A Few Years......A Few Changes

Here, There, Everywhere

Some of you may have noticed some minor changes to the look of my blog over the past few weeks. After 3 years I think I have finally figured this blogging thing out. Yeah, that's right, it has been 3 years to the day that I started this blog. These last three years have brought a whole lot of memories. Here are few reminders of where the last few years have taken me:

July 2008 - Remember when I hated wearing dresses and had a buzz cut? Yeah I hardly do either.

1.) I have posted over 250 posts on this blog with well over 600 pictures.

Jan. 2009 - Explains why I spend so much time in front of my computer.

2.) I have managed to live in 5 US states but only 2 Canadian Provinces (I know that doesn't seem right but hey, it's my life). In case you have forgotten that's Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Virginia (twice in fact), Maryland and New York. And yes, I also lived in Vermont but that was before this blog so it doesn't really count. And no I never lived in DC, I just worked there......plus it isn't a state.

3.) I have set my feet on the soil of 12 different countries. Canada and The US are a given but you also have to count the Cayman Islands, England, Egypt, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland and France.

4.) I have stood in the centre of a pyramid. A life long dream. A life long dream now fulfilled.

Sept. 2008 - What do you do when you've accomplished a life long dream?

5.) I have stood in the Temple of Zeus at Ancient Olympia. Another life long dream, also fulfilled.

Nov. 2008 - You head to another country and accomplish another one.

6.) I have stood beneath the Sistine Chapel. Still takes my breath away to think about it.

7.) I went whale watching in Nova Scotia.....and I actually saw a whale.

June 2007 - Yeah it might be June but it was really cold in the Bay of Fundy.

8.) I have stood a top the CN Tower, the Empire State Building, The Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower. I got vertigo on them all.

Feb. 2007 - How I thought it was a good idea to visit the Empire State Building at night in February is beyond me. It was cold.

10.) I have felt my heart break in a foreign country and got over it by getting on a plane and heading to another one.

11.) I was sworn in as President of the United States......ok maybe not but how else do you explain this picture.

Oct 2006 - I guess the fact that this was in Philly should give it away.

12.) I have visited every Smithsonian Museum and the Louvre and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Yeah.....that's a lot of museums.

Dec. 2008 - Outside the Louvre....in Paris. What a great day.

13.) I went skiing in Austria......and I didn't break anything.

14.) I went swimming with a bunch of sting rays in the Cayman Islands.

April 2008 - Yeah I chased the sting ray. It didn't like me.

15.) I have climbed a mountain in Greece...ok there were stairs but there were a lot of them.

Nov. 2008 - Still one of my favourite places on earth. So glad I made the climb.

16.)I took my daddy to a ball game at Wrigley Field.

Aug. 2008 - Best ball game ever!!!!

17.) I have met a whole lot of strangers, some of whom I can now call friends.

Nov. 2008 - Me, Paul, Eva, Reshmi, Monica and Winston in Istanbul. What a great group. What a great city.

18.) And although sometimes they seem like strangers, no matter how far I go my friends always seem to be there when I do make it home.

Sept. 17, 2008 - Yeah this is my 28th birthday....and the beginning of what has turned out to be an amazing year.

Although I tried, it would be impossible for me to summarize the last 3 years in one little post (hence the reason why there are 250 of them). I have come so far, yet I still seem to be so far from whatever it is I'm heading towards.

But don't worry.....I'll get there eventually and I will continue to take you along for the ride.

Julie

Around Cairo...again

Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Cairo, Egypt

Well I woke up this morning not entirely sure what I was going to do. I was hoping to stay tonight with a family friend, but she ended up out in the desert (she actually works in Cairo while I only vacation here) so that was not going to work. I of course am attempting to be more spontaneous so had no Plan B. I was still hoping things would work out during the day, so thought I would check out a few more things in Cairo.

