** Friday, 02Jun06 ***
Yesterday, Keith had arranged with the concierge to have a tour of the City of the Living and the City of the Dead. His father had visited Egypt years ago and had gone there and said that he should go and so he did. He asked if anyone was interested and, since I am always interested in visiting cemeteries, I volunteered to go along.

This morning I met Keith in the Lobby at nine and he seemed surprised that an English-speaking driver/guide and car were not at the door. He spoke to the concierge and was introduced to a young man with a thin mustache who spoke just, barely enough English to deal with. This thin man took us outside and then made a call on a wall phone and seconds later a car pulled up and the thin man talked to the driver and we were on our tour of the City of the Living and the Dead. The only problem was the driver really didn't speak much English. But he did know how to drive so we did get to our destination, the Northern Cemetery, a vast collection of mosques, graves and homes of the living on the Eastern edge of Cairo.

The roof of an old mosque in the City of the Living and the Dead.

This thanatopolis is unlike anything else I know of. It consists of many walled enclosures, sometimes abutting, and various modest monuments covering burial sites. It also includes some very grand memorials to the dead, mosques dating back to before Columbus wore diapers. And completely undistinguished modern structures as well, mostly inhabited as the laundry hanging from windows revealed. There were shops and stores and other signs of a neighborhood as well.

Our driver, who barely spoke English, took us to the most famous mosques, some in ruins and some so grand that climbing the minaret was a wild and vertiginous emperience -- I am grateful that I have no fear of heights. The mosques that were maintained were very beautiful and possessed an impressive elegance born of proportion and well executed detail. The total amount of tipping required was modest given how nice the experience was.
Many of the people we met were genuinely friendly. I asked a lovely young Moslem woman if I could take her picture and she expressed surprise at my request but indicated that I could. I did and she didn't ask for anything. And so it went -- generally. At some points we were pestered with children who pursued us and begged for money. Odd how their English vocabulary was limited to just the words, money, dollar and pound.

The view of the eastern edge of Cairo.

After we returned to the hotel, I went to the pool and got some increasingly hot sun. Last week the pool was wonderfully refreshing because they had turned on the cooling element. When you jumped in the pool, the coolness -- dare I say, coldness? -- just invigorated you. It was so nice.

This week, the water temperature was much more moderate = temperate = dull. The breeze after you get out of the pool is what actually cools you off.

*** Saturday, 03Jun06 ***
When I got to the lobby, Paul told Than and me that he had discovered a shop that served ham -- pork ham as they call it here. We immediately agreed to begin the day with breakfast there. I ended up getting a Canadian ham and cheese omelet. It was my first pork in over two months and it was wonderful.

I had work to do so no sun time today.

*** Sunday, 04Jun06 ***
The start of our work week and the date for a planned trip to Qalyabia which is about an hour North of Cairo. The woman we met with really pulled out all the stops and treated us royally -- as everyone did. When we left she gave each of us a gift. Now my life is complete: my gift was a seven pound statue of a painted Sphynx.

*** Wednesday, 07Jun06 ***
Had dinner with Keith at McDonalds. As we were entering the hotel he remarked that he wished he knew where a McDonalds was and Paul told him I loved McD's food. I replied that I didn't love McD's food; I am addicted to it -- there is a difference. So Keith and I met in the lobby an hour later and I took him through the Metro tunnels under Tahrir Square to where exited a block from the McDs.

Keith is mostly recovered from his illness (suspiciously similar to Bob's) and was finally both hungry and able to hold food down. He ate two Big Macs with extra ketchup and some fries and a vanilla shake. I had my maintenance dose of a plain double cheese with extra salt. He really wolfed down the food, getting through his two in the time I ate mine.

I set the wake up call for 4:10 A.M. hoping to record the dawn Call to Prayer but should have set it for 4 A.M. so I missed the very beginning and failed to realize how long it goes on if you include the empty spaces. Worse yet, the mosque I can hear is pretty far from the hotel and the traffic noise mostly overwhelmed the call. When I listened to it later, I decided it wasn't worth saving and certainly not worth getting up at 4:10 A.M. The things I do for my readers.

*** Thursday, 08Jun06 ***
I went down to the lobby at 6:45 P.M. just to sit and watch a big hotel lobby in operation. I saw a blonde woman emerge from the elevator area with an expectant face, looking about for someone who was not there. Staff walked by doing their duties; security staff kept a watchful eye. The quartet of musicians in the center played the same music they played last night but at least with the same softness so conversation was easy. The Semiramis Intercontinental prides itself on being a real _International_ hotel but it has its weaknesses. A principle one is the sky high prices they charge on nearly everything. When I arrived I bought a medium tube of toothpaste and a medium can of shaving cream; the price came to $14. That ended my shopping in the hotel. I know hotel prices are higher than in stores but this is gouging.

A telephoto view of the Semiramis from the high mosque roof. Note the smog.

Another thing that gets my goat is that the housekeeping staff knock on my door to turn down the bed at 5:15 P.M. I don't want my bed turned down that early -- it just reminds me of having to go to bed as a child. When they turn your bed down they also leave a long piece of cardboard with information about you can order room service, something I never do. The idea of paying a premium for waiting for eggs that has gone cold and orange juice that has gone warm is not my idea of a luxury. As it was, I just sat enjoying the lobby and eventually went to my room to end another day in Cairo.