First Day in Cairo- The protests

The day before I arrived in Cairo (so wednesday) there had been a flare-up in violence in the Coptic Christian area of Cairo that involved attacks by some Muslim extremists that resulted in the death of a few Copts. Since the revolution each of the friday protests had focused on a certain domestic issue, and this Friday the protest was focused on denouncing the violence and in support of a unified Christian and Muslim Egypt. I have no idea how many people were there, but it definitely numbered into the thousands, with people of all ages, social classes, and religious groups packed into the streets and the sidewalks around an improvised sound stage. There was chanting and cheering, songs were sung, and people marched about carrying signs depicting various images. I was able to take a position close to the side of the stage and get a few photos and even a video of the proceedings. The few people I spoke to there were so happy and friendly and all they asked was that I would share their message of a Christians and Muslims living in peace with the people back home. I told them I would and as a result here are my favorite pictures from the demonstrations.

These two pictures give a good estimate of the size of the crowd, just throngs of people in every direction. I also really like the design combining the cross and the crescent moon, which can be found over and over again in these pictures.

This is a great sign someone had next to me of Mubarak running off with a bag full of Egypt's money. Mubarak is suspected of being one of the richest men in the world, with all of his wealth coming from corruption, backdoor deals, or just plain stealing from the Egyptian people's coffers.

 I love this drawing. People in America need to have this attitude. And when I say "people in America" I really mean American Christians and xenophobes, not really Muslims who seem to be just as kind in the US as they are in the rest of the world.

 This picture goes to show the importance and respect held by the Egyptian army in the public's perception. Even though these troops were at Tahrir Square in an official capacity to ensure that everything was peaceful, this did not stop people from simply celebrating their presence and their role in the revolution. It would be incredibly difficult to concisely describe the reasons why Egypt loves their army so much in this blog because who books can be written on the subject, but suffice to say imagine how much America loves its military, then remove all the controversial wars and accusations of war crimes and add a revolution by the people which was actually supported by the military. That is a lot of love and respect and honor to be held by the army and I hope that they continue to deserve it as the country moves forward.

That pretty much sums up the revolution.

Finally I saw this spray painted on the wall while walking home and had to take a picture of it. It is obviously from during the revolution and really captures I think the sentiments of so many of the people during Mubarak's final days in office.:

"I want to see another president before I die"

So After I had my fill of watching the protests, i wandered back to the hotel to rest a bit and grab a bite to eat. I found a place with some Hummus and Foul (almost refried beans) and ate dinner while planning my next day- A trip to the Giza to see the pyramids and the sphinx! Just before sunset, I wandered over to the Nile to take a few pictures and enjoy the beautiful breezes of springtime in Egypt. While the city is massive, crowded, often smelly and dirty, there are still countless places to find peace and serenity.

First Day in Cairo- the museum

So I arrived in Cairo late in the evening, and caught a taxi to my hotel, which was pretty easy to find because it was one Talaat Harb, one of the main streets in downtown Cairo and about 2 blocks away from Tahrir Square. The hotel was on the 5 floor, and was definitely old, but very clean with tall doorways the evoked the colonial heritage of much of Cairen architecture. The hotel was simple, without any amenities really, but I had a bed and a sink in my room and, when combined with wireless internet, is pretty much all I need to get by for a few days.

I woke up the next morning and had a little bread and a hardboiled egg I had packed for the journey for breakfast before heading out the door to find a currency exchanger. I had intentionally planned my trip so that my first day there would be a Friday, the Muslim day of prayer (like Christian Sundays) and this would mean less congestion in the streets and it would be a little quieter. It took me a while to get my bearings, and I still was getting lost in downtown until the day I left but I eventually found a money changer and got an amazing deal. While Cairo still had businesses open and there were people in the streets, they were few and far between and it was peaceful and beautiful to walk in such a dense urban area with the sidewalks mostly to myself. I think one of the most amazing things about Cairo is the range of architecture than can be found nearly everywhere you look. In downtown alone, there are modern skyscrapers, cathedrals, soviet era monochromatic blocks, British colonial buildings, and French villas modeled after classic architecture complete with frescos and pillars. Of course there are also the many mosques representing various eras in Islamic culture, but those are harder to find in downtown, making them hidden treasures in such a modern city. I returned to the hotel for a bit to once again establish my bearings and decide on my next course of action. I figured that it would probably help me establish my understanding of the city to head to Tahrir Square made famous in the West through being the focal point of the recent revolution, and then mosey over to the Egyptian Museum for a day of mummies and antiquities.

In Tahrir Square the Egyptian Museum sticks out like a giant pink thumb. Walking up to Tahrir Square from my street required that I would have to cross the massive roundabout to get to the museum. Walking in Cairo is not for the faint of heart, there are no crosswalks and lanes of traffic can be up to 40 feet wide. I've gotten used to this in Palestine though, so I dodged cars and trucks while noticing that people were beginning to assembly along the sides of the streets. Friday protests were still going, Mubarak having left only about two weeks before I arrived. Once I got to the front of the museum's property I navigated my way through battalions of soldiers, walking past tanks parked casually along the street and the gates to the museum. Unfortunately you are not allowed to bring cameras into  the museum so I had to settle for taking a few of the various stone relics stationed across the park in front of the museum before checking my camera and heading inside. Some pictures from the outside of the museum:

Once inside the museum, you (if you are nerdy like me) are struck with the immediate sense of awe.The massive structure is packed as far as you can see antiquities as far as you can see in any direction. Stone columns and statues for the most part fill the bottom floor. Starting with a left turn down the first hall, you move through relics from each age of the ancient dynasties ranging from chunks of stone with heiroglyphics to highly detailed figures that have lasted thousands of years in limestone, granite and jet black rock of some material. There are even wooden statues that have been preserved over their existence due to the arid nature of the Egyptian landscape. The museum is daunting to say the least. A reed boat here, a complete excavated tomb there, it is archeological overload. Some things are not labeled at all, others have four or more labels each with a different story about what you are looking at. I must have spent about 3 or 4 hours just on the bottom floor before I was told that the museum would be closing early due to Friday prayers and the subsequent protests that would follow in Tahrir Square. I was glad to end my time at the museum when I did, and looked forward to visiting another day to see the second floor. In the show "An Idiot Abroad" the host  while touring the museum remarked that you can only see so many old rocks and mummies before they all look the same and I couldn't agree more. Two museum trips would help maintain my sense of wonder so I picked up my camera and headed out of the museum towards Tahrir Square to see what a revolution in progress looks like.