Yesterday I woke up feeling better than the day before. Perhaps it was the massive amounts of bottled water I drank, or the less than $1 Egyptian antibiotic that I took, I don't know. Sleep may have helped as well, and I didn't get up until about noon yesterday. I decided to go to Coptic Cairo, the oldest part of the city. For those of you that don't know, "Coptic" refers to the Egyptian Coptic Church. Yes there are still Christians in Egypt, about 10% population, and the Coptic Church may very well be the first church ever. It's amazing that it still survives to this day. The first thing I saw was the Coptic Museum, which was awesome. So many artifacts from the Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods really gave me a pretty good idea what Coptic life and worship was and is like. The collection of icons was particularly impressive, but I really like icons in Eastern Christianity. My favorite thing was the bible in both the Coptic and Arabic languages, really cool to see. Oh, when I was walking in the security guard gave me a dirty look and said, "You Jewish?". I told him no and he said "Oh my Christian brother welcome!".What would he have done if I said yes?
After Coptic Cairo I met up with Marnie in Tahrir Square and explored the urban space which formed the backdrop of the revolution. There isn't much to say about it that hasn't been said, pictures say more. The exhibit about the revolution done by AUC, helmed by Sean with contribution from Marnie and others is quite inspiring and very well done.
The night ended with a Tannoura show, which is like a whirling dervish. It was amazing to see, but again not much to say. I'll upload the video to Facebook eventually.
Finally, this brings the blog to today. I did a lot and have crazy stories, and am too tired to get into all of them. But here is a brief overview. I went to the pyramids, both at Saqqara and Giza. Saqqara is older than Giza and actually the oldest pyramid in Egypt. This is also the oldest still standing stone building in the world, pretty amazing.
Then it was onto Giza. I know you've all seen a million pictures of the great pyramids. They are the only still existing wonders of the ancient world, possibly the most famous landmark on the globe. Huge tourist trap as well. But the impact that standing in front of them has really can't be recreated with a photo or description, they are simply awe inspiring. Here's a fun picture:
Most ridiculous story of the trip award goes to this though. When entering the pyramid complex tourists and locals alike are hounded by people relentlessly trying to get you to give them money. Some have things to sell, mostly crap. Others are fake guides. The most annoying are those that want to give you a photo opportunity. A guy came up to me on a camel offering me a ride....about a hundred times. He is not licensed and I would have only been able to ride that camel for about 10 minutes, but he claimed it was "no charge". I refused time and time again. So he then resorted to offering me a pose with the camel for a picture, which I again refused. This guy would not leave me a lone though! When I stopped at the third pyramid to go inside this asshole snatched my camera out of my hand and said "Yes picture, I take picture". My guide started yelling at him in Arabic to give back my camera, but he was having none of that and I was getting super pissed. Instead of giving my camera back this dude called his friend over who came up behind me, picked me up, and threw me on top of the camel. Yes, some strange Egyptian asshole lifted my fat ass off the ground and literally threw me onto a camel! The other guy took pictures, then he said "Now you have to pay me to get down". I told him I would, got down and got my camera back, and gave him 5 pounds(less than $1). It was more of an insult than not giving him anything because I knew exactly what it was worth, he wanted $20! I really wished I knew how to curse in Arabic. The pictures did turn out pretty cool though.
My day ended with a night out at a bar close to Marnie's apartment to say goodbye to the Egypterns. Thanks guys, it was a blast! Oh who am I kidding, they don't read this. Tomorrow I'm leaving the Middle East and heading home, with a long stop in London along the way. Expect a wrap up post in the near future.
After Coptic Cairo I met up with Marnie in Tahrir Square and explored the urban space which formed the backdrop of the revolution. There isn't much to say about it that hasn't been said, pictures say more. The exhibit about the revolution done by AUC, helmed by Sean with contribution from Marnie and others is quite inspiring and very well done.
The night ended with a Tannoura show, which is like a whirling dervish. It was amazing to see, but again not much to say. I'll upload the video to Facebook eventually.
Finally, this brings the blog to today. I did a lot and have crazy stories, and am too tired to get into all of them. But here is a brief overview. I went to the pyramids, both at Saqqara and Giza. Saqqara is older than Giza and actually the oldest pyramid in Egypt. This is also the oldest still standing stone building in the world, pretty amazing.
Then it was onto Giza. I know you've all seen a million pictures of the great pyramids. They are the only still existing wonders of the ancient world, possibly the most famous landmark on the globe. Huge tourist trap as well. But the impact that standing in front of them has really can't be recreated with a photo or description, they are simply awe inspiring. Here's a fun picture:
Most ridiculous story of the trip award goes to this though. When entering the pyramid complex tourists and locals alike are hounded by people relentlessly trying to get you to give them money. Some have things to sell, mostly crap. Others are fake guides. The most annoying are those that want to give you a photo opportunity. A guy came up to me on a camel offering me a ride....about a hundred times. He is not licensed and I would have only been able to ride that camel for about 10 minutes, but he claimed it was "no charge". I refused time and time again. So he then resorted to offering me a pose with the camel for a picture, which I again refused. This guy would not leave me a lone though! When I stopped at the third pyramid to go inside this asshole snatched my camera out of my hand and said "Yes picture, I take picture". My guide started yelling at him in Arabic to give back my camera, but he was having none of that and I was getting super pissed. Instead of giving my camera back this dude called his friend over who came up behind me, picked me up, and threw me on top of the camel. Yes, some strange Egyptian asshole lifted my fat ass off the ground and literally threw me onto a camel! The other guy took pictures, then he said "Now you have to pay me to get down". I told him I would, got down and got my camera back, and gave him 5 pounds(less than $1). It was more of an insult than not giving him anything because I knew exactly what it was worth, he wanted $20! I really wished I knew how to curse in Arabic. The pictures did turn out pretty cool though.
My day ended with a night out at a bar close to Marnie's apartment to say goodbye to the Egypterns. Thanks guys, it was a blast! Oh who am I kidding, they don't read this. Tomorrow I'm leaving the Middle East and heading home, with a long stop in London along the way. Expect a wrap up post in the near future.
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