Back I go... remains copyright of the author farrie, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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My evening was a it better. My brother and I went out with our cousin. My cousin, decided that we needed to get out of the house. So we were off to the club that he is a part of. Really this isn't all that fascinating because all we did was sit and talk and drink tea till the wee hours of the morning. While I was there I spent time with his wife and two daughters. And I had ice cream. I was like yay ice cream. The weather that day was just so hot. As soon as we stepped out of the ice cream store, the ice cream melted. So, instead of eating the ice cream, we were covered in it. It was an interesting site to behold. I'm a fan of ice creamy hands...but not really. Yet, before all this happened, I should say that his sister drove us over. My brother and I had to sit in her car with he three crazy kids. My brother was lucky, he managed to escape them somewhat. He sat in the front and I sat in the back with all three of them. Their mom only recently learned how to drive. So not only was she scared of driving, she didn't know how to check and see how things with her kids were going. So it made for a horrible ride. The eldest daughter of hers, is somewhat sane. She didn't really do anything. It was her younger brother and sister. Her brother decided that whenever my brother or I spoke English, he was going to say the exact same things we did. We managed to get past this really quickly by talking too fast that he couldn't get his mouth arounds the word. The youngest kid was the worst. I have never seen that much energy in any 6 year old. The kid is a monster. She sat and punched and kicked and pulled my hair and jumped around in the back seat. I finally got mad, nearly smacked her and then told her that she was really disrespectful to her aunt, which is me. All younger cousins call me aunt. Makes me feel so old. But its tolerable, they call my brother uncle. So I can deal with it. Then when we arrived at the club I run to my cousin and was like save me. And so he took me for a drive. He was like lets go see if the palace is open. It wasn't. Turns out it closes at 4:30 and it was much later then that when we decided to go. Then he was like lets go see if the Greek museum is open. So we were off to that. When we got there we were a little saddened by the news that was given to us by the guard. Turns out the mayor decided that it was time to do some major renovations on the place. So it was going to be closed for 2 years. I was very saddened. After those 2 disappointments we decided that maybe it was better if we just went to the club. So we did and sat there for hours and hours. Grand fun. Until the wind got so cold that I developed goosebumps.

On the drive home, we decided that the next day we didn't want to spend indoors. So we schemed as to what there was to do. And the plans that arose were awesome. Thus once we got home, it was off to bed so that we could get an early start the next day. Yet, that early start wasn't to be expected. THis is due to the fact that I oke up at 10:30 instead of 8:30. But really it was all good because my cousin didn't show up until noon. We left as soon as he arrived to head to our first destination of the day. It took us an hour to get there instead of twenty minutes because of traffic. But really I didn't care because we drove along the coast. Which I must say is amazing due to the wind that comes off the sea and the smell of the water. In fact I enjoyed this ride throughly that it was the only way anyone would travel while I was in the car after this moment.

After this hour long ride, I was at the citedal of Quitbay, which I was told was a palace but it really was just a defensive tower during the war. This tower was used to attack the enemy ships as they attempted to enter Alexandria. But yes, now this little citadel is longer in use and is just a tourist attraction. I'd have to say it was one of the best places I've been to so far. I think this has to do with the fact that it was empty on the inside and we got to do whatever we wanted to and not have to worry about breaking something. We spent two hours running around the citadel and looking into every little nook and cranny. It was grand fun. I don't think my cousin thought this though. This is because while we were in there my brother would run in one direction and I would go in the other. Then he would stand in the middle of the two directions that we took off in and yell I can't follow both of you at once. Another of the incidents that happened there was that I found this window that was a foot of the ground and the top was about 3 feet from the bottom part of the window. Once I found this window, I decided to sit in it and wait and see what would happen. Turns out my brother and cousin couldn't see this window from their hieght. They walked past me a few times while calling my name. After watching them walk past three times, I couldn't help but giggle. Thus, my awesome little hiding place was discovered. I was saddened by this. As we were leaving the citadel after two hours of wandering around my cousin pointed out to me that that was the longest he had ever been in that place. He said the citizens only really go for half an hour and then leave. And then he said that he was shocked about spending that much time in there. All I could tell him it was my first time being there and I had to investigate and wander around the whole thing in order to be satisfied by my visit there. In fact I probably would have stayed longer had we not had somewhere else we had to be that day.

