Alexandria

Well today was Alexandria, as in Alexander the Great. It was a pleasant relief from Cairo in that it was sunny, for one thing, warmer, and on the mediterranean and cleaner. We took a short bus ride to the train station and boarded the train for a first class train ride of 2 1/2 hours and it was delightful. Those of you who know me, know that I do LOVE train rides! This was one of the nicest we have had. The seats were big and comfortable and it was just delightful. I looked out along the Nile delta (probably more like the irrigation canals but let's just take a little poetic license here! ) and looked for the bulrushes where Moses might have been left... and it was easy to even see some places where life didn't seem that different. There were very few farm machines and almost everything was being done by hand and the ladies in their headdresses were carrying the baskets on their heads and all. It was a very interesting picture of life along the Nile. I tried to take photos and they were good for us, but probably to most people they were a little blurry....but they will remind us of what it was we were seeing and trying to capture.

We all managed to get off at the right stop (no doors that wouldn't open like on our Italy trip!) and we followed our guards with the guns to the buses for the tour. We are getting used to this and it really is an interesting way to travel! The sound of sirens and blue lights flashing doesn't make our heads turn as much as it did the first day! (By the way-forgot to tell you that yesterday our bus was hit by a car! None of us even felt it but the bus driver stopped the bus on the middle of the 4 lane highway in middle of Cairo and got off with the guards and checked the bus-the lady in the red car had driven on off! It knocked off a plastic light and scratched up the side of the bus -oh well. A little excitement for the day) The first place we visited was the roman theatre ruins which were really pretty intact. It was not as big and impressive as some we have visited but are the best in Egypt and was very neat at the same time. They are excavating and have found villas and bathtubs and other things as they are uncovering things as they go. Then we went to the new Alexandria library that they have built. We had a guided tour there but Jim and I opted out of that after about 5 minutes as it is very beautiful and modern and you could see it by looking from where we were and we didn't want to stand and listen to that! So we went and looked at the views of the Mediterranean and went and got a snack a the cafe and enjoyed ourselves for that time! Then we drove to hotel next to the king's palace for lunch. It was surrounded by beautiful gardens and was really lovely. We had a view overlooking the water and really enjoyed that. Then we went for a stop on the gardens and walked down to the gardens and the beach. The last stop was at the spot wherelighthouse that was one of the original seven wonders of the ancient world once stood. Now there is a fortress there and mainly there is a large horde of vendors! lol.

It was a long drive back to the hotel -like 4 hours. It was a fun day but compared to the pyramids....well, nothing that exciting!!

Some interesting things about the trip in general. First of all, there are basically 3 groups of us together. That has happened before for riverboat trips. We will all be on the riverboat down the Nile together starting on Friday. But usually when that happens, they divide us into 3 groups, we each have a program director and we stay totally in our groups to do all tours and we rarely mingle. Not so on this trip. We are color coded and we are the red group and our PD is named Hisham, but for our flights, we intermingle and all 3 buses travel together-imagine restroom stops....lunch stops, etc. And it has in general been much more chaotic we have felt. We are in the Z tower while the buses always leave from the G towers and all the info is posted in the G tower. All the rooms seem to the be same except for location and view and we have one of the parking lot. Another Inner Circle couple looks over the trash cans. While some of the first timers are looking over the gardens. That seems a bit out of the ordinary. Hisham is nice and efficient but doesn't have much sense of humor. Mohammed on the other hand, seems to give his group more detailed info. This is all based on the first 3 days so who knows, it may change but so far he is not on the upper list of our PD favorites nor is he down there with our very worst. It is all subject to change. lol. I've had to pretty well take care of myself with the garlic and onion thing but so far I have so that is ok. They do use it a lot in the foods. The meals have been buffet which has been hard to manage so I have eaten lightly so far which is fine. I have not gone hungry.

All in all, it is great fun and we like the group-we are just having a bit more trouble in learning names and all because of the large group mentality. I think it will actually be easier on the ship but then the trip will be half over!

It is late so I will close. Thanks for the comments! Those and emails are fun to read!