On our Eleventh day in Egypt, it was time to see some of the major religious sights in Cairo. The bakery at the Marriott got us off to a good start with a pastry and a cappuccino, and we piled into the van once again. Our first stop of the morning was the Citadel of
Salah ad-Din. We started by walking inside to see the
Mosque of Muhammad Ali. You've got to take your shoes off to enter, or buy some plastic booties to go over your shoes. You can set your shoes down, but with the soles turned so they're not touching the floor. The first thing you notice when you get inside, is what's missing, there are almost no chairs. We
took a seat on the floor in a circle and Yusef gave us all the information about the mosque and gave us an overview of key points of islam. The girls got to ask some questions about life as a muslim woman, and even how our guides felt about the way that women and men our treated differently in our society and theirs. We talked for a while about polygamy, and how much a man is responsible for taking care of his wife. From outside the mosque, you can see all the way across cairo to the pyramids. On our way o
ut of the citadel complex we saw a group of catholic schoolchildren visiting the mosque. When someone in our group started to take their picture they were very excited and yelled in perfect english, welcome to Egypt. it was very cute. We stopped by another mosque that somehow I managed to forget the name of, but i'll be seeing if i can match up pictures and find the name of it for you. The girls had to put on robes with hoods and enter through
a seperate door, and there was a funeral going on while we were there, so in all the excitement the name of the place completely eluded me. Being a tourist during someones funeral feels more than a little weird. Next was a trip to Coptic Cairo, and a visit to the
hanging church. We wandered through churches at a pretty rapid fire pace here, but probably the most important note is from the church of
St. Sergio (Abu Serga). There is a cave below the church where it is said the Holy Family stayed on their journey through Egypt. We also visited the church of St George, and the
Ben Ezra Synagogue, where legend has it baby Moses washed up.From there it was on to lunch, which was on a boat docked on the nile, the food wasn't that great but there was a cute little kitty outside that lived on the dock, we snuck him out a little fish in a napkin on the way out that he chomped down in a hurry. Then it was time for a trip to the Cairo museum. The items on display here are truly, truly amazing, even when you consider ho
w man of the really great works are spread out in museums across the globe. Having a tour guide was helpful, since there is so much stuff that there's no way of knowing what is important and what isn't. We had some time to wander after our tour, and W and I just tried to make sure we at least eyeballed all the exhibits, and we'd consider a trip back the next day if we thought we were really missing out. You can rest assured, if I thought I could get away with it, I would have worn out my camera in there, but there was strict adherence to the no camera policy. After the museum we sat outside and asked questions about the exhibits and then it was time for power shopping. We needed to stop fi
rst for a pick-me-up at a coffee shop, and as you're sitting there merchants stroll through frequently selling tourist goods. It's charming at first to shop over coffee, but after a while you tire of shooing away the fourth straight person hawking beaded head wear.That brings us to the final must see of any trip to Cairo, a visit to the Khan, or
Khan El Khalili. We walked around for a few minutes looking for a spoon for a friend, and before we left Rosita recomended we stop by
Gouzlan where she shopped frequently when she flew the Cairo route for TWA. We absolutely just happened to walk right up to it by accident without even trying. They
have nice things and sold in a much lower pressure situation than many of the other places. We met back at the coffee shop when we were done, and enjoyed a tasty falafel selection before heading back to the hotel. We made our usual stop in the lobby, and after such a busy day and late snack we couldn't round anyone up for dinner, so we ended up having a little room service and crashing hard.
On our Eleventh day in Egypt, it was time to see some of the major religious sights in Cairo. The bakery at the Marriott got us off to a good start with a pastry and a cappuccino, and we piled into the van once again. Our first stop of the morning was the Citadel of Salah ad-Din. We started by walking inside to see the Mosque of Muhammad Ali. You've got to take your shoes off to enter, or buy some plastic booties to go over your shoes. You can set your shoes down, but with the soles turned so they're not touching the floor. The first thing you notice when you get inside, is what's missing, there are almost no chairs. We
took a seat on the floor in a circle and Yusef gave us all the information about the mosque and gave us an overview of key points of islam. The girls got to ask some questions about life as a muslim woman, and even how our guides felt about the way that women and men our treated differently in our society and theirs. We talked for a while about polygamy, and how much a man is responsible for taking care of his wife. From outside the mosque, you can see all the way across cairo to the pyramids. On our way o
ut of the citadel complex we saw a group of catholic schoolchildren visiting the mosque. When someone in our group started to take their picture they were very excited and yelled in perfect english, welcome to Egypt. it was very cute. We stopped by another mosque that somehow I managed to forget the name of, but i'll be seeing if i can match up pictures and find the name of it for you. The girls had to put on robes with hoods and enter through 
a seperate door, and there was a funeral going on while we were there, so in all the excitement the name of the place completely eluded me. Being a tourist during someones funeral feels more than a little weird. Next was a trip to Coptic Cairo, and a visit to the hanging church. We wandered through churches at a pretty rapid fire pace here, but probably the most important note is from the church of St. Sergio (Abu Serga). There is a cave below the church where it is said the Holy Family stayed on their journey through Egypt. We also visited the church of St George, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, where legend has it baby Moses washed up.From there it was on to lunch, which was on a boat docked on the nile, the food wasn't that great but there was a cute little kitty outside that lived on the dock, we snuck him out a little fish in a napkin on the way out that he chomped down in a hurry. Then it was time for a trip to the Cairo museum. The items on display here are truly, truly amazing, even when you consider ho
w man of the really great works are spread out in museums across the globe. Having a tour guide was helpful, since there is so much stuff that there's no way of knowing what is important and what isn't. We had some time to wander after our tour, and W and I just tried to make sure we at least eyeballed all the exhibits, and we'd consider a trip back the next day if we thought we were really missing out. You can rest assured, if I thought I could get away with it, I would have worn out my camera in there, but there was strict adherence to the no camera policy. After the museum we sat outside and asked questions about the exhibits and then it was time for power shopping. We needed to stop fi
rst for a pick-me-up at a coffee shop, and as you're sitting there merchants stroll through frequently selling tourist goods. It's charming at first to shop over coffee, but after a while you tire of shooing away the fourth straight person hawking beaded head wear.That brings us to the final must see of any trip to Cairo, a visit to the Khan, or Khan El Khalili. We walked around for a few minutes looking for a spoon for a friend, and before we left Rosita recomended we stop by Gouzlan where she shopped frequently when she flew the Cairo route for TWA. We absolutely just happened to walk right up to it by accident without even trying. They 
have nice things and sold in a much lower pressure situation than many of the other places. We met back at the coffee shop when we were done, and enjoyed a tasty falafel selection before heading back to the hotel. We made our usual stop in the lobby, and after such a busy day and late snack we couldn't round anyone up for dinner, so we ended up having a little room service and crashing hard.
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