My next stop was going to be the jewelry museum. Yet, upon arrival to this museum I was lead to disappointment. This disappoint was because just like the Greek museum they were renovating it and this renovation process was going to take even longer. This is because the Greek museum is only being renovated on the inside. While the jewelry museum is being renovated on this inside and the outside. in fact they took the walls off on the outside so the building looked like a gutted out skeleton. This caused us to have to resort to plan 'b'. I'm a fan of plan b. In fact I wanted plan b to be plan a but my brother wanted the jewelry museum. So he got what he wanted seeing as how I picked the citadel. But ultimately in the end I did get my way. I'm rather on the spoiled side. Even when it is unintentionally being spoiled.

After the disappointment of the museum being closed we left. The plan b scheme was to go to a Roman theatre that had just been excavated. along with the theatre was the gymnasium where they were taught, the bath house and the villa that was still under excavation but open to the public at certan points during the day. I was in pure heaven. I wandered around and played. We tested the acoustics of the theatre, which to me were amazing. Just being able to experience how well it was and just being able to walk through the theatre was mind blowing. I spend numerous classes just studying the architecture that finally getting to see some of it made all those hours spent studying worthwhile. Not only did I walk through the theatre I walked through the villa and the bath house. As I walked through the area, I was able to tell my cousin and brother what was happening in all the areas, what the things in the area were used for and how it was excavated. I think this is one of the few times in my life, maybe the only one, that I'll be able to use my Anthropolgy and Classics degree. I was impressed with myself.

Once we were done, after being there for 2 hours, we were off to my cousins house for a late lunch. Spent a few hours there and managed to talk to my mom for the first time in a few days. Which for me was awesome. After we were done talking and having lunch, I left and went back to the apartment to get some sleep from the long day of awesomeness. Once again on the drive home my cousin and I schemed as to what we would do next. Tragically because all the museums were closed we were very limited. But there were still more adventures to be had.

Parks, palaces and open excavations!! remains copyright of the author farrie, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It all started when I decided to go to bed my first night in Alexandria. Before I could sleep I had to take my cousin upstairs to his parents. He's only 3 and fell asleep on the couch where I was staying, seeing as how its his parents old apartment and they moved from it to the one above it. As I opened the door to leave, I found his mom and some random strange people I had never seen before. My aunt saw me and was like oh he fell asleep, put him on the couch I brought some company down. Turns out these people were visiting her upstairs and she decided that downstairs was a better place. I should say all this was going on at midnight. So, I'm running on 3 hours of sleep and had just spent 5 hours on a bus...yes I am not a happy camper at this moment. So, I told her we were going to bed and she said that was alright and walked in. I was like okay. There really was nothing I could do to stop it, seeing as how it was her old apartment I was temporarily living. Thus I had to play hostess. I made tea and coffee and such. Then I sat and listened to the people who I had never met before start to talk about me. My favorite was 'she doesn't speak Arabic so we can say whatever we want about her.' Thats when my aunt asked me where my grandma was and I answered her in flawless Arabic that she was sleeping and wasn't going to wake up till sometime in the morning. hehe..company wasn't happy with me. But I thought it was awesome. Teaches them to make assumptions like that. Anyways, these people then leave after an hour and a half of waiting for my grandma to wake up, which I said wouldn't happen till sometime in the morning. Little did I know that my rudeness and such would come back to haunt me within the next few hours.

I woke up the next morning at around 10 and was told that I was leaving at 11 to go to the library. So very exciting. So I got ready. When I got out of the shower, there standing in the living room waiting for me was one of the ladies that had been over the night before. Turns out she was taking me out for the day and showing me around the library. YIKES!! Not only was she taking me but my cousin who is three, he's adopted, was coming as was one of the first kids my uncle and aunt adopted. So my brother and I were off with the people we didn't know that well and the lady that I mocked the night before. Yes this made for a rather awkward situation. I really didn't want to get in the taxi with them but seeing as how I had no choice really, I went.

The drive to the library wasn't all the bad, just quiet. No one wanted to talk to any one for fear of either being mocked or ridiculed. So silence was the order of the day. I like to think that we were practicing for inside the library.