Of course I was not that organized with this either. I knew what I wanted to see but not really how to get there. Eventually I hired a guy to drive me around (through the hotel). Basically my friend Mohammed (yes that is his name), would drop me off at the door of where I was going and then pick me up at the same place after an agreed period of time and then take me to the next place. This actually turned out to be a very good idea. So for about 7 hours and $60 (Canadian) I had a private chauffeur. I did feel a little guilty as I had a 6 passenger van to myself and I watched the 12 passenger vans with 20 people in it drive by but I guess that is how it goes.

Anyway, my first stop was a the Citadel which actually is made up of a few places. Inside you will find two museums (Police National Museum and Military National Museum) and two Mosques (Mohamed Aly Mosque and the Mosque of Al Masir Mohammad Ibn Qalaun). Really they were all very interesting. I first stepped into the Mosque of Al Masir. I was dressed appropriately (long pants, shoulders covered) so there were no issues except that I forgot to take off my shoes. A lady nicely reminded me to remove them and then I could enjoy the place. Both Mosques are absolutely stunning….really more than I thought I would see.

The Mohamed Aly Mosque

This is on another Cairo hilltop. I never did find out what it was.

Looking out over Cairo. I can honestly say that this is the largest city I have ever visited. I am told the population is around 17 million however they say during the work week it is more like 25 million.

I then decided to hit the two museums. First off the Police Museum. Mainly I could only enjoy the items on display as there were not that many written descriptions in English. You could really see the progression of police in Egypt and some of the specific things they have been involved in (including Presidential assassinations and such). Lots of weapons on display as well. The Military Museum was a lot larger and written descriptions much better but two unfortunate things about this place. First, many of the rooms were closed so I missed some of the connecting info as I travelled from year to year. The second things was that I was stalked through the entire museum by two guys. At first they just wanted my phone number (I almost gave it to them…let them pay for a long distance call to Canada) but after I made it clear to them they would not be getting it I though they would go away. They did not….and they did not seem to speak English (while I was trying to explain to them to go away) however outside the museum they seemed to understand English just fine. I almost got to see if they understood knee to the groin but lucky for them they did eventually go away and disappear.

The Military Museum. It is in an old Palace.

Anyone what to know why I have issues with spelling while in Egypt? This would be exhibit a.

I then met up with Mohammed again and he drove me over to the Mosque and School of Sultan Hassan. Mohammed actually joined me here and I have learned that although as a tourist I have to pay to come in, Egyptians and Muslims get in for free (if I had lied when asked if I was Muslim I could have gotten in but I will pay the few bucks). This was also a very amazing place. It was very interesting to wander through the mosques. It gave me a must closer glimpse at a world that I know very little of and mostly from television. The tranquility and peacefulness of these places certainly gives you a different perspective and one that others should see more often.

Inside the Mosque

Once I left the mosques, Mohammed zipped us down to a totally different part of Cairo, Old Cairo and Coptic Cairo. Coptic Cairo is the Christian part of the city. As it is a tourist destination it is barricaded and all traffic in and out is watched very carefully. Once inside I was able to spend a great amount of time in the Coptic Museum. How much of the Coptic history did I maintain…not that much…it is a history I had very little pre-knowledge of so a little difficult to maintain but certainly will make for some interesting reading later. What really blew my mind were some of the items on display. Many limestone tablets, statues and sculptures from different monasteries in ancient Egypt. Of course I have no pictures because I could not take any pictures….I actually had to “check” my camera at the door before I was allowed in. There was also a huge section the textiles, which are considered the most characteristic of Coptic art. The depicted daily life, customs, beliefs and mostly used linen, wool and silk and sometimes cotton. Very well preserved considering many of these were under sand for a whole lot of years.
Also under sand for a lot of years were items from the Nag Hammadi Library. They are dated to the 4th century and are considered one of the most valuable collections of ancient text found. They provide new information about history of religion, coprology, philosophy and codicology (the study of the externals of manuscripts in codex form, the techniques of their manufacture and the history of manuscript collections). ( I learned a lot of new words in the short hour I was in this museum). They were actually found by a camel driver in 1945. I very much doubt he knew what he had discovered. There is not very much left of these old books but what is left has been very carefully preserved and so neat to see.

