Election Results (Cairo time)

  Cairo, Egypt
Wednesday, November 5, 2008

My iPhone is set to send me important text messages for breaking news from CNN.  I awoke this morning to the beeping sound of the iPhone at around 6am.  I immediately knew why:  we must have a new President.  I turned on CNN:  McCain had just conceded and Obama had been declared the new president-elect.  I was thrilled.  My attitude had changed; I wasn't apprehensive to be carrying a US passport anymore.  I watched Obama's acceptance speach, then within 30 minutes, the Times Digest already had printed a report on the speach it in the morning papers in Cairo!  Egyptians I encountered all day, and later Yemenis, told me how happy they were at the outcome.  Many told me that Obama's election proved to them that America truly was a democratic country.  It seems the world had become as cynical as many of us had become.  
 
I was planning to take a flight today to Istanbul, but because the weather was so nice I wanted to stay; not to mention that I wanted more time to enjoy the room.  Besides, it would be autumn weather in Istanbul.  So I took out my itinerary to call the airline to see if I could make the change.  To my shock, my flight from Cairo to Istanbul had been scheduled for Monday:  two days ago!  Oops, I missed it.  Ok, I'm awake now.  Called Lufthansa, who handles the booking for my entire ticket.  To my relief, no problem.  The flight on Thursday was available, so I decided to stay.  Catastrophe averted.

Now I could relax and enjoy the day.  I would now have the opportunity to see two pyramids outside of Giza that I had never been to before:  the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid.  These two are about 40 kilometers south of Giza are among the oldest, largest and best preserved in Egypt.  I ended up hiring the same guide that Brian and I had when we were here in June.  These two pyramids are older than the Great Pyramid at Giza by a generation or so.  The father of Cheops built these two.  The Bent Pyramid is so named because during construction, the engineers changed the slope from 54° to 43°. The Red Pyramid is believed to be the world's first successful attempt at constructing a "true" smooth-sided pyramid.  It is built at the same 43° as the top of the Bent Pyramid, so appears squat in appearance compared to the pyramids at Giza.   Because these are off the beaten path, you find yourself virtually alone on the edge of the desert.  There were just a few tourists milling about while I was there, but otherwise I was trudging around in the sand alone.
 
After the pyramids, we time warped several thousand years by visiting the Citadel in Cairo.  The Citadel was constructed by Saladin in the 12th century as defense against the crusaders occupying a commanding position above the city.  Again, the defense was unnecessary. From here there are sweeping views west over the modern city of Cairo.  From here you see many of the 1,000 minarets of all shapes, sizes and ages that pierce the sky in Cairo.   The Citadel contains two mosques:  the Mohammed Ali Mosque (named for an Egyptian king not the boxer) and the Qala'un Mosque. The Mohammed Ali Mosque was built in the mid-19th century and has become a symbol of Cairo with its multiple minarets and silver domes.  Its interior is vast and ornately decorated with lots of French influence. No wonder, as this was (and still is) the main mosque in all of Egypt.

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The Qala'un Mosque is much older.  Its interiors are much simpler yet also quite striking.  The woodcarving and inlaid marble work are remarkable.  As we walked through the Citadel, lots of Egyptians expressed their excitement with Obama's election when they discovered that I was an American.  The Citadel was full of Egyptian tourists.  This was surprising to me.  At the ancient Egyptian sites--pyramids, Luxor, etc--you don't see Egyption tourists.  Here they were in abundance.  My guide explained that their interest is more in Islamic rather than Pharonic history.  Interesting priorities.


Staying at the Four Seasons does have its perks:  it's on top of a mall that has a Zegna boutique.  Not bad, huh?  Well, I will be in Moscow at the end of my trip, and it will probably be cold (no, freezing).  So, I bought a new sweater.  Cashmere of course.  The manager, then asked me to sit and have coffee because he wanted to hear about the election.  I continued to be astounded at how eager people were to discuss Obama.

For dinner, I went to a typically Egyptian restaurant.  It is located in Zemalek, one of the islands in the Nile.  The restaurant was located in an old Egyptian mansion so it had lots of character.  (What does that mean, Carma?  old.)   The food was good but the experience was a bit odd.  You don't really sit at tables, more like a sofa and a coffee table.  So you have to bend down to eat.  The stuffed pigeon was great.  Getting there, I took a regular taxi.  The driver was a 20-something Cairene who wanted to practice his English.  Very nice guy.  He even put on English radio.  He wanted to wait for me and then take me to the airport the next morning.  I agreed, so when I got out of the cab, I didn't pay him.  I told him I'd be an hour, but when I was finished he was nowhere to be found.  I called him, he said he was at least 15 minutes away.  I told him I didn't really want to wait...no problem, he said he'd pick me up in the morning.  Cool.  Very trusting especially since he hadn't been paid. 

Tomorrow, I'll have to pay him because I really am going to Istanbul.