite a deal, and with the awful the labels were able to put together a somewhat enjoyable experience. Really, though the Egyptian Museum is very poorly done and we were dragging after the first hour.

Then we headed off to get her money exchanged in the Nile Hilton Hotel, and then wandered down the Nile and tried to find the Tabula restaurant. The traffic here was appeared crazy to Megan, and crossing the street seemed down right insane. This amused me greatly. After finding the restaurant, and being asked if we could finish in 2 hours, due to a previous reservation, we jumped in a taxi and headed back to the apartment for the night.