Part of the old Babylon Fortress

I also hit up a couple local churches including The Hanging Church. Things close up a lot earlier around here (1700 or so) so I could not see as much as I wanted to though. The Hanging Church is very famous though. It gets its name because its nave is suspended over a passage of the old Babylon Fortress.

The Hanging Church

One of the old alley ways in Coptic Egypt

A metro station in Coptic Egypt

The last stop before heading back to the hotel was the Khan El Khalily bazaar. This place was really crazy. I found myself wandering in and out of shops and up and down alley ways, thinking I was going to come back to the same place….but no, I was usually somewhere different. I did buy a few things though (my Egyptian shopping complete) including a few things I had been looking for. I also almost got myself a kitten. The little guy fit in the palm of my hand and was so cute. I probably should not have picked him up (but hey I've had all my shots so I figured it was ok). There were cats everywhere in the market (most looking pretty clean and healthy too which is not always the case in this country) but none of them were that little. I put him back though because I figured I was probably going to have a really hard time sending him back to Canada.

Once my shopping was complete Mohammed fought the traffic and I made it back to the hotel…..still with no place to stay. I checked one more time and once again confirmed that there was no room at the Inn so I had some dinner, hung out on the roof, checked some email and then had the boys drive me to the airport. They tried to charge me double the cost but I dropped a name and got it for cheaper, (see flirting with the day staff does pay off, even in Egypt). I figured it really wouldn’t be a trip if I did not sleep at the airport at least once so here I am. My flight to Sharm El Shiekh does not actually leave until 1000 but the Air Egypt guy has told me to just check in the morning and perhaps I can make the 0515 flight.

Until then I will try to grab some sleep on an airport bench. I love travelling!!

Julie

Back to Cairo

Monday, October 6, 2008
Travel to Cairo, Egypt

Well the convoy left Hurghada on time and we headed to Cairo. I can honestly say I have no memories from the trip other than attempting to sleep…..which I actually did quite well. All the night shifts I work are finally paying off as it turns out I have absolutely no problems sleeping with lots of noise or lights or whatever.


We arrived back at the Swiss Nile Inn in Cairo around 1000.Of course that is a little early to be checking in but we did it anyways. My room did not actually get cleaned until closer to 1300 (1pm) so I found some things to do to kill the time. When the time I spent online did not turn out to be long enough I went for a walk….a nice long 2 hour walk….in the heat.

One of the bridges that crosses the Nile in Cairo

Being back in Cairo was actually a treat compared to Hurghada. Much easier to walk down the streets. While a few guys may take a look, they certainly are not making comments and definitely not taking time to bug me.

The area of the city we are staying in is poverty stricken. People work and work hard because nobody is going to help them out if they don’t. Walking past the familiar carts with watermelons, kids selling different types of bread ( I actually saw one kid drop a couple, pick it back up and throw it back on the pile), the goats and cow and all that stuff. I also happened to pass a couple people selling fish on the street…live fish…in a little tub (although there were less alive on my way back to the hotel). It is still the final days of the feast, so a holiday, so there were a lot of people wandering around. I found a couple parks down by the river. I quickly realized that they were private parks and that you had to pay to spend any time there ( I took a couple pictures and then left). This is how they keep “less desirable” people out of the parks. It was very interesting to see.

The view of the Nile from one of the private parks

Of course the tour was not complete although we did have the entire afternoon to ourselves (to recover from the overnight bus ride). The group reconvened that evening to head to the Sound and Light Show at the Sphinx and Pyrmids. Although none of us really had high expectations for the show it really was more sound than lights (we had hoped for a couple lasers or something). It gave a good run down of Egyption history but as expected was really corny.

One of the pyramids....all lit up

After the show and heading to dinner

The night was topped off with an amazing dinner at a restaurant right down on the Nile called the Sea Horse Club. Really great food, great conversation and a great atmophere. The restaurant was pretty empty until around 2200 (10pm, right when we were getting ready to leave) as families started to pile in.

Outside the restaurant. We just thought this was fun.

