October 19 - Wednesday

Wake up call at 6:30AM. Mena hotel grounds. Breakfast again.

On the bus for another astounding view of the people and area. On the top of many buildings is a large box like structure. It is a pigeon coop. Pigeon raising and competitions are large in Cairo. It is morning rush hour - OMG.
Extras

We are visiting the Citadel of Salah Al-din or Saladin. Also the Mosque of Muhammad Ali. It was suggested it was similar to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Nope. Not close. We didn't tour anything else here. We did get some nice views of the city and other important Mosque's. The Shah of Iran is buried in a mosque near here.

 There is a clock here, which never worked, given by King Louis Philippe of France in exchange for the obelisk of Luxor now standing in Place de la Concorde in Paris.

Another interesting bus ride to the Cairo Museum. A highlight of our trip. It is amazing. There were so many wonderful things to see that I can't possibly enumerate them. I'll include a bunch of pictures that Deb took with her special pass.
Extras

Finally we got to the King Tutankhamen exhibit. Amazing! We've seen it twice before but here they had many more things to look at, including a gold plated chariot. I was shocked at the opulence! He was buried in four large gold plated boxes then three sarcophagi and finally the familiar golden mask. No pictures inside of the display room.

Back through the mummy area and more amazing things. It never ends. They say the basement is over stuffed with stuff, much of it unidentified.

They are building the worlds largest museum to display as much as they can. It was supposed to open in 2015 but it looks like it will be longer because of the financial crises they are having from no tourists plus two revolutions. More later...

Another interesting ride and lunch. Back on the bus where I photographed a tea seller. He liked having his picture taken. He sold plastic bags of tea or something.

Another interesting drive home. Movie. A few pictures of the new museum. Traffic - Movie.

Deb's writeup is confusing. It looks like we had to have our bags out before 2AM. We put ours out before bed.