Saturday, March 19. Clear, 18 degrees.
Today, Kamran, Samer and I went all over creation in a misguided attempt to put some pictures together for a grant that we all got to do a learning unit. Yes, it was the day of the Super Troopers.
We started off in Old Cairo [GP:Old Cairo] – where it really all began way back when. Here one can find the turrets of the original Cairo settlement, a Roman fortress that may or may not have been called Babylon. There’s a bunch of old churches there, a couple of which are associated with the Holy Family during their flight into Egypt (the Roman prefect of Judea, Harod, having had the bright idea to kill all the firstborn sons). Also, there is one of the very few remaining synagogues in the city. It’s all being restored – I didn’t recognize the area, which I remembered as being quite different from the prim, well kept area flooded by French tourists who just kept coming off of busses like the flood of Noah. (Not coincidentally, most of the churches look like an Ark, wooden timbers and all.)
We also went to the mosque of Ibn Tulun [GP:Ibn Tulun], my very favorite structure in all of Egypt (see picture). The restoration effort is almost complete, and I gotta tell you, I don’t like what they’ve done. A few cracks make the old stick out a little more. The minaret is still being restored, thus depriving me of spectacular photos from the top.
Attached to Ibn Tulun is a little museum I’ve never been into before – the Gayer-Anderson house, most famously the scene of a fight between Roger Moore as James Bond and the immortal Jaws, He Of The Silver Teeth, in the utterly forgettable film “The Spy Who Loved Me.” The museum turned out to not be so little – it’s a fully restored merchant’s home from the Mamluk era (12th – 15th century) and was fascinating. Although I did get bored with Kamran and Samer trying to one-up each other with their efforts to read the calligraphic inscriptiong in each room. The museum derives its name from a British major general who lived there in the early 20th century on condition that he leave it to the state on his death. There’s an ever so slightly creepy air to some parts of the house – he was a little *too* fascinated with his Nubian servant boys (and I do mean boys) for comfort… Amusing sidenote: The Museum was a little on the expensive side, so I produced my UT ID and convinced the ticket guard to sell me a ticket at the student rate (half price). Kamran didn’t have his, so we paid full price for him. Samer, being Egyptian, wanted to get the Egyptian price (which is LE 2, compared to LE 15 for me and LE 30 for Kamran), but didn’t have his passport or National ID Card on him, so he sang the national anthem for the ticket guy. Oh, that was funny!
After Ibn Tulun came the great restaurant search. Rania had agreed to meet us for dinner at a Kebab stand in the area of the Sayyida Zeinab shrine. We taxied over there, and it turned out to be closed. So then we got back into our cab (with a Grade A Annoying driver) and went off to restaurant choice # 2. The trip took us through parts of Cairo none of us have ever seen before, and have no interest in returning to. A chicken nearly flew into the cab at one point, and I’m not exaggerating… Restaurant # 2? Also closed. So we went off to Restaurant #3, which was open … finally … as we were starving. After dinner, Samer suggested a coffee house, and – hey, guess what? Choice # 1? Closed. Poor guy. I gave him a little grief over that one.
Anyway. I’m too tired to think analytically. Today was fun. Meeting tomorrow, last minute shopping, then … well, then it’s time to go to bed really early to get up really early to fly home. How time flies …