When we got to the library, we paid. I was shocked by this. You had to pay a fee just to walk into the library. I'm so used to walking into libraries for free that I just expect that to be the way it is no matter where I go. After we paid the entrance fee, we had to give our bags to the people in the next booth because bags are prohibited in the library. i wasn't going to leave my purse with strange people and neither was the lady I was with. So we gave it to my cousin who drove us. I took a few pounds just as a percaution and my camera and then went into the library. Yet, before we could enter, we were stopped. This was because apparently children under 6 weren't allowed in the library. So not only did we give out purses to the cab driver but we also gave the little boy to him to. Once that was done, in we went. Inside we waited for a dude to give us a tour of the place. We waited and waited and waited. Finally there was enough people. Dude spoke to us for 15 minutes and then was like tours done and walked away. The tour consisted of him telling us about the ancient library and how it burnt down. Then he told us that the new library was built on the exact same spot as the old one. Then he explained the concept behind the design which I don't really remember and then he went on to explain that it was 7 floors. With the first floor being under ground. I thought that was snazzy. Once he finished that he left us alone to wonder. As I wondered I didn't look at a single book. This was due to the fact that the library was also a museum and housed so many amazing artifacts. I kept running from one to the next being like ohh and ahh. It was grand fun. I spent 2 hours just looking at all the different things that were in there. There was a section dedicated to Alexandria through the ages and how it has changed over the years. Another was dedicated to a man who flimed a move and left everything to the library when it was built after he passed away (the building happened years after he passed away). There was section dedicated to old books, but I didn't get to see it because it cost money to get into that section. Then I went to the useum that was there. Turns out they found some stuff at the site of the library. So everything that was found at the site was out into a museum in the library once it was done. It was pretty surreal to see it all.

So my day at the library was spent looking at artifacts and not books. I learned there is a call for books for the library. They want to make it rival the old library that was there before. But what makes this call for books funny is that when they told us they wanted books from all over the world and that they hoped we would send it to them, they wouldn't tell us the address to send the books to. So I'm getting the feeling that they don't really want the books. They just want said library to be a museum and not a library as we know it. Which is fine by me. I really enjoyed seeing all the things that they found that may have belonged to the old library.

After spending 2 hours inside we decided it was time to leave. This is where we ran into a bit of a problem. This problem consisted of not having a cell phone. How were we supposed to phone the guy who drove us over and tell him we were ready to be picked up? We couldn't think of an answer to this pressing question. Thus we decided to head into the gift shop and do some shopping. Which was fine by me. Bought a few things, which I knew was overpriced because of the fact that it was a tourist stop. But really it was to hard to resist. After we bought the things we still had the problem of getting home. But really it wasn't as pressing as we thought it would be. So, we decided that we would wonder around outside the library for a bit. We walked around and investigated what was going on outside. Once we finished that we decided that we would walk to the street where we were dropped off just to see what was going on there. After we walked a block, we saw my cousin who wasn't allowed in because he was too young. Then we looked up and there was the dude who drove us. He had decided that he would park the car after driving around for an hour just in case we decided to come out early. So we were saved and went home. Tha was the end of the advnture of how am I supposed to get home. YAY I was saved!!

When we got home, I was bombarded by family that I hadn't seen in 10 years. i was awesome. Some even stayed the night. But yes that was the events of my library day. It was the end of my adventures for that day. Which was nice. we sat and waced the beach, the sun set over the ocean and the people walk along the coast. I must say it was awesome.

To read or not to read..... remains copyright of the author farrie, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We arrived at the terminal an hour before the bus was supposed to even arrive. If I had known it was only a 2 minute drive from my house I would have left a lot later and slept in for a bit longer. But what can you do. While I waited for the bus, I watched the men renovate the terminal for almost an hour. Which pretty much means I watched paint dry. Yay for me! But yes, the bus finally arrived. It looked exactly like the greyhound that we have. Not only did it look like it the symbol that was on it was a warped looking greyhound. Its funny. Tragically, I didn't get a picture of this awesomeness, my camera battery was dead. You'd think I'd check and see the battery power before I use it next. But yes, we boarded the bus and were off. Or at least thats what I thought we were going to be doing....

Turns out the bus likes to take the scenic route out of the city. A ride that should have only take 20 minutes turned into a ride that took two and a half hours to make. Seriously, longest bus ride of my life, or so it seemed. The bus driver literally drove me around the city of Cairo. I left the area I'm staying in and then went to one side so that we can go to another bus terminal. Then I went back to the main terminal, which meant driving through the area I'm staying in again. Then we left the main terminal again and went to a sub terminal. From there to another subterminal. And then to another. At each terminal we dropped people off and picked people up. Some people were using the bus as a taxi service to get around the city. So nearly three hours later I was on my way finally. Tragically, I wasn't going to get there when I was supposed to. The bus driver decided to drive under the speed limit. Which made it odd because normally if a driver is going to ignore the speed limit, they do it to in order to speed which is normal. Not this driving slower thing that was going on with the bus I was on. So this driver turned a one and a half hour drive into a 2 and a half hour drive. So, I wasn't a happy camper for that ride. I spent all that time sitting on a bus that wasn't air coniditioned and was driving through the desert. It was practically impossible to breathe on the bus but I some how managed to do it. I also somehow managed to fall asleep in the bus. I was shocked. It was so stuffy and warm. I thought the ride would never end. But it did. Thank heavens for that.

