On our third day we visited two very old mosques in Old Cairo. It was amazing to see the architecture these people had thousands of years ago. When we went into Sultan Hasan's 14th century mosque, a man we assume is a priest, guided us into a rear chamber which housed a tomb. The priest chanted holy words to Allah. There was an amazing echo, which gave us all chills of awe as he chanted.
After our trip to the Mosques, we visited the Egyptian Museum which was extremely exciting. We saw many artifacts from the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, and what was even more exciting was seeing all of the artifacts from King Tut's tomb. I think this was the best part of our tour.
When the evening ended, we got to ride a sleeper train to Aswan until eight am the next day. It was very different. We were in a private two-person room with a wash basin, and the seats converted into bunk beds. Even though the food wasn’t very tasty, it was delivered to us by a pleasant man with a cart. He also made our beds. I felt like I was sleeping in a shoe box. I was in the upper bunk and it felt like the bed was moving. I was half asleep, half awake. I probably really only slept two hours, but it’s okay; I survived, and I was ready for our time at Aswan.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
DAY 1 : LAX TO JFK TO CAIRO by Makayla Smith
Day 1
LAX TO JFK TO CAIRO
Even though we are calling this day one, it technically counts as two. We began our journey at 4 AM at LAX, on January 7th, 2008. This New Year, for must of us, started with a journey to a new place, a new way of life, and an altogether new environment. We boarded our Delta flight to JFK and were all fast asleep. Once in New York, we took an Air Train from terminal 2 to 4. After going through security, a lot of us decided to purchase some water before the long 10 ½ hour flight….little did we know the bottles would end up costing $4.25 each! It was extremely long flight, but we made it just fine! We landed in Cairo at approximately 12:10 pm on January 8th, 2008. Right as we walked out of the airport, we were greeted by Mr. Girgis! During the twenty minutes it took to drive to the Marriot hotel, we got a taste of what Cairo has to offer. The 18 million people packed into a city right on the Nile gave it an authentic Middle Eastern “hustle and bustle” feel.
Exhausted, most of us decided to take a nap before dinner. We all met at six o’ clock in the lobby and then walked to dinner. Our restaurant, Imperial, was floating on the Nile. Mr. Girgis ordered us a variety of typical Egyptian meals….which were all outstanding! A favorite of most of the ladies was the warm pita bread. During dinner, there was live music. One man was playing an Oud, which is a large Egyptian banjo made out of wood, with four strings. After dinner, most of us walked back to the hotel because we were tired and had a long day ahead of us. As we walked back to the hotel, it was obvious how much we were all looking forward to experience this unique adventure throughout Egypt.
LAX TO JFK TO CAIRO
Even though we are calling this day one, it technically counts as two. We began our journey at 4 AM at LAX, on January 7th, 2008. This New Year, for must of us, started with a journey to a new place, a new way of life, and an altogether new environment. We boarded our Delta flight to JFK and were all fast asleep. Once in New York, we took an Air Train from terminal 2 to 4. After going through security, a lot of us decided to purchase some water before the long 10 ½ hour flight….little did we know the bottles would end up costing $4.25 each! It was extremely long flight, but we made it just fine! We landed in Cairo at approximately 12:10 pm on January 8th, 2008. Right as we walked out of the airport, we were greeted by Mr. Girgis! During the twenty minutes it took to drive to the Marriot hotel, we got a taste of what Cairo has to offer. The 18 million people packed into a city right on the Nile gave it an authentic Middle Eastern “hustle and bustle” feel.
Exhausted, most of us decided to take a nap before dinner. We all met at six o’ clock in the lobby and then walked to dinner. Our restaurant, Imperial, was floating on the Nile. Mr. Girgis ordered us a variety of typical Egyptian meals….which were all outstanding! A favorite of most of the ladies was the warm pita bread. During dinner, there was live music. One man was playing an Oud, which is a large Egyptian banjo made out of wood, with four strings. After dinner, most of us walked back to the hotel because we were tired and had a long day ahead of us. As we walked back to the hotel, it was obvious how much we were all looking forward to experience this unique adventure throughout Egypt.
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