9/7/12: Day 8, Cairo

I awoke to a vision of a pyramid and palm trees transferred directly from my dreams -- this was the view from my hotel room at the Mena House.

We then took a drive to Maadi, which is where Mohamed was born.  It is a surprisingly lush sanctuary that is only 25 miles from the chaos of downtown Cairo.  Here is the villa where his mother's family lived.

We stopped for lunch with a view of the Nile.  These sailboats haven't changed their design much since ancient times, and are as beautiful as they are effective.  I learned that the Nile's currents run north and its winds blow south, so traveling up and down the Nile has always been relatively easy.

A trip to a mega-mall after Maadi wore me out, and I took yet another nap in the car.  When I awoke, I saw that we had arrived at Mohamed Saad's sister's apartment.  I was very happy to see Malak and Mariam again (I met them at the wedding on August 25, and saw them again when they spent the afternoon with us in El Gouna on August 26).   Malak had made a necklace, two bracelets and an anklet by hand for me; the green necklace I am wearing in the picture is made from semi-precious stones.  I was very impressed with her artistic talents -- she also paints -- and I was particularly touched that she had thought of me.  She even changed into her new galabeya just to show me, and she melted my heart with how much she wanted to share pictures and stories with me.

After spending the evening with them, we headed back to the Mena House.  I just loved this lamp!  I know that Cairo has its downsides resulting from 20 million people all clustered around the Nile, but I will really miss many parts of and many people from it.