Day 153

Saturday June 20^th

Today we did everything in Cairo that we didn’t get around to the first time. When I say everything, I mean of the stuff that I considered important to see. First, we woke up around 10 and actually got Cinnabon. It was the first time in three tries that they actually had it. We then got a taxi and headed out to the Citadel. The Citadel, afterwards I realized is geared more towards the Egyptian enthusiast, not the average tourist. For although I found the walls of Saladin awesome, and going through the Egyptian Military Museum incredibly fascinating as there were artifacts from the Officers Revolt and Maps of the conquests of Muhammad Ali and artifacts and weapons that they used, Megan was not impressed. I guess you actually have to know about Egypt to really enjoy it, and considering the Museum was filled with Egyptians only, it probably is not all that interesting to tourists like Megan. I guess I will just have to go back on my own time.

Mohammad Ali’s Mosque was still as impressive as ever, and Megan enjoyed that for the main part. We also got some shots of overlooking the city. Next we got a cab and headed back to Khan to do some final gift purchasing for Megan’s family. This meant scarves and we did pretty good at finding what we were looking for and getting the price we wanted. I really enjoyed myself at Khan, more than I have ever before.

A quite memorable experience happened as we were walking down one of the main streets in Khan. There was a large pile of dirt just blocking the way, nothing too unusual for Egypt, nonetheless kind of annoying. As I stood in front of it, pondering why the heck it was in the street, one of the store keepers noticed that I was looking at it and shrugged his shoulders in the “what can you do about it” expression. I asked “lee” or why? Pointing to the dirt, he said that it was for the streets, because they are still under construction. I shrugged my shoulders too, and walked around it, and then he said something I won’t forget. “Don’t stop smiling, this is life, what can you do, but smile.” I thought this outlook on life was very profound, and simple. I loved it, because life does give throw a lot of shit at you, a lot of which you can’t control or can’t do anything about it. Although, I don’t like the idea of just giving up and letting bad things happen in a fatalistic manner, when they can be prevented, sometimes you have done all that you can or there are things beyond your control that really suck. At that point, just smile. You can either enjoy the ups and downs as part of the experience that is life, or get mad about them and not enjoy life. Either way they are going to happen, so you might as well enjoy it. Besides, in Egypt and the rest of the world there are bigger problems that should cause you consternation, not little things like dirt in the road or noisy streets.

We went to dido’s for lunch at around 4 that day, and then napped/hung around in the apartment before going on a felucca ride at sunset. I didn’t want to pay for a cab, so we walked back to the apartment, a pleasant walk through the heart of Cairo I might add. We were on an Egyptian schedule for eating and thus went to Aubergine for dinner at around 11. The places were actually crowded at these times, as normally when we go, its empty. We got back from the food and went to bed. Tomorrow will be Megan’s last full day in Egypt. Bummer.