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back in Cairoback in Cairo Everyone has been asking me if things feel or look any different here in Cairo after the revolution.  When I left, there were tanks in my neighborhood, a curfew, lots of gunfire, there was no internet, and Mubarak was still president.  Now, Mubarak is gone, the police are back on the streets, the tanks have rolled out,...

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from ancient to medieval in Cairofrom ancient to medieval in Cairo On Tuesday we started our day with a cab ride to Tahrir to see the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. We spent a few hours enjoying the Tutahnkamun exhibit, Akhenaten collection, and other ancient art and artifacts of Egypt. We then took a taxi to the Citadel. The views of the city were stunning. We...

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weddles in luxorweddles in luxor This past week has been a whirlwind!  After seeing some sights around Cairo with Ryan, my parents arrived and we left for Luxor.  We arrived in Luxor around midday and decided to check out Luxor Temple in the afternoon sunlight.  It was incredible.  The city of Luxor creeps right up to the edges of these ancient sites,...

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Mount SinaiMount Sinai Last weekend we went on a faculty trip to Mount Sinai.  After a 9 hour bus ride through barren, empty, desert, along the eastern coast of Egypt and across the Sinai Peninsula, we made it to Dahab where the best thing about our hotel was the coral reef meters from our room.  Another 2 hour bus ride through a forbidding...

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Unfinished ObeliskUnfinished Obelisk Once we got to Aswan and after a crazy taxi experience that entailed some serious driver rivalry, keys stolen from the ignition, a chase involving a tire iron, and a group of tourists, ahem, us, quietly unloading our luggage and finding another cab... (yeah, I know, OH EGYPT!) Anyhow once we got to Aswan, we decided...

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Mount Sinai

Category : Current Favorites, Travel & Sightseeing, Travel within Egypt

Last weekend we went on a faculty trip to Mount Sinai.  After a 9 hour bus ride through barren, empty, desert, along the eastern coast of Egypt and across the Sinai Peninsula, we made it to Dahab where the best thing about our hotel was the coral reef meters from our room.  Another 2 hour bus ride through a forbidding landscape of rocky terrain and craggy mountains and we arrived at St. Catherine’s Monastery which is located at the base of Mt. Sinai.

Climbing Mt. Sinai was an amazing experience.  We began climbing in the afternoon.  Most visitors make the journey in the middle of night, climb in the dark, and reach the peak at dawn.  While that sounds lovely and majestic, I can’t imagine how I would have kept my footing in the dark.  However, with the path ahead visible in the blinding midday sun, I can understand how climbing in the dark might have its benefits.  Regardless, the views were incredible in the afternoon sun.

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Unfinished Obelisk

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Category : Current Favorites, Family, Robin & Grandma's Visit, Travel & Sightseeing, Travel within Egypt

Once we got to Aswan and after a crazy taxi experience that entailed some serious driver rivalry, keys stolen from the ignition, a chase involving a tire iron, and a group of tourists, ahem, us, quietly unloading our luggage and finding another cab… (yeah, I know, OH EGYPT!)

Anyhow once we got to Aswan, we decided to pay a visit to the unfinished obelisk.  Let’s take a magical visit to antiquity together, shall we?

Now I know everyone experiences frustration and disappointment in life.  But please try to imagine you are working in the scorching hot desert thousands of years ago with no promise of an air conditioned home awaiting you after a hard day’s labor quarrying stone with ancient tools and no SPF.  Think about it.  You’ve just chipped and chiseled away at the granite bedrock for who knows how long.  The giant obelisk is coming along nicely, you at least have the satisfaction of knowing it is going to be the largest obelisk ever, hooray for human endeavor!  And then what’s that?  A crack?  Surely not.  And just like that, all of your hard work has to be completely abandoned.

Ugh, heartbreaking.

But at least it still attracts interest and awe thousands of years later.

Yikes.

Take a look at these chisel marks.  I can’t even  imagine how you’d quarry, hoist, and haul something like that. 

Amazing.

Pyramids to get us started

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Category : Family, My Life in Cairo, Robin & Grandma's Visit, Sightseeing in Cairo, Travel & Sightseeing

I thought I would get started catching up on posting some photos from Robin and Betty’s visit in Egypt.  While they were here, we saw the pyramids in Giza, five temples, four tombs, a whole lot of Nile, one giant museum, did some serious haggling at the Khan Al Kalili, had a few extraordinarily eventful taxi rides, and even made two apple pies.  Delightful, yes!  Busy, indeed!  So I will do my best to get caught up soon…  Here we go…

Ah, the pyramids.  Has man made anything in recent history that will be visited by millions of tourists in 4,000 years?  Anything anyone is going to marvel at? The pyramids are incredible.  If you can look past the hecklers and discarded chipsy bags and imagine what it would have been like to stumble across this place after nothing but a flat sea of desert, it is truly awe-inspiring.  Truly amazing.

Here are a few photos from our excursion…

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Portland to Cairo and back to Portland

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Category : Family, My Life in Cairo, Robin & Grandma's Visit

We had such a great time with Robin and Betty!  Here we are before the final wild taxi-ride to the airport.  Wild in that it required a total of four vehicles, one water bottle of gasoline, a good dose of confusion, and a lot of swerving and speeding.  In a way, a fitting departure that left us all thankful we’d left a little early for the airport.  Despite the misadventures, I think we all had a wonderful time!!