When I arrived at the terminal in Alexandria, my uncle was there waiting. Well he's really my mom's uncle. He waitied for me at the terminal and then let me stay in his empty apartment, which is way bigger then the apartment that I'm staying in in Cairo. Butyes at the terminal, while we were loading the car with all the luggage, I was bombarded by a dude who saw the Canadian flag on my luggage. He was like ohh Canada. And then my brother opened his mouth about my having Canadian money in my bag and he attacked me and was like can I have something. Tragically my uncle didn't save me in time. I finally got frustrated with the man and gave him a loonie. Grr...

Then we drove off to the apartment. We drove along the beach. It was such an amazing site to see. And the breeze off the beach was so very welcome, especially after the drive on the bus through the desert. I was happy that drive was over. We got to the apartment a half hour after getting off the bus because the terminal is outside of the city. When we got there the first thing we did was run onto the balcony and enjoy the wind and view of the beach and sea. We spent the evening sitting there and visiting with my uncle and his wife. We also got to meet my uncles new adopted son. He always has a new one for me to see. This little one is now three and is nicknamed cookie. That is the name of my cat. You have no idea how hard it was to call him that without laughing or being like here kitty kitty kitty. My grandma realized that my brother and I had taken to calling him by his given name of karim. And she told everyone what was going on.

But yes, we had finally arrived and were exhausted from the heat and the long drive. So happy to have finally arrived because it meant that we could finally sleep. Which we did. Yay for sleep!!

And we're off.... remains copyright of the author farrie, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So I decided to go out and buy some carpets. Its chearper to buy Egyptian/Persian carpets from here then it is from Edmonton. Thus once I made the decision to go out my family was all for it. Thus, we were off. My uncle, my mom's brother, took my aunt, my mom's sister, and I. My brother was supposed to come buthe wasn't ready by the time we were and he was still eating breakfast. So we left him behind. We climbed into the cab, my uncle is a cab driver. And he took us to this random place. This place was all duty free and everything had a crazy discount. But I'm jumping ahead of myself. As my uncle was driving to this random place all was going well with the driving. It was crazy as normal. The lines on the road mean nothing. I think they are just decoration. There are no trafiic rules. Maximum speed is as fast as you want to go. Its pretty scary at times. But remarkably you still feel safe. Which really shouldn't be the case since you don't wear seatbelts. Anyways, we got half way to our destination when it happened. Thats right I was in a car accident. Some dude rear ended the car I was in. It took us 5 minutes to get the car that hit us disengaged from the back of taxi. The disengaging process consisted of us driving forward and the car that was stuck driving backwards until he became unstuck. Once he was unstuck we just drove away. There was no exchanging of words or insurance companies. Just a wave and you were on your way again. It was a surreal experience. After that I bought my carpets and some knives then was on my way home again. Thats an adventure I'd like to not have again.

Then the next day, I spent it with some of my dad's side of the family. They fed me fish that was BBQ. Mmmm...fish. It was so good. Seriously, I think I'm gonna miss that the most when I come home. But I keep forgetting how large my dad's side of the family is. I only saw 1/8 of them yesterday. So I'm gonna go to Alexandria on Saturday and then visit them when I get back after being there for a week. I'm excited for the leaving of Cairo. I need a change of scenery.

