Last week.

We left for Alexandria early in the morning in our own little Van. I slept in the back after watching the scenery for a while and we got there in about 2 and a half hours. Alexandria was a very old looking city (which i think is the trend in egypt...) and has lots of tiny streets and markets. Everywhere people had goods laid out for sale from big burlap bags overflowing with just picked cotton to household goods. It was a very busy city and it took us a while to navigate through traffic that included quite a few donkey pulled carts and camels. Our first stop was an old greek tomb site. Our guid informed us that is was one of the few sites that had both greco,roman art and mythology and Egyptian. The mix was very interesting. The site was two holes that had been completely covered until this century and was only discovered when a donkeys foot slid into the ground. taking the stairs down the large wholes you enter a huge tomb complex. Tunnels ran in all directions and there were burial alcoves for dozens and dozens. there were stone rooms with hieroglyphics that were a really cool mix of egyptian and greco roman. We walked around there for a while but couldnt go down to the third level because it had flooded. After leaving that site we went to Pompei's pillar. This is a large obelisk that myth has it is where Pompei's head was placed after he was defeated in his fight with Julias caesar. It was tall and large and underneath were flooded catacombs. We were told that people swim in from the ocean through tunnels and explore underneath. After Pompei's we went to the ocean front and saw where the great lighthouse used to be. It was a huge space, no wonder it was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Right next to it there was an old fortress that sat out in the sea. We went inside and walked all around it but to be honest we were just ready to swim. That day it was just casey and I and we were looking forward to swimming in the mediterraenian. The water was an amazing blue, green and the sand was white. We were going to go to a big hotels beach where foreigners swim but it was too expensive as our guide was kind of uncomfortable taking us to an Egyptian used beach. That was our only option so we went anyway. We saw why he was a little hesitant. Almost all the women (besides 2) were in body swimsuits and some wore the full face cover in the water. After all the hassling Casey got just walking down the street she decided to just swim in a shirt and shorts. We laid out on the beach for a long time and swam some. The water was really nice and warm. After a while we met back up with our guide and headed back to Cairo. Coming back into Cairo we passed right by the Giza pyramids, which is a nice landmark to have. Because it was our last night we had signed up for one of the many options the tour offers, which was a dinner cruise on the nile. We had a few hours so we walked around the neighborhood (the syrian embassy was right next to our hotel, and has very friendly guards) then went to our rooms to change. We were going with a couple other people and we all headed out around 1030. Slowly going through the crazyiest traffic in the world, where people dont use signals, lanes or traffic lights they just honk to get the attention of whoever they are cutting off, we made it there ontime. The ship was much nicer that I expected and had strings of lights going down the sides. This part of Cairo was very nice, with all kinds of nice hotels lining the Nile. We had to wait a while and we happened to share the ship with a wedding party that was having its reception there. We were treated to the brides entrance (she wore a low cut white dress, it was explained that this was the one day in her life where she would be allowed to wear what she wanted) which had trumpets and other horns and singing and the arabic yell which I didn't know was real. It was really cool to see and they all looked like they were having a great time. Inside the ship it was full of people and very nicely laid out. Right next to us was a long table covered with deserts, salads, dips and other foods. The hot food was in the room next door. We were seated and after a while another group of four older men was added. I started talking to one and discovered that they were Iraqi. I felt a little awkward and the whole night felt like I should apologize for whats happening to his country. We talked for a little while and he was a really nice ,intelligent guy and I enjoyed talking to him. He didnt say much about Iraq except that he had a daughter that used to go to school there and that he had to send for her because it might be good there for a short period of time but it keeps getting worse and he couldnt leave her there. Sharing a table with a man who's country mine has invaded was a pretty different situation. The fact that they were all gentlemen made it easy and not awkward. Once they announced the food was ready I headed to the hot food table first. My mistake, I was a rookie. First of all I dont think they use lines here. Everyone would just cut eachother and it made it so you had to push your way forward. Not something an american is used to where cutting in line is a serious offense. When I came back from getting my hot food I saw that the entire cold food/ desert table had been wiped out. I still had a good meal . After dinner I went to the top deck and looked at Cairo as we floated down the Nile. We had some in cruise inter tainment so I headed back down. First was a bellydancer (which caused many women to remove themselves from the room) who had some crazy abs and did an ok job. She pulled some people up to dance with her, including Casey which was pretty funny. After that was a duo of a midget and a male dancer who had some traditional clothes on and did some crazy things while he spun in circles for about 15 minutes. The next morning I packed and met casey downstairs where our tour organizer was. He gave us a couple shirts and helped us get our luggage to the car. The tour went great, everything was smooth and easy. Egypt top view is what the tour company is called. Pretty inexpensive. We took the 45 minute drive to the airport and then had to wait another hour or so before we could check in. Security and airports in general go so much faster outside the US. We got on our Alitalia flight and a couple hours later were in Rome. Egypt was amazing and Im looking forward to going back. From the rome airport we took the train to the main trainstation. I was going to Florence and casey was flying to Spain so after we found our trains we parted ways. Alone again I got into florence around midnight. It was great to be back on last time. Checking my email in rome I had didcovered that the person I was supposed to stay with didnt get their place yet. I was expecting to have to sleep at the trainstation (it happens once in a while) but walked around to all the places my friends hang out at. As most people are gone already i struck out until my last stop: Space Electronica. Outside was my good friend Moe (he works as a promoter with another of our friends, youssef). He gave me his keys so I could shower and drop my stuff off (I had been carrying all my luggage around Florence). That was a life saver. I went back to space and hung out with them for a while. I stayed with Moe until I had to fly to Germany. In my last few days in Florence I did some of my favorite things like; hang out on the Duomo steps, walk around the city, have cappucino and espresso and all that good stuff. This one cafe in piazza republica is world famous for its coffee and cocktails, so i had both. I usually have cappucino there inside at the bar (much cheaper) but this time, since it was my last day. I sat outside and had a cappucino (they really are excellent) then a while later ordered a cocktail. Because it was hot out i settled on a French Mojito. When it came out it was in a very large tall glass and had a large bunch of mint stuck on top, along with strawberrys. A french mojito is champagne, rum, strawberries (mashed) then all the normal mojito ingredients. Pricey but very nice. My flight from Germany was also very quick and easy and once there I took a bus to the town scott lives in. Him and his mom met me at the bus stop and took me home. Once there I was confronted with the two bags i had him take up for me before i went to Egypt (his family drove him up from Italy) and had to figure how to combine them with the 3 bags i had with me. I think Im going to have to pay more money to get home.... The last couple days we've been walking around and enjoying Germany. I leave here the 1st.