Cairo is a Dirty, Old Man-city

Hey team - I arrived by plane in Cairo last evening and after much negotiation of the streets around the hostel, I eventually decided to find it and make my way to Skype for some Thanksgivings greetings home, and to bed.  I woke this morning feeling rested and eager to check out what Cairo had to offer.  Keeping things simple, I opted to tackle the 4000 some artifacts of the Egyptian Museum - some of which are labeled, some of those in English.

Truly I enjoyed it quite a bit - it is old here - everything in the museum was older than pretty much anything I've ever seen before excepting Stonehenge.  Old.  It had kind of a warehouse feel - I popped in ear phones and took a good wander while enjoying some Iron & Wine - which nicely complimented the entire array, especially the mummy room.  Which I found strangely humorous.  I am hereby on record saying that, after my long full life, I wish to be cremated.  I'd like my ashes in a semi-appropriate statuette of some kind to be hauled out at family functions c/o Jeremy Bentham.

I've no photos there, they actually scan for cameras and take them.  You get it back of course, but still.  The city itself is very dirty - mostly from smog and car pollution.  Also - crossing streets is notoriously insane - the walk signal is an animated walking figure who goes from a leisurely stroll up to a frenetic run when the traffic is coming.  As in - he is always going, regardless of the oncoming traffic.  When cars are crossing, he suggests you run.  I did take a few photos of the city which I will share here:

The street I wandered up and down looking for my hostel - pretty typical Cairo

There's an election on Sunday and there were cops EVERYWHERE

Note the running man in green

This is what I look like - the sun is HOT

I also visited the Coptic Christian site/church/zone, after having a go at the metro, which was surprisingly easy.  It took it on a whim after the museum.  The Coptic site was at a stop, along with a Greek Orthodox church - all pretty cool.  I have some photos of that as well.

The outside of the buildings were lovely - all stone carvings

The insides were also lovely - in the middle is the lectern I think

On the right is the metro, on the left is the church, in the middle are police with battle shields

Orthodox Church