First Day in Cairo

The first day in a new country is always a little disconcerting.  Jet lag, new foods, new sights, new sounds.  Instead of using this condition as an excuse to hang out at the hotel to recover from jet lag, we decided to get a little preview of Cairo on our own.  Tomorrow we begin our tour of Egypt with Road Scholar.

With the help of the doorman at our hotel, we hired a taxi to take us to downtown Cairo.  It is about an hour drive through hair raising traffic.  The driver let us off at the Egyptian Museum.  We all agreed to meet in four hours for the drive back to the hotel.  Before he would leave us, our driver made us promise not to talk to strangers, be careful in the traffic and do not agree to "go shopping" with anyone.  We followed all that advice, although we spoke to a few strangers.  Interestingly enough, these strangers wanted to take us "shopping."  We didn't do it though.

We walked through Tahrir Square and nearby neighborhoods.  It was stirring to contrast this area crammed with cars and busy people with the revolutionary fervor and subsequent blood bath of just a few years ago.

Tahrir Square

Exploring the neighborhood hear to Tahrir Square

The Museum was a throwback to the 1930's style of museums, a bit of the Field Museum when we first lived in Chicago.  Acres of dusty cabinets with treasures from thousands of years ago, some things obviously mislabeled and untouched by any curator's hands for decades.

The Egyptian Museum

Finally, returning to our room and flinging open the curtains, we realized that we actually have a view of the pyramids.  Over the swimming pool, across the busy road with the crazy traffic are three pyramids in a row. Wow.

The star of the show.

We're On Our Way

to Egypt.

Hello, and farewell, Mt Hood.

I Love Christmas Cards

I am lucky that so many of my friends still send Christmas cards. I stretched Christmas out by opening three cards a day when we returned from Taipei on December 31. I savoured each one.

Experiment

Can I post a blog using my phone?  Yes I can. However the phone blogs are much more like Tweets. Short and sweet.

Missing My Boy

We have been home from Taipei for two weeks.  Every day I have wondered, what is Solomon doing?  Well..............

He is learning to roller skate!

Nothing Really Says Christmas Like

Earlier I wrote that "Nothing says Christmas like this guy."

But I was wrong.  Nothing says Christmas like this.

Merry Christmas from Taipei.

We discovered this Christmas extravaganza in a major business district on our final night in Taipei.  The street was filled with banks, fancy hotels and this very large and prominent display.

Final Adventure in Taipei

Beitou Park

Our time is Taipei has quickly come to an end.  For our final day, we split into two groups.  Taylor and David go to Costco.  After all, what marvels will a foreign Costco reveal to the American tourist?  Chia, Solomon and I head north to visit Beitou Park.

Beitou Park is a relatively short MRT ride from the center of Taipei to the hilly north end of the city. It was once a large hot springs and spa community developed during Japanese rule.  Today it is a park  that meanders up the mountain and is filled with many attractions to interest local day trippers as well as tourists.  We just had a small sampling of the area, and I want to return.

We took the regular MRT to the end of the line and transferred to a small train that only goes one stop. The atmosphere on the train had a happy, relaxed, vacation vibe.

We are waiting for the small train to take us the final short distance to Beitou Park.

We have arrived at the entrance of the park.  The MRT station is toward the rear of the photo.

Solomon spied this tree from the MRT station.  Of course, we had to see it up close.

Magic - snow was falling from the tree!

With the Christmas tree behind us, we began exploring the park.  The park is really a series of parks that wind their way further up into the mountains. We ambled along at the pace of two year olds discovering the joys of life.

We've been sitting still on the train for a while, so it's time for a little independence and time to run free.

What could be more interesting than a puddle next to a pond?

Behind the pond is the Beitou Library with the smaller pavilion in front of it.

Beitou Library

We climbed up these stairs to a wonderful set of cement slides.

After the slides and a picnic lunch we found a maze.  The hedges are the perfect height for short people.

We are simply parched, and have to stop for a dragon fruit popsicle.

Next we start walking up the Geothermal Valley where the hots springs are located.  When Solomon is older we'll have to come take a soak in the pools, but for now we are happy to look at the hot steamy water.

Wow!

This was such a special day.  I had fun with two of my favorite people, I saw a new part of Taipei AND I can't wait to come back and further explore this area.  Thank you, Chia and Solomon, for a wonderful experience.