Goodbye, Egypt!

We are leaving Egypt!  Unfortunately, our flight out of Cairo leaves at 3:15am, making our "day" (from when we got up this morning) about 46 hours long, if you consider that we arrive in Chicago at noon and won't be able to sleep until at least 9pm.  I'm excited about leaving, and while I'll miss certain parts of it (the antiquities, hanging out with the Edfu team, the cupcakes) there is one thing I won't miss.

The traffic and the driving.

This is a typical street in Zamalek, not even during rush hour:

Can you tell which cars are parked and which are trying to drive down the street?  Neither can I.  That is because double, even triple parking in the middle of a street is alarmingly common.  With no parking tickets, people tend to park wherever the want, including in the middle of the street.  Combine that with the fact that most streets in Zamalek (and much of Cairo for that matter) are one-way, and things get hairy.  Especially when people disregard the one-way street and then you have cars stuck in the middle of street without anywhere to go.  And there are also no stoplights.  Or stop signs.

My one regret, if you can call it that, is not being able to take a ride in this:

That is one of Seti First Travel's armored excursion vehicles.  For a price (I haven't a clue how much), you can go on a couple of days long trip into the desert or the Sinai.  They have armed guards because the desert isn't always safe, and they are a major luxury travel company, so you are sure to be well taken care of (and of course, safe).  Janelle and I would have loved to have done one of their treks, but with the hotel already booked for the week and us being unsure of how much it would even cost, we just fantasized about it.  I'm thinking though I want to save money and do something next year with them, maybe a trek out in the desert. 

Anyways, that's it from Egypt.  I can't wait to be home! 

Coptic Cairo

In front of one of the towers of the fort.

On Sunday, we opted to go visit Coptic Cairo.  Neither Janelle and I knew all that much about the area, except that it is adjacent (and within) the remains of Babylon, the Roman fortress.  It’s a very small, enclosed space, but we were a bit lost about where to go once we got there.  We decided to play follow the tour groups until we figured out how to get into walled area- it felt like we were going down an alley to be murdered, it was so empty (and you had to go underground to get there).  The winding “streets” reminded me a lot of an Indiana Jones flick. 

We visited two lovely churches, one of which had a wonderful woman who explained to us (for free!) the history of the church.  It was very interesting to hear what they knew about the church- it was very old so some of its history was lost.  It was dedicated to two saints, though there were portraits of many other saints.  The Coptic church is probably closest to Greek Orthodox in terms of dogma- both have lots of saints.  We weren’t able to go into the largest church- which was dedicated to St. George (the saint who killed a dragon).  It came complete with a giant light-up St. George killing a dragon.

We also wandered into the Coptic cemetery.  It was very old, and had many tombs which were very old, many over 100 years.  All were the built tomb type, like what you see in New Orleans.  Many were very beautiful, and very large.  

We also visited the Coptic Museum, which was a beautiful museum, very well done.  It was huge, and had very ornate wooden decorations in the Coptic style throughout the building.  I definitely recommend visiting it if you are in Cairo.  All in all, it was a very interesting visit, though I wish we had had a guide book!  It's the first time we had been somewhere that we didn't know much about, since neither of us specializes in the Coptic period.

Right now we are watching Armageddon on the Action Channel, while we pack.  Tonight, we leave!  We are so excited!

Zamalek Cupcake Showdown (aka I Give Myself a Stomach Ache)

As we have 4 days left in Cairo and are running out of things to do each day, today’s big plan was to taste test all three major cupcake shops in Zamalek.   That was our lunch (along with a really good mango).   Janelle and I each picked a cupcake from each place to try, and we were sure to pick something which we had not gotten there before (we’ve been to Nola’s twice, and La Poire and Crumbs once before).  We decided to judge each cupcake store based on selection as well as taste, and took into account the cupcakes we had bought there previously.

Crumbs

The Shop: Crumbs was the first stop of the day.  It’s a lovely little all white shop not far from the river, and is very clean and fairly no frills.

Selection: They have a decent selection, with interesting combinations like Raspberry White Chocolate, Strawberry Shortcake, and Date & Caramel.  Between the two of us we’ve had Raspberry White Chocolate, Date & Caramel, Red Velvet, and Chocolate Mint.

Price: All their cupcakes cost 10 pounds each (roughly $1.67).    

Presentation:  Their cupcakes are not particularly well decorated, and lack the professional polish of the other cupcake shops.  They also have minimal icing, about one centimeter thick.  Their packaging is really cute though, and very secure as it kept my cupcake perfectly upright despite being in my purse for about 20 minutes.