Crash, Boom, Bash remains copyright of the author farrie, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Today was interesting. I enjoyed it so much. I went and spent the day with my mom's brother and his family. Visiting with them is so relaxing and funny. I enjoy it so much. He's also the uncle that been taking me around and showing me the highlights of the city. Anyways, we went to his house early in the morning and had breakfast with them. Seriously, the best breakfast ever. At least it felt like it. My brother and I haven't been eating all that well at my mom's sisters place. Due to the fact that she can't cook and orders out always. Anyways, breakfast was traditional Egyptian food. And it tasted almost as good as my mom's cooking. Then after breakfast was visiting time and planning time as well. We planned what we would be doing for the rest of the day. It was nice just being able to relax and not feel like I was being pressured into having to say something. By the time we finished planning it was lunch time. Time sure flew with them. Lunch was also yummy. I'd share but I don't know the names of the food in English and if I did it would be gross and no one would talk to me again after know the things I eat. But yes moving on....After we ate that, I got jello. I haven't eaten jello in years. Gotta love those allergic reactions. But yes, I ate alot of jello. I think I'm over any jello cravings I may have had. Then after my jello craze, I fixed their internet. They have dial up. I forgot how slow it was. Not looking forward to having to go and put a program on to it. After that we were off. We took the metro again and ended up at the Nile. So much fun. We got to ride on a boat for a bit. Then walked across the bridge a few times. Grabbed something to drink and then sat in a park just enjoying the view. Before I knew it, it was 11 at night. So it was off to my aunt's place again. While on the train my brother tried jumping some guy. When we got over the apologizing to the man we asked why he did that. Turns out the man was trying to take my picture with his cell phone. So I gave the man the evil eye and got off the train. But tragically it wasn't all the sauve of a evil eye because man had a monsterous unibrow and I laughed. I'm horrible person but it couldn't have been helped the unibrow was too funny. Got home and talked to my mom for a bit. Made my cousin mad at me because everyone was telling her she should be more like me when it comes to school. Also,because her boy wasn't allowed to come with us to Alexandria when we went and a million other things that apparently happened during the day. Its been determined that she is just jealous of me and way to spoiled.

But that is my day. Hopefully the internet resolves itself soon. And I really need to have me some more adventures. Alexandria is next on the list of things to do. Then when I get back, I'm off to the pyramids for the day. I'm so excited for that. I got to see that stuff that was inside of them now I actually get to see them. Yay!!!

Water water every where and not a drop to drink... remains copyright of the author farrie, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I've been sick the last few days. Due to the food being strange. This has limited my going out and adventuring alot seeing as how for almost a week I was living in the bathroom of my aunt' apartment. To make it even better, my brother had the same thing I did. So we had to share said washroom. So it always worked out that we would need to use it at the same time. This meant that one of us had to wait while the other was in there. That person who did the waiting was me. I'm going to say that the waiting made me get better faster. He's still sick and I'm not. Wooohooo!!!!

So once I was better I was out of the house. First on the list was to visit one of my favorite places here. Its a rather dreamy place. This place is a bakery called Venice Bakery. My mom grew up dowm the street from this place and went there everyday for breakfast. And it was/is tradition for me to get breakfast from there when I'm here. Tragically I can't go everyday. So, I buy enough to last me a week and make it a weekly adventure. It smells so good inside this place. Not only does it smell good, you get to try everything that makes the place smell so yummy. So as you are standing around the people who work there give you a piece of everything. I know its a marketing thing and it works becaues I can't pass up free food. Especially good free food. So, when I went there I made sure that I hadn't eaten anything before hand. And had bakery food for lunch. Yum...

Then it wa off to my second favorite place which was just across the street. Itwas another bakery. Not a bakery of breads and such but a bakery of sweets that are traditional to here. Sadly, I didn't have any of that stuff. I had ice cream. But its not like the ice cream like in Canada. Its made from homemade yogurt. It was awesome. After that it was off to home for me. Where I spent the rest of my Friday.

Saturday I was hoping would be a home day. My cousin had a final that day. We were planning on going to the bazaar street in the early evening with her boy. Tragically boy was late and we didn't want to go but went anyways. We left the house at 9:30pm. Boy was an hour and a half late. Then he promptly got lost on the way there. What should have been a 25 minute drive turned into 2 hours because he didn't know the way. Then he went to find a friend to help him find the place, his friend didn't know the way either. Joy....When we got there we went to a little cafe and had something cold to drink. Which turned my stomach a bit. We sat there for an hour then it was off to home. While we were sitting there enjoying our drinks, people were coming up to us trying to sell some stuff or to jut plain beg for money. Things they were selling were small packets of klennex, necklaces, wallets, henna tattoos and bongs. It was funny. One lady came by with her daughter and put peanuts on our table and then proceeded to beg for money. This lady was a professional begger you could tell because she brought her daughter and was milking it for all it was worth. But you could see under her beggar clothes some jewllery that she was wearing. It was funny. Anyways, as we were sitting there, she got her daughter to blow kisses. First to my brother then to me then to the boy and the friend he had went to to ask for directions. Then the kid came back to me and wouldn't stop. We all thought it was funny and gave the lady 1 pound, which is alot here. My brother on the other had gave her 10. He didn't realize the mistake he made. Because beggars here talk. So the lady left, told all the other beggars and they all proceeded to come. We were bombarded. Not fun. Took us an hour just to extract ourselves from the cafe. My brother got a talking to from me. And then this part made me mad, my cousins boy and his friend decided that they needed to do this as well. So once they were done, I was like punks he knows already. Then I told boy he was taking us home because he was really rude and disrespectful to people that he had just met. Took the boy an hour to find the way home. As you can tell I am not impressed with this boy. My cousin wants to marry him. She's 19 and he's 21. She's changes her personality when she' with him to something she's not. It drives me up the wall. He is horrible to her. He get frustrated when she forgets something, or when she doesn't understand something he's talking about. I seriously must have driven him up the wall with my broken arabic. Anyways, after the night was over my aunt asked me what I thought of said boy so I told her. She was happy that I told her what I thought and she's hoping my cousin will grow up and realize that the first boy who looks at her doesn't really mean its the guy she's going to marry. My grandma on the other hand thinks he's a gift from God and happy that he wants to marry my cousin. I'm hoping for the growing up part myself.

