One more for the Bucket List

Egypt greeted us with high 90s and sun, lots of sun. Our tour guide met us as promised and we were off to Cairo. A great guide - he filled us in on the history of the Upper and Lower Kingdom. We headed for the Giza Pyramids only to discover that the wheelchair they provided for Joe was broken. When he put his feet on the footrests, they fell to the ground. As usual, he was undeterred. This was the highlight of the cruise for him. I crawled into the Great Pyramid and had the obligatory pictures taken. The, off for a camel ride. Having a guide is a good thing. It seems culturally, that Egyptians make the most of any opportunity to get money. Of course, when you see the poverty all around it's understandable. The camel owner led me off and then turned over the rains to one of Oliver Twist's small crooks. He told me a tip of $5-10 would be appropriate. (I'd left all money in the van.) After several charming photos, he pocketed my camera. Being of sound mind, I wasn't going to argue - I'm on top of a tall camel, afterall. The guide met us when I returned and I asked he could tip the small thief and he said he would take care of it. I pointed out that my camera was in his pocket, which earned him a swat from the camel owner. Then there was face-saving ministrations.

We then checked into the hotel - a beautiful old British hotel. (Always go for 5 stars in Egypt.) They upgraded us to a room with a pyramid view. There was nothing between us and the Great Pyramid but a few palm trees and a narrow road. The view was worth every penney. Supper was meager as we were concerned about what was safe to eat and what wasn't. The sign in the bathroom saying not to ingest the tap water was our first clue. I left Joe to nap and went to the light show, which was beautiful. The next morning, after eating granola with no milk, it was off to Sakkara as well as the Alabaster Mosque built by Mohammed Ali. After a stifling visit to the Egyptian Museum, we set off for Alexandria. The state of the museum is disheartening. No air conditioning, thousands of artifacts in old glass cases, an elevator that barely works - certainly not the Smithsonian. I think a perfect setting for a third "Night in the Museum" movie.

One thing that we did notice is that (like Bangkok), everywhere we stopped, the guide simply motioned to some guys standing about and they all pitched in to lift Joe out of the van or carry his wheelchair up or down steps. Try that in Atlanta. Where did we lose sight of common courtesy? We returned safely to Alexandria after a death-defying stop in the middle of the highway because the driver was waiting for something. Another car drove up, parked in front of us (again, remember this is on a four-lane highway with no shoulder) and gave the driver a package which turned out to be a stuffed camel for me. Joe, who hates camels, was nonplussed.