Taste: I had the Red Velvet today, and it was possibly the worst red velvet cupcake I have ever had.  The cake was not moist like a good red velvet, and had a grainy texture.  The only redeeming quality was the icing, which was decent.  The other day I had the Raspberry White Chocolate, which was nothing to write home about- I’m not even sure there was chocolate in it.  It tasted like a raspberry muffin with vanilla cream frosting.  Janelle thought the Date & Caramel was really good, but she said the Chocolate Mint frosting tasted like toothpaste (I had some, and I agree).  

The Verdict: The best thing about Crumbs I could say is that they have really good packaging for their cupcakes.

La Poire

The Shop:  La Poire is located on 26 July St, one of the main roads through Zamalek.  They specialize in deserts of all kinds, and their shop projects a polished, high-class image.  They have a variety of tarts, cakes, and chocolates, as well as cupcakes.  Their cupcake selection is fairly minimal (about 6 different kinds at the two shops we visited, in Maadi and Zamalek).  They keep all their deserts in refrigerators, which if you know baking, you should know that a fridge is not the best place to store a cupcake (it dries them out).

Price: Like Crumbs, all cupcakes were 10 pounds each.

Selection:  Having been to two shops with different offerings, I would say they have about 10 different types of cupcake on rotation.  We’ve tried Cookies & Cream, Fudge Sundae, Chocolate Caramel, and Chocolate.

Presentation: All of La Poire’s deserts are perfectly finished and nicely decorated, with lots of frosting.  In fact, I ended up with chocolate frosting on my nose this afternoon, as the height of the frosting was actually higher than the height of the cupcake!  My only problem with presentation is that the boxes they give you don’t hold your cupcake upright, so by the time we got ours back to the hotel, both cupcakes were upside down in their containers.

Taste: Today’s Chocolate cupcake was good, with lots of frosting, but not as moist as I would like.  However, the Cookies and Cream cupcake I had the other day was fantastic- they put pieces of Oreo cookie in the batter, and the cake of the cookie was a good chocolate, and perfectly moist.  That may be the difference between the baker in Maadi and the baker in Zamalek, or perhaps the cupcake was a bit fresher in Maadi. 

The Verdict: Definitely a very good place for cupcakes (and Janelle’s favorite), but they need to work on keeping their cupcakes moist. 

Nola’s

The Shop:  Nola’s is an adorable little shop, located just off 26 July, near La Poire.  The guys at the counter were really friendly, and explained (without asking) all the flavors of cupcakes they had available.  It also tends to be pretty busy- they seem to be doing good business.

Price: Cupcakes at Nola’s are more expensive- 11 to 14 pounds (around $1.80).

Selection:  Nola’s has the best selection- there around about 10 to 15 different kinds available each day.  Nola doesn't offer anything but cupcakes.  We’ve tried Banana Caramel, Oreo Cookies and Cream, Blueberry, Raspberry, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Presentation:  Hands down, Nola’s has the best presentation.  Each one is perfectly finished and decorated.  When I went in today they even had absolutely adorable Christmas cupcakes, including one with a snowman, one with a Christmas tree, and one with a Santa Claus face.  Other than the Santa Claus, these were actually 3-D and built up on the cupcake out of fondant. 

Taste:  Today’s Cookies and Cream was very, very good, though I would say that La Poire might have edged out Nola’s on that one type of cupcake.  Like La Poire, they bake Oreos into the batter, but they used a plain yellow cake while La Poire had a chocolate, which gave them an edge.  However, the blueberry cupcake I had the other day as fantastic, as was the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (I’m still trying to figure out how they got the cookie dough in the cake batter not to be cooked when the baked the cupcake).  Every cupcake I had from Nola’s was perfectly moist, and their frosting had the perfect amount of sweetness for me.  Janelle liked her cupcakes from there as well, and said they tasted very good, though she preferred La Poire.

The Verdict: While more expensive, Nola’s has better selection and I think overall better cupcakes.  I feel like Nola’s is the type of place where I can walk in and pick any cupcake, knowing that whatever I’ve picked will be good. 

Now, I feel like a kid who ate their entire bag of halloween candy in one sitting.   Nap time!

Mosques, Maadi & Min Statues

This morning, we took a cab off the island of Zamelek into the main city to the oldest mosque in Egypt, Ibn Tulun.  The drive* there was interesting- though the cab driver we had said he knew where the mosque was, it became clear fairly quickly he hadn’t a clue and he had to ask directions from another driver.  A few wrong turns later, we finally arrived there.  It is a really beautiful building, not as ostentatious as some of the more famous mosques (like the Mohammed Ali mosque on the Citadel).  The mosque is operated by the antiquities ministry, but is still a working mosque and is closed during prayer time.   Because it is a working mosque, we had to cover our hair and remove our shoes once we got in.  The colonnaded halls are really beautiful, with intricate carvings in the stone, and we really enjoyed walking around them and through the big courtyard.  Ibn Tulun also has the only minaret in Egypt with an external spiral staircase, and you can go up in it and get a pretty good view of the surrounding city.  You can even see all the way to the citadel and the Mohammed Ali mosque there.   

