Friday night, my mother arrived at the Cairo International Airport, at 7 pm, on a Delta flight, via Air France. After months of nervous twiddling, wondering how she would dress, what she would pack, how she would handle the 20 hour flight (including layover), negotiate customs and passport control... all this excessive expenditure of nervous energy was in vain. She was smiling, happy, beautiful, and relaxed.
The only complication was really on my end, as I had the taxi driver drop me off at one terminal, only to later discover that her flight had arrived at another. After picking her up, I had to call and explain to the same driver, in arabic, to pick us up at a different airport terminal. This was slightly tedious, given my shaky language skills, but the situation was resolved within about 10 minutes of awkward chatter and several near misses.
Since then, the last two days have witnessed a consistent increase within the rate and scale of adventure. The first night consisted of nothing more than a routine stroll down the sidewalk to eat Koshari, the local egyptian pasta meal, and a leisurely meander home. After a long, deep sleep, the next day I took her on a small tour of Zamalek, my former island home in the Nile, and then dinner at my favorite Lebonese restaurant, Taboulah. Therein we met up with my girlfriend, Mallory Anne, and had a wonderful time over a variety of dishes and a glass of wine. Concluding our meal, the three of us dashed off to the city bizarre of Old Cairo, where we haggled over brightly covered scarves and extraordinary oil essences, while exploring the rich architectural labyrinth of the medieval city.
In contrast, today's adventure was entirely of a different sort. Planning to visit the pyramids of Giza and collect overnight train tickets to Luxor, our intentions were undermined by the demands of my own domestic responsibilities. This morning I awoke to discover my internet connection was cancelled, as the bill had not been paid for the last month. Needing to take care of this immediately, yet not sure of the precise location of the payment center, my mother and I made a quick stop at the AUC campus then headed toward the neighborhood of Doqqi. After wandering the neighborhood and eventually taking a taxi to the address, the payment process was no problem. However, the discontented grumbles of our stomaches demanded attention to a new objective, and we switched our sights from the Pyramids of Giza to the inviting tables of the Tobassco Cafe. Emerging an hour later, contented by fresh salads, hummus, and potatoes, we explored the nieghborhood for sometime -walking in a north eastern direction toward the area of Mohandiseen - then took another taxi to the Ramsis train station.
Initially the train station presented no complication, yet as we thoroughly explored the time tables, it became clear that leaving Luxor - and returning to Cairo - poses a sufficient difficulty, more so than escaping Cairo for the riches of the Middle Kingdom. Unable to secure train tickets for return, we adjusted our itinerary to better fit the capacity of the available resources. As the city of Alexandria is only 2 hours away, we will now visit this costal town on wed, and commit tomorrow to visiting the pyramidal sights of Saqqhara and Giza. While walking home from the train station we picked up some richly flavored deserts from a local baker, then comfortably returned to my apartment with faces of exhaustion, satisfaction, and the positive expectation of tomorrow.
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