Saturday, October 10, 2009



Our first driver, Ahmed "Scooter" Bin Howdy, was apparently a novice driver and mistakenly thought it was appropriate to stay within the painted lane lines, which infuriated all the other drivers. Scooter forgot the first rule of driving in Egypt - THERE ARE NO RULES ! He was quickly replaced with Mr. Achmed, a much more professional driver who correctly interpreted "freeway" to mean, "I am free to drive any way I want." The bus apparently had the brake pedal wired to the horn. Although not as memorable as our baggage compartment bus ride in Peru, it did make Alan yearn for a plane ride, or more anti-anxiety pills? On the other hand, the machine gun toting policeman in the front seat was a comfort.Our ride to Alexandria took about 3 hours. We heard that while Egypt has oil wells, they only produce enough for their use but do sell their natural gas to four other countries.



We enjoyed the view of the Mediterranean from the Montaza Palace.  The air and view was much better here than in the Catacombs of Kom, from which Alan ran screaming like a little frightened child.  Just because we had to hunker down and head underground.  What a wiener !


Mr. Mido, our Egyptologist, gave us our first lesson in Egypt 101, which took about two hours.  If you want to know more, read a book or pay for your own tour.  We also saw the mis-named "Pillars of Pompeii". 





Our hotel.  Very nice.  Lots of foreigners !


OK, time to go party at the pool.  Yalla yalla habebe !

1 comment:

  1. I can't believe they let you get behind the wheel of the bus! That must have put the other travelers at ease! Look's like you are having fun! Come across any pumpkin patches yet? We did! :-) J

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