The colonnade surrounding the courtyard.

In the minaret.

Down the minaret!

After the mosque, we headed to Maadi for lunch and shopping.  Maadi is a suburb of Cairo which is where all the American and British ex-pats live.  Its nickname is “Little America”, which is apt, considering on one block we saw a Hardees, Starbucks, Burger King, Papa John’s, Little Caesar’s, Pizza Hut, and a KFC.  We went for dinner at Lucille’s, which is an American style diner with free refills on drinks, and big platters of diner type food.  I got a BBQ Beef sandwich, which was fantastic.  After lunch, I took the girls to this little shop I went to two years ago with Kat which has all kinds of neat Egypt souvenirs like alabaster bowls, statuettes, canopic jars, etc.  It is run (as far as I can tell) by this really sweet Coptic man who sits out front chilling out all day.  He just welcomes you in, and tells you to ask if you have any questions- there is actually no hassle to buy anything.  He is really sweet and brought us hand wipes to wipe our hands with as a lot of the stone objects were dusty.   Even though Tasha and Janelle swore they were done shopping, they each walked out with something.  I bought a stone mortar and pestle for the equivalent of $6.  I also bought three Min statuettes, which turned very entertaining when the old man told us the story of Min at the town of Achmim as he carefully wrapped our purchases in bubble wrap.   What I could understand of the story was this:  He told us that in the village all the men were gone fighting a war, but the women kept getting pregnant.  The men finally figured out it was a man called Min who was getting them pregnant, so they told him that he could lose his penis or an arm and a leg, and he chose the latter.  Afterwards, the women could no longer get pregnant in the village, so the men realized that that man was a god.  Once they built a statue to him (after he died?  I was unclear about this.), the women were able to go around it seven times, and after then they would get pregnant.   This story segued immediately into a story about how French women come in all the time for Min statues for their husbands.  Apparently their husbands really like the statues?

After buying cupcakes (because, why not) we took a cab back to Zamelek from Maadi (which took us three cabs before we managed to get one who would go all the way there).  There we got off at 26^th July street (one of the main streets in Zamelek) so that Tasha could go to The Body Shop.  We were just about to cross the street, when I heard someone calling my name, which was so weird because everyone who knew me was back in the States or in Luxor.  I turned, and saw that it was Hratch, our old professor and former member of the Edfu team.  He had just come from signing paperwork at the MSA, and by chance ran into us.  He took us for coffee at the Marriott hotel (super fancy, by the way- used to be a palace).  We spent the afternoon catching up with him.  All and all, we had a pretty nice day. 

*I know that people in the States complain about traffic lights and parking tickets all the time, but you have no idea how good they are to have.  In Cairo, there are no traffic lights, and it is a city of 20 million people, with tons of people driving.  There is no other word that I can use to describe driving in the city than clusterfuck.  Combine that with the fact that people park wherever they want (literally, we saw someone parked in the middle of a turnaround on a busy street), I’m amazed I got anywhere today.  

Pyramids & Catacombs

Today was our pyramid day- we headed out to Saqqara and Dahshur.  Basically, the pyramids of Giza, Saqqara, Abu Roash, and Dahshur are all one pyramid field, though the places have different names.  Saqqara and Dahshur are fairly close to each other, making them an easy trip.   The drive takes about an hour from Cairo, and can be longer if there is traffic, which is why we left around 7:30am.  Neither site had many tourists about- we saw maybe a total of 30 other tourists the whole day.  This had the advantage of us being able to get good pictures and look at things in peace, but it also meant that all the guides, guards, and people selling stuff converged upon us.  We had to pay out a decent amount in bakshish (essentially, tips) to get in and out of things, which is standard in Egypt (even to use the bathrooms at public places).

Saqqara, our first stop, was used as a burial ground for millennia- from the 1^st Dynasty through the Greco-Roman period.  The first pyramid, a step pyramid, was built there by Djoser of the 3^rd Dynasty.  Seeing the Step Pyramid finally was really cool- I’ve read so much about it but never had the chance to go.  The area around the Step Pyramid has many Old Kingdom mastaba tombs, as well as later Old Kingdom pyramids which haven’t survived the ages as well as the pyramids at Giza. 

The first pyramid!

Looking at tombs nearby the Step Pyramid (this one is Dynasty 5, I think).