Sunday was a day with my uncle. Went to his house for the afternoon and had lunch. His granddaughter fell in love with me. They were all shocked by such a thing. She normally doens't take to anyone who isn't her mother. But she was all over me. This made my grandma realize that I attract kids well because my other cousin did the same thing. My grandma got made at me for studying forensics and said I should get a job with children. Anyways, I left my uncles house practically after I ate. There were multiple reasons for this. One, aunt's husband was leaving for Saudi Arabia and I wante to say bye to him. Two, my mom was gonna call in 15 minutes. And three, I don't like my uncle's wife or his eldest daughter overly much. They both insist on laughing at my broken accented Arabic. Which I find annoying because it is difficult for me to make sene sometimes and when you laugh it makes things worse. So I pulled an eat an run thingy. I'll get to see my uncle again on Sunday. I'm excited for that.

Today was another adventure filled day. I rode a micro bus, then the metro so as to get to the Museum. I got to see mummies today. So much fun. Tragically no pictures. I seriously think the police here are thinking that I am going to blow something up. THey took my camera away from me this time. Gave my a number and said I could pick it up on my way out. Sad because there was so much cool stuff inside and so many things that we did that were picture worthy. Like my coffin climbing. I took a nap in a coffin. It was so hard not to. Probably one of the more comfortable places that I have fallen asleep too. Ohhh I forgot to mention. It only cost me 2 Egyptian pounds to get in. I was able to get in for the Egyptian price. Tragic for my brother though. It cost him 50 Egyptian pound to get in. The guard said if he spoke arabic he could get in for cheap. Tragically he doesn't I was saddened by this. Here's hoping that the next place we go will be like your parents are Egyptian then so are you. But yes, I spent 5 hours in the museum and have only 2 pictures to show of it. But for all anyones knows I could have taken those 2 anywhere because they are outside. Le sigh....

Last night, I some how acquired 11 mosquito bites. One of these happen to be on the bottom of my right foot. My grandma and cousin didn't get bit once. I think because its foreign blood that the mosquito's are all like ohh something different and attacking me. My left had is swollen and there is only 2 bite on it. Not impressed at all.

Anyways, I'm out. This place is pure sketch. And the 's' doesn't work at all. I have to pound on it to make it work. So hopefully, I get internet sooner rather then later. Saturday can't come fast enough...

Of bakeries, ice cream and kisses... remains copyright of the author farrie, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I was supposed to go to bed early the night before I was to go to the palace. But, my uncle showed up at 10 at night. And well I had to visit with him because that was th first time I had seen him this trip. So I visited and then all of a sudden it was 12:30. So he left and we were hungry so we ordered food and ate. And then it was 2:00 am and then I was like bedtime. So I slept at 2:30. I had to be up at 7:30am. So five hours of sleep. Which isn't as fun as it sounds. So I woke up and went to wake my brother and cousin up. And as soon as I got them awake, they fell asleep again. So I went into my room to get my stuff and all of a sudden it was 9 am. I fell asleep and don't remember it happening. All I remember is hearing my uncles voice and running to get into the shower. once that was done, I woke my brother and cousin up again. Ate breakfast and then was off. We took a taxi there. The taxi system is different here. Instead of getting in and then charging you a fare they barter a price. So the rider offers a price after saying where they want to go and then the driver offers a counter price and then they negotiate. So my trip to the palace was 10 egyptian pounds, which is practically pennies there. So taxi's here are dirt cheap. Which is nice.

