Day TwoPart One
April 8, 2008
Delivered to Cairo:
This is the view from my hotel room balcony looking north along the Nile as it slices through Cairo at night.
Ah, the wonders of Egypt! We flew in today, after 24 hours in transit starting for me in Minneapolis. I had stops in Newark and Frankfort. Greg – my Homer Simpson-like traveling partner - was his inimitable late-running self today and I had to beg the Lufthansa crew to hold the plane while he ran across the terminal due to a delayed flight from Raleigh. I managed to get a bulkhead seat and sleep a bit. 
We arrived to a crew of Egyptians waiting for us and making all manner of whirling service to ourselves and our luggage. We’re staying at the Grand Hyatt Nile. It’s on an island in the Nile River across from downtown Cairo. About as excessive as it gets here. Turning into the hotel was another site altogether. The security! Wow! Three checkpoints between the road and the lobby, including bomb sniffing dogs and metal detectors. Then the company we’re working with took us for drinks upstairs.
When I finally checked into my room I simply slumped on the bed but not before looking out my window at the Pyramids of Giza in the distance. Greg and I just got back from dinner. It’s 11:30 PM here.
When I finally checked into my room I simply slumped on the bed but not before looking out my window at the Pyramids of Giza in the distance. Greg and I just got back from dinner. It’s 11:30 PM here.
Tomorrow our hosts will take us on a “Social Schedule.” This will include a trip to the pyramids, and if I can twist an arm or two the camel market, and maybe some real Egyptian food.
The traffic is as bad as I’ve been warned. My friend, Rebecca Glotfelty from Charlevoix, spent quite a bit of time here while going to the American University. When I asked her what the scariest thing she did as an American woman traveling alone in Egypt, her reply was swift and unapologetic, “Shit Bill crossing the street everyday… I’m dead serious!” She then went on to give me advice on how best to cross the streets in Cairo and live to tell about it. Now I can vouch that she was completely of sound mind and body while saying those things. Whew!
The traffic is as bad as I’ve been warned. My friend, Rebecca Glotfelty from Charlevoix, spent quite a bit of time here while going to the American University. When I asked her what the scariest thing she did as an American woman traveling alone in Egypt, her reply was swift and unapologetic, “Shit Bill crossing the street everyday… I’m dead serious!” She then went on to give me advice on how best to cross the streets in Cairo and live to tell about it. Now I can vouch that she was completely of sound mind and body while saying those things. Whew!
