Thursday, April 15, 2010

Trip to Egypt Segment One

This is an adventure I was going to blog as a traveling journal in real time as it was taking place. That did not happen, even though I had written the text in advance and only had to add the pictures once I accessed the internet. Frustratingly after having bought internet time on the boat more than once I gave up the idea. They didn't have enough signal on the boat to stay connected to the internet long enough.

Our flight finally left JFK a little after midnight on Saturday November 14th for an eleven hour flight to Cairo, Egypt. We flew on a Delta plane that had us packed in the smallest seats that must exist. We were served dinner, yes dinner at one am in the morning. The flight was long and miserable. Than about what is equivalent to eight-thirty AM EST we were served a salty pizza, salad and cookies for breakfast.


Cairo was interesting to see and the Marriott Hotel were we stayed for two nights is very large. It was very interesting to see people from the Middle East, some dressed in the long robes and others in ‘Western' dress.
The many languages that can be heard catches ones attention.
 


Cairo Marriott













In the morning  (Sunday) we met our tour guide also known as the tour director who would be with us throughout the entire vacation. In the morning we went to the Citadel and Mohammed Ali  Mosque. In the afternoon we went to the Egyptian Museum. At the museum we saw the treasures of Tutankhamen, as well as many other interesting objects from Ancient Egypt.

View of Cairo from the Citadel


The Citadel




Mosque of Mohammed Ali




Interior of the Mosque of Mohammed Ali

Mosque of Sultan Hassan


One of the numerous Minarets seen throughout Cairo


                                             Cairo Tower                                                                                    

12 comments:

Baino said...

The Marrriot? Well posh! I'm very jealous. Always wanted to visit Egypt but it's not on the top of the Agenda. Paris first then . . .we'll see. Lovely pics

Mrsupole said...

Oh those are some great pictures. I am so glad that you had a nice visit and so happy that you are sharing it with us.

And the Marriot sounds great. The one thing that I do notice is that there is not a lot of greenery or tall trees. Trees need water and water must be such a scarce commidity there. I have read that when an area grows more trees that it can cool the temperature there by a few degrees. I think that I would want to have a lot of trees if I lived there.

Living in a semi-arid part of California means that we have very hot summers and I can tell the difference when I go to an area with a lot of trees. We had to cut one of our trees down because of the roots lifting up the cement in the driveway. I really could tell the difference in our heat level during the summer.

Yup, Egypt needs trees. All those countries need trees. I think a desalination water plant would also help. California needs those too. The drought will start again soon. Always a drought going on here. This years rain has been the most we have had in years. We thank God for the rain this year.

Looking forward to more pics if you want to share.

God bless.

Dakota Bear said...

Baino-yes the Cairo Marriott is very posh. Paris was at the top of my list and I have been there four times so far. Alaska and China are still on my list.

Mrsupole-Egypt is in a desert. The only greenery is along the two sides of the Nile. I agree with you about trees. You might call me a tree hugger.

Brian Miller said...

welcome back. what a pleasant surprise to get your comment...wow. these pics are amazing! what a cool trip...the view off the citadel...nice. yeah i am in the always wanted to do this crowd...

Dakota Bear said...

Brian-Thank you for stopping by. I've been around, but not writing or commenting. Expect to see more of me.

Feisty Crone said...

Lovely! Sorry about the Delta flight!

Dakota Bear said...

Gran-that flight was something else. It was like sardines in a can. It was a 2-4-2 in coach, luckily we were in the 2. Good thing I had an aisle seat, so at least I could get up when ever I wanted to with disturbing anyone. Those seats have no extra leg room and are very tight. It was 11 hours going and 12 hours coming back non stop. All you keep thinking is are we ever going to get there.

Feisty Crone said...

Reminds me of an Alaskan Airlines flight I was on, a couple of years ago. D.C. to Seattle, straight through, and we got stuck on the tarmac at RR airport because of a lightning storm.

Except I was lucky, because I got home in 5 hours.

We had a packed flight also, a guy sitting next to me was in the Navy, said he had been on transport planes that were more comfortable!

11-12 hours (:, not sure how I would have handled that!

Ruth said...

What an amazing opportunity, one of a lifetime.

Dakota Bear said...

Ruth-it was a wonder trip, far more than I expected in the wonderment of it all.

Ms. Freeman said...

It looks as exotic as I imagined. Thanks for sharing the photos :)

Dakota Bear said...

Ms Freeman-thank you for stopping by for a visit. It is more than can be imagined. Stay tune for more to come.