When we got there, we had to go through security and then pay and then go through security again. Anyways, while we were paying, my brother and I were told not to say anything. So my uncle paid for us to get into the palace and it cost 2 Egyptian pounds. As we were going through the second set of security checks, a lady asked me where I was from so I said Egypt, of course I said it n Arabic. She was happy, then she asked my brother. And well he just looked at her. So she asked him again and he continued to just look at her. She asked him 2 more times and as she was asking I was saying Egypt, Egypt Egypt. Finally my brother got fedup with not understanding what she was saying. He turned to me and and asked me what she was saying. That made the lady point to me and my brother and say these two aren't from Egypt. My uncle was like no they are from here they are my sister's children. Then a man came up and was like do they live here? ANd my uncle told him no we didn't. The man said they have to be living here in order to be from here and we had to go and buy a tourist priced ticket. But then the man saw that we had paid for one ticket each already and said that we only had to buy two half tickets. A tourist ticket costs 40 Egyptian pounds. So I had to pay 20 pounds for me and 20 pounds for my brother. Which isn't that bad but it is all at the same time. I was hoping to have things cheap. So, I now have to carry my citizenship papers with me. Which isn't fun because its so much paper. But if it means getting into places cheaper then so be it.

I don't really remember much about the palace. Mainly because I was practically sleep walking. All I know is that I had fun. I know this because when I look at the pictures I'm like oh man that was fun and awesome. I do remember being scared though. We walked past the jail area of the palace. And I grabbed onto the bars of one of the cells while I was talking to my cousin. I was telling him a story about how the last time I was here I walked into the cell that I was holding on to and then closed the door behind me. Which made me lock myself in the cell. And as I was telling him this story I looked into the cell really quickly and then looked back at him. This quick little look lead to my being scared. That is because there was a man in the cell. He was just sitting there. I thought he was going to jump me or something so I pulled my hand back to save myself. My being scared, scared my cousin. When we both had the courage to look again, we saw that the man wasn't a man but a mannequin. So I had a heart attack for no reason other then an over active imagination. I also remember a green dress. I went into a mosque while I was there. Apparently I was showing too much cleavage. When I went in I saw a lady who was wearing a practically no shirt. It made me sad that tourists could get away with soemthing like that. But what can you do. And I remember the dude who was follwing me around. He scared me. My cousin was gonna beat him. iI pointed him out to my uncle and he spoke to him. Turns out the man was working. He was dressed in street clothes and pretending to take in the scenery. But really he was a cop. Go figure.

But other then that I don't really remember much about the day. I had a nap. Thoguht it would make me feel better but it didn't.

What happened??? remains copyright of the author farrie, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So yeah, we went out after we picked up my cousin. we came back to the apartment so she could pick up some money from her mom so she'd have some with her for the evening. As her and I were sitting in the car, my brother and her brother went upstairs to get the money, something scary happened. we were sitting in the car and a man ran by us with a big stick. It was pure sketch. The man was cursing and running around, and his friend was holding him back. We were like oh my goodness. Then all of a sudden a man came up and jumped him from behind. There was a fight in the streets. Then this lady came along and was like go home you are nothing but a bunch of children. It was funny that it took a lady to break up a fight. Scary because it was a fight in the street and it involved sticks and belts and rocks. Once that broke up we were off to the mall again. The only reason we went was because my cousins wanted to give me a taste of home. They took my to Starbucks. Yay for coffee. That was pretty much all we did out. Then we got home and was like hmmm food. So we ordered KFC. Even more of a taste of home.

Then later that night, we were sitting upstairs watching a movie and the all of sudden we hear screaming from outside. This person has been screaming on the streets since I got here. Apparently he has been doing it for the last year. And people have been giving him money to make him go away. And well last night, everyone got fed up. So it started with some people telling him to go away. Then all off a sudden someone yelled at him for a few mintues and the man on the streets then threw himself onto the ground and started pounding his head on the street. After that when people came out to see if he was okay he took off down the street. Then the people were like come back and get your stuff. But he didn't, he sat on the corner and ried a bit. Finally he came back grabbed his stuff and the people tried to grab him. They were telling him they were going to call the police on him and send him somewhere better. But the man was like no and took off again. The man comes around at 3am and wakes everyone up. He didn't deserve what happened to him the street. But it wasn't right that he come and wake an entire street up. He hasn't come by yet today. But its only 10 pm at the moment. So we'll see. Still a few hours to go.

Tomorrow I am off to the palace of King Mohammed Ali. I'm excited.