The trip back to the hotel was a little sombre. It was the last few moments that the 11 of us would be spending together. We also passed a bridge being lined by people…entire familes and babies and everyone. It isn’t just the feast for the rich but for the poor as well and while they may not be able to afford the Sea Horse Club, hanging out on the bridge that crosses the Nile will do for them.

I head to sleep trying to reflect on the last 10 days and still looking forward to the next 2 months. So many thoughts in my head but mostly I need to make plans for tomorrow.

Julie

Living the Dream...in Egypt

Monday, September 29, 2008
Cairo, Giza, Egypt

Yeah that's right, I am hanging out with a pyramid.

Well today was an absolute dream come true. I am sure we all have one place we want to visit or one thing we want to do or one thing we want to see before we die. That one thing for me was visiting Egypt and seeing the Great Pyramid of Giza. When I landed in Cairo on Saturday I was half way to the dream. Today I completed it.

This appears to be a bus stop or some sort of gathering point in Cairo. Lots of people, lots of those little vans, lots of everything.

Let me go back to the start of the day. We had a nice early wake up call, 7am.. Ok that is not that early but earlier than a few other days. We had breakfast at the hotel and then we were off to stop number one. We met a great Egyptologist, Helo, who spent the day with us and had more information than I could even think about retaining or even writing down. She was our tour guide for the day. Our first stop was at The Egyptian Museum. How amazing this place is I cannot explain….pictures could not explain, which is good since I could not take pictures inside. If fact they will not even let you keep your camera with you. You have to check it at the door….so I simply left it on the bus. Anyway, Helo took us through the building and pointed out the most important stuff to us. The building itself is a monument so it cannot be altered. It was built in 1901 so it is not air conditioned. It was extremely hot inside but so worth it. They are preparing to build a new museum closer to the pyramids (that will be air conditioned) but who knows when that will happen. Every artifact in the building is original except for one. We cannot take pictures because the flash can damage everything and man are there some amazing things. Statues and tombs and chariots and of course mummies. Lot and lots of mummies. It was great.

The one quick shot of the museum that I got as we were driving by.

I learned a few things (well lots of things but here are a few I actually remember).
- Luxor was the original capital of Egypt but Alexander the Great moved it to Alexandria. It was eventually moved to Cairo.
- Most Egyptians live on only 6% of the land which is along the Nile River. The rest is desert.
- Egypt’s average yearly rain fall is only about 2.5 inches.
- When tombs and temples and artifacts etc. are found they can determine how old they are and what pharoh they belonged to by the cartouche. A cartouche is an oval that the pharaoh’s name would be written inside. It is an oval because there is no beginning and no end and symbolizes eternal life.
- Only pharaohs wear the striped hood so all the movies showing servants or guards wearing them are inaccurate.
- Most Egyptians felt that the after life was longer than life so that is why they prepared so much for the after life.
- When you see statues you can tell if it was a representation of their life or death by looking at the beard. Straight beard means alive, curved beard means death.
- In the past it was the women who proposed marriage to the man by presenting them with a lotus flower. It was then up to the man to accept.
- Arabic is not the original Egyptian language. Arabic was brought to Egypt with the arrival of Arabs and the religion of Islam. The original language was lost for 12 centuries. In 1822 the hieroglyphic alphabet was deciphered and original language rediscovered.
- Nefertiti, although one of the most famous Queens, never actually ruled. She was only ever a wife of a pharaoh.

One of the most extensive collections is from the Tomb of King Tutankhamen (King Tut). Some of you may have seen his name around because there is a traveling exhibit with pieces from this collection. The stuff found with him was amazing. I cannot imagine being the one to discover it. His stuff takes up almost an entire floor of the museum. There were statues and jewellery and all kinds of amazing things including the 5 sycofikis he was found in. Imagine one of those little Russian dolls, opening one layer to find a smaller one inside. He was found inside a casket made of 110kg of solid gold. It was really cool, as was his death mask.

We also learned how you can tell Egyptian mummies apart from Greek or Roman mummies. The difference was in the way they marked their dead’s faces. Greeks and Romans used a death portrait which was a picture of the person’s face painted on the rags. The Egyptians used a death mask to represent the person.

