Driving into the past.  First we visit the large mosque with all the history (The Citadel), one entire faction of 500 important rivals were murdered by Mohammed Ali after they were invited to a feast. Ruthless leaders.  Religious fervor. The view from the Citadel was vast and unchanging, urban sprawl, faraway desert mountains and the green strip of the Nile and it's tributaries winding through the city. The white alabaster it was made of stayed amazingly cool - even in the sun.  We had to take our shoes off and the girls had to cover their legs. We sat on the rugs and Naga told us the history of Egypt. I loved the cool feel of the alabaster on our feet, we were so happy to take off our shoes! The breeze was lovely.

Then we explored the churches where the Holy Family prayed (The Hanging Church) and hid out (St. George Church) during their 'exile to Egypt'.  There were beautiful children's voices in a choir singing while we were there. I managed to get it on the videotape. Click here to see the pictures!

Then we went to the Papyrus Institute.  They gave a short demonstration on how they cut the plants, and roll them out, weaving the paper strips together.  They peel the papyrus.  The plant itself looks like the 'sun' in it's blossom and the stalk is 3-sided, like a pyramid side (triangle).  They they cut it into strips and hammer it out.  Then they roll and soak it for 6 days. Then they weave the strips together and press it flat for 6 more days.  I bought several, the cat, Isis with her spread wings, Nut  the goddess of the night, the geese from Tel El Amarna, birds and lotus plants, and Tutankhamun's marriage. Having fun buying gifts, a lovely t-shirt of Frank's name in a cartouche in hieroglyphs.

I especially like the personal cartouches.  We all buy lots of those. The people are very friendly.  The men love to flirt and tell stories of all the pictures.  This pleases the girls to no end. Our tourist policeman is great, so protective and has a big gun in his jacket.  On some trips we had two and they loved to try to talk to the girls in English, but all they could say was "My name is ---" and "Do you speak Arabic?". All of the tourist people are so friendly. There was a girl in the museum eating cookies and offered me one!  Not quite New York!

Naga wrote the name of the Citadel mosque of Khan el Khalil at the top of the drawing in Arabic. It was built around 700 AD. Arabic is a very foreign language for me.  I'd like to study Arabic, Hieroglyphs, and Egyptology. Dinner was in the fancy restaurnat that night - but it was buffet and I think the shrimp was bad because I woke up deathly ill. Beware Egyptian buffets.

To Day 4

To Photos