Danger remains copyright of the author farrie, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After spending the afternoon with my uncle, my cousins decided to take me out to the mall for a bit. Just to show me how much the city has chaned since last I was here. So we went to the mall and wandered around for a bit. The mall has 8 floors. I was shocked. So I and my brother tried to take a picture of this. Then the police officer came up to us and told us to stop because it wasn't allowed. My cousins told me that they let the tourist and he only stopped us because we looked Egyptian. I laughed at this. So m brother and I went down one floor and took the picture. Then we reaized the police officer thought we were taking pictures so as to bomb the mall or something. So we laughed some more. Then it was off from there for some food. We ate some Traditional food, ie donairs. Then we decided to leave. As we were walking to the car, I decided to step on something. This someting was the water system that they use to water the grass. Anyways, I go and step on it and it breaks. My fat foot broke it and I ended up getting wet and I splashed my cousin. My other cousin laughed at me so not even five mminutes later, he steps in a giant mud puddle that formed from the grass being watered. He gets his white pants all covered in mud. Thats what happens when you laugh at me.

Then they took me out for a drive. I got to see some of the city and where my mom lived after she had been evacuated from Suez during the war. So we took pictures of that to send her.

But yes, that was the high light of my day. The water was rather refreshing in the crazy heat.

Splish splash remains copyright of the author farrie, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So it was off to board the plane. My brother had a panic attack. He thought the plane wasn't going to take off and then it would crash. He always thinks of the worst possible situations possible at the worst moment. Flight to Toronto was uneventful. As most flights are. We got there and found out our new gate. And then ran because we thought the terminal was crazy far. It was really just down a long hallway. About the length of WEM, so I wasn't a happy camper. Then I slept for 3 hours on my carry on bag. My face looked funny after that. It had the handle imprinted on it for an hour after wards. Emailed my mom while I was there. Then I boarded my flight to Milan, Italy after a 4 hour wait.

The flight to Milan was pretty interesting. The pilot had a computer that tracked the speed of the plane, 1063 km/hr, distance travelled thus far and how much was left, and where we were on the map. It was pretty interesting. Seriously the pilot was speeding. And I know this for a fact because my flight landed an hour early. It turned my 3 hour wait into a 4 hour wait. I was fine with that until I saw the airport. It was sketchville beyond beief. I felt as if I would be stabbed by a needle that was covered in AIDs if I sat on the toilet. it smelled so bad in there. Once we found the lest sketchy place in the airport my brother and I sat down for a bit and chatted with the friends we made on the flight to Milan. Then it was off to the gate. When it came time to board, there was no plane for us there. Then the panic set in. We talked to all the people who were getting the people to board the other planes and no one knew what was going on. Finally the lady who worked for Swiss air was like oh they just changed the gate a couple minutes ago. Off we ran to catch our next flight. When we got to the next gate, which was 2 floors above where we were and practically on the other side of the airport, we found out that the plane had been delayed. Sadly, they didn't tell us this. We found out about the delay when they didn't have anyone boarded at the time the plane was supposed to take off. So we waited and waited a bit. Finally they boarded us. We took off 45 minutes after we were supposed to but still made it to Cairo at the exact time we would had we left on time. Seriously, the pilots of ALITALIA like to speed.

Anyways, we landed and flew through customs. All because my uncle came and met me and my brother at the exit of the plane. He's in the police and can do such things. So there was no taking the money of the tourists for me. When we got to the place where they take you passports and stamp them, we ran into a bit of a problem. They didn't believe me when I told them that I was a citizen of Egypt. Luckly, I had my mom and dad's marriage certificate. The man though said it wouldn't work and that I'd need my mom and dad's passports. Then some lady came and smacked him and called him an idiot because the certificate worked too. I got in no problems after that. Then it was off for my luggage where I commenced praying that they would be there because they are never there when I land in Egypt. Low and behold they were there. And to make it better someone had already taken it off the tram for me and stacked them all together. I was shocked. After that I turned around and there was my uncle, aunt and tw cousins. I commenced the crying again. I hadn't seen them in 10 years.

Came to my aunts apartment and ate food. I was hungry. Plane food isn't all that grand. My uncle spent most of the evening with me. Then he had to go home to his wife. But I get to see him tomorrow. He's taking me around Cairo tomorrow.

Today, I spent the day in. Just going through all the suitcases and giving my family their gifts.

But tomorrow, shall be an adventure. Mostly becase I have no idea what I'm doing. Should be exciting.

From Edmonton to Toronto to Milan, Italy and Cairo Egypt remains copyright of the author farrie, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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