We also got to see the Serapeum at Saqqara, which was probably the thing we looked forward to most, as it has been closed for several years and only reopened last month.  The Serapeum dates to the Late Period and later, and was where the Apis Bull was entombed upon his death.  The Apis bull was part of the cult of the god Ptah, and the Egyptians in the later periods went to a lot of expense and effort to provide for him (along with many other animal deities).  The Serapeum is a set of long caverns with branches off of the sides which held the burials of the bulls.  These are huge black granite sarcophagi, which must have been immensely difficult to move into the catacombs.  The caverns themselves are amazing, carved out of the rock.

The main hallway of the Serapeum.

That sarcophagus is huge! 

After Saqqara we took a short drive over to Dahshur to see the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid, both of which were built by Sneferu of the 3^rd Dynasty.  We were only able to get into the Red Pyramid, as the Bent is closed.  Getting into the pyramid is quite a climb up the exterior, and then down a long shaft into the tomb.  It’s pretty exhausting on the legs- even runners like me and Janelle were dying!  Once you make your way down, you can see the beautiful corbel vaulted hall and then climb up to the burial chamber.  It’s well worth the energy spent climbing down (and back up).   After the Red Pyramid we drove over to the Bent Pyramid just to take a few pictures (and be a bit silly). 

Unfortunately, once we returned to the hotel this afternoon we found that the hot water heater was broken for the hotel.  A cold shower is not exactly what you want when you’ve gotten all dirty climbing around pyramids all day!

Hello, Zamelek!

The view from our hotel room, of the Chinese
ambassadorial residence.

The dig season is finally over and we are finally in Cairo!  We didn’t make it to our hotel until after midnight, so we were pretty goofy tired and not really processing much until this morning.  Our hotel is in Zamelek, which is an island in the middle of the Nile.  It’s a really safe community, where the majority of the ambassadorial residences and embassies are located.   We have a great view of a few of them from our hotel room.

Chili's.  On a boat.

A lot of foreigners live here, which is great for us since pretty much no one gives us a second glance.   It’s fantastic to be able to go walk around and no one stares at you, or asks if you want a taxi, kalesh, or a boat ride.  We walked all over Zamelek today.   Our first order of business was the Chili’s.   The most important thing to know about the Chili’s is that a) there is American style food, including free refills on drinks, and b) it’s on a BOAT.  Seriously. Strangely enough, this is the only Chili's I have ever been to in my life.

After a fantastic lunch, we hit up some of our favorite shopping spots, including Nomad (jewelry and scarves), the Sudanese Refugee Center (lots of handmade house stuff and jewelry), and the Fair Trade Center.  We make a point to only buy gifts and souvenirs from places which are fair trade.  It’s nice that we can get the story behind what we buy, and we know that the money we spent supports the makers directly and that they receive a fair price for their work.  I bought a lot- two necklaces, a keychain, a wooden duck, earrings, and a magnet.  Oh, and another scarf.   I think I may have a problem getting my suitcase packed if I keep buying stuff at this rate.

Our wallets considerably emptier, we also hit up a cupcake place that was absolutely fantastic.  Nola’s Cupcakes had really interesting cupcakes, including Blueberry Buttercream and Chocolate Raspberry.  I had a Cookie Dough cupcake, which had real pieces of cookie dough and chocolate chips in the cupcake, plus in the frosting.  It was fantastic.  I suspect there will also be a trip there tomorrow.

 

Tonight’s plans include a bottle of wine (bought at the aptly named Drinkies) and dinner at a local café.   Tomorrow, Saqqara!

Na-na-na-na. Na-na-na-na. Hey, hey. Goodbye!

Well, today was our last full day of work- tomorrow we store the pottery and work gear in the temple pylon, and leave Edfu.   I've spent the last few days working extra-long days (6am to 4pm) drawing pottery for our ceramicists, since we have stopped excavating.  I like drawing because it's very zen- just you and the pot.  It can be frustrating sometimes though because of how precise we have to be and occasionally we fantasize about throwing the pot sherds or breaking the into a million tiny pieces.  At the same time, Tasha and Kat have been running around packing stuff up and doing last minute recording.  On top of that, Janelle's block yard benches were finally finished, so she had to get all the blocks on them before we left.  It's been a crazy few days!

Working hard drawing pottery.

Janelle showing off the block yard project she and Jonathan were
 working on.  The benches were completed with only
 two days to spare!

Kat making box lists of pottery, as Kiri plays with string
(the boxes have been her playground each year with us).

Now it's time to pack up the apartment and play luggage tetris with my stuff to try and make it fit into one bag.  This time tomorrow, we'll be hanging out in Luxor waiting to fly to Cairo!  Goodbye, Edfu!  See you next year!