Lazy Friday, New Years Eve

Cairo, Egypt

From Weekend In Cairo

This is another thing I've been meaning to do since I came to Cairo. I've always wanted to walk along the Nile Corniche in Mounira on a Friday morning with my camera, but I've always been reluctant to do it alone. Having Gwen here was the perfect time to do a little long-awaited, less typical sightseeing in Cairo.

Friday morning is a great time for walking in Cairo, because most shops and businesses are closed, and most people are home with their families for a leisurely brunch before the mid-day sermon in the mosques. The city is as quiet as it ever becomes outside of the first days of Ramadan. There were plenty of cars out, but very few people on the sidewalks, so the usual harassment you get walking down the streets of Cairo was completely nonexistent, except for one young police recruit who very blatantly undressed me with his eyes before stopping traffic so we could cross the Corniche....

In the afternoon, we went to the Egyptian Museum. I don't know if it was because it was Friday or because of the New Years holiday, but there were relatively few people in the museum, making it slightly less overwhelming. Of course, the museum is so over-packed and enormous that it will always be overwhelming...!

In the evening, we went to Rachel's house, where her mother had made us dinner. On Wednesday, when we were invited over for dinner, Rachel told me she was on her way to the clinic to have her cold checked out. Turns out, she got to the clinic and was immediately dispatched to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy! I can't begin to imagine what it would be like to have surgery in a Jordanian hospital, let alone an Egyptian one! Lucky for her, her mother was visiting and was able to help her through it. I expected her to cancel dinner for New Years Eve, but she insisted! Here's hoping that Rachel stays out of the hospital in this new year!