Our next stop was at……..The Pyramids. I had been able to see them from the airplane on the way in and from the roof of the hotel but really that just increased my excitement. It was almost overwhelming when we first pulled up to it and were actually standing next to the Great Pyramid of Giza. Thanks to Helo we were also able to get some information about the pyramids. Of course the first thing…..aliens did not make the pyramids…..and neither did slaves. Kings were considered gods and it was an honour to share in the making of these great temples. Kings had them built on this high plateau so that all could see the temple of the gods. Giza required around 2.3 million blocks to complete. Each block weighs about 2.5 tons. These pyramids have no foundation so required a very strong spot to be built on in order to support the weight. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest and took about 20 years to build.

The second pyramid is slightly smaller, although in many pictures it will appear larger as it is built on a higher plateau. This was the pyramid that I was allowed to enter. There is a very small stair way leading down. You cannot stand and only one person can fit at a time. Elizabeth had some trouble at first but then eventually made it in. You then stand up in a slightly higher room and walk a little ways before walking up a similar walk way to a tomb room. This pyramid has several tomb rooms but we can only enter one. I did find it a little hard to breath but not sure if it was the heat, the walk, the heavy air or just the realization that I was walking into the belly of a pyramid. UNBELIEAVABLE is all I can say. Of course I did take a few pictures while we were there.

I did the whole trying to move the pyramid thing.

And the stepping over the rope that says "keep out" to get a picture of me actually touching the Great Pyramid before the tourist police come over to kick me out.

And I of course did the ever favourite....

From there we headed up to an area where you could see all three pyramids, along with many of the smaller pyramids that would have been built for the wives. I got some great pictures from there.

Me with all three of the Giza Pyramids.

Just hanging out.

From there we headed to see one of Cairo’s most famous sites…The Sphinx.

The sphinx is the patron god of the graveyard and although you will see them all over the place, this is the most famous one for several reasons. Number one is of course its size. He truly is an amazing site. The second is because no one is sure how old he is or when or for whom we was built. There is no cartouche to be found so we can only guess. And yes I say he because the Sphinx is male….although I am sure I have always thought he was female. There is…or was a temple at the site but it has been mostly destroyed. I have been told that many people believe that the nose of the sphinx was destroyed by Napoleon’s men who used it for target practice but this is in fact not true. There are many documents that have been found depicting the noseless Sphinx long before Napoleon arrived on Egyptian soil. He really is outstanding though.

By this time I think I was very much ready for lunch. On the move since 0730 and only at 1530 (3:30pm) were we stopping for lunch. Still sitting here tonight I am amazed by what I saw today. Lunch was pretty decent. Seems that they feed us pretty good food. We have been told to avoid things like lettuce (because they are washed in water) and pasta because it is rinsed in water. We were also offered a local dish....not so sure it was a hit with any of us but we at least tried.

After lunch and before heading back to the hotel we still had one more stop. This was at the Ani Papyrus which was a store/museum that sold pictures painted on paper made in the original way. It is believed that it was the Chinese that made the first paper but it was in fact the Egyptians (or that is what they tell me….I am sure the Chinese would say something different). The paper was made out the stems of a plant that was chosen because the flower it produces looks like the sun (which the Egyptians worship) and the stem looks like a mini pyramid. The outer layer is stripped off, the inner portion is flattened with a hammer and then cut into thin strips which are soaked in water for 6 days. This reduces the amount of sugar to 10%. The strips are then laid out on a cotton pad across each other and placed in a press for another 6 days. The strips form together due to the sugar and form a very strong paper. The process is really neat. Too bad we are not here long enough to make some paper.

From there we headed back to the hotel. It was a bit of an adventure. There was a lot of traffic and the bus doesn’t seem to be able to make left turns so instead makes giant U-turns but we did eventually make it back to the hotel…..which is where I am now. The plan….to board an overnight train to Aswan and start a new day there. However, plans seem to be changing and no one is quite sure what is going on. I guess I can update tomorrow.

A final look at the end of an amazing day.

Julie