The work portion of my trip consisted of five days in Cairo, then two days in Alexandria before returning to Cairo. We stayed at the Cairo Marriott, which is on the Nile in Zemelak. The hotel used to be a palace and has a great shisha bar in the courtyard :) During the work portion of the trip, we spent most of the time in meetings but were able to visit the Egyptian Museum (several times), the Islamic Museum, the Khan El Khalili Bazaar, and we even sailed a felucca on the Nile.

A friend at work put me in touch with a fantastic travel agent in Cairo. Samy arranged absolutely everything for us. Of course, as fate would have it I woke up the first day with "the gift of the Nile". It figured, since I had been fine for the 7 days I was in Egypt on business, and now that it was time for less business I was nauseous. Determined not to let it get the best of me, we stuck to the plan.

Samy met us at the hotel in the morning and introduced us to our guide, Rafel. We spent the morning at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. I do believe the statistic that they get 3000-7000 visitors per day - the place was packed! Not sure if it was the crowds, or the stuffiness, but I was not feeling well. Rafel got me some water, which helped a little, but I needed a short nap before attempting anything else.

After a short rest at the hotel, we ventured out to Giza. I was feeling a little better, but hadn't still eaten. The drive to Giza took about a half hour - driving in Cairo is absolutely insane. The lane markers are merely decoration and there is some unintelligible system for honking to indicate "I'm not veering, so get our of my way".

We arrived at the pyramids around 2pm. Our first stop was Cheops, the biggest pyramid. We climbed up a ways for photo opportunities, then headed to the outermost spot for the best view. Thankfully, it was only in the high 70's with a nice dusty breeze. Otherwise I might have been toast. We opted to skip a long camel ride (but had to at least board one for the picture) - the "camel standing up" and "camel laying back down" was quite an ordeal. Not the most graceful animals. It was all I could do to get Andy even near one - wasn't aware of his fear of camelids (llamas and alpacas too).

After the camel caper, we visited the Solar Boat Museum (a museum housing one of the two boats found buried at the pyramids) before going to see the Sphinx. It was here that I first noticed the "other" security guards. There was visible security everywhere, but at really touristy spots there are men in suits with machine guns concealed under their jackets. I'm not complaining or anything, just hadn't noticed it before.

After seeing the Sphinx, Rafel suggested we visit a "papyrus manufacturer" or do some shopping. I really wanted to get back to the hotel, so these things didn't sound too appealing. We decided to call it an early day and head back. About a third of the way there, while stopped in traffic, I made my own little contribution to the pollution in Cairo. Yep - Andy turned to me and said "are you going to throw up?" and I said "yep, I think so." I think it was the kushari (a Cairene rice/noodle dish) from Saturday night dinner at the Marriott. Samy and Rafel felt so sorry for me! Samy pulled the car over and ran down the block - he reappeared 10 minutes later with two boxes of medicine. I was feeling much better just from throwing up. The medicine really helped - one helped too much and completely knocked me out until the next morning (we later closely read the label and saw that it is also used as a pre-surgery sedative). Samy called twice to check on me - seriously, it was like having family in Egypt the way this man looked after us.

The next morning I was much much better and we left the hotel at 4:30 am for the 6am flight to Luxor.

When we returned from Luxor, Samy greeted us at the airport. He explained that there were supposed to be demonstrations at the university, which is very close to the Khan El Khalili bazaar (which was on our agenda). I had been there on a work outing, so it was not that big of a deal to skip - steering clear of any potential demonstrations was FINE WITH US. We picked up Rafel and drove to the Citadel. The Citadel is the highest point in Cairo, and since the weather was perfect (high 70's, breezy, and clear), we were able to see the pyramids at Giza and the step pyramids at Sakkara. A very rare occurrence. We visited the Mohammad Ali Mosque and the Sultan Hassan Mosque before going to Old Cairo where we visited a church where the holy family supposedly stayed and a synagogue (which had a TON of security). We did a little shopping in Old Cairo - I was getting very good at the bargaining. We also shopped at the hotel that night, just because we had some Egyptian Pounds and it was easier to spend than to exchange them back :)

If we ever get to go again, Samy has the perfect itinerary all laid out for us (and I'm going to type it here so I don't forget it). Fly from Cairo to Abu Simbel. Tour for a few hours before going to Aswan to board a cruise ship. Cruise from Aswan to Luxor (4 days/3 nights). Fly from Luxor to Sharm El Sheik (to dive the Red Sea). From Sharm El Sheik, visit St. Catherine's Monastery, where you ride camels for two hours to arrive at the top of the mountain as the sun rises (think Moses and the 10 Commandments). Sounds nice, huh?

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