So long, Egypt - Part 1

As most of you who read this blog know (yeah I'm talking to both of you), our time in Cairo came to an end late last year.  We left with mixed feelings; we had made some great friends and had our fair share of interesting experiences, but life in Cairo was not always ideal.  We are now based in Abu Dhabi where the sun shines all year round and everyone drives a Porsche (except us - we're the proud owners of a VW Jetta - yeah it's the small one).  Here is a snapshot of our last few months in Cairo.

Finn started elementary school at the American international school in Cairo.  This school changed our lives for the better, with its playgrounds and soccer fields and outdoor pool.  The best part was that we could use the facilities on the weekend, which gave our boys somewhere to run.  Oh, and they took care of him for 7 hours a day - that was awesome.  It had a close-knit community, and his teacher was gentle and nurturing in the way that all first teachers should be.  My biggest regret about leaving Cairo is that Finn didn't get to spend more time at this school.

The school was very progressive in some ways, in that there was a large focus on respecting each other and not hurting people's feelings.  Finn would chastise us for not being considerate or respectful of him, and he loved it - he thrived on the structure, the play-based learning, and he adored his teacher, Miss Trillian.
His classmates were a diverse bunch from Egypt, Canada, Japan and South America (Juan-Carlos scored points for the coolest name).  Finn was allocated a 'buddy' who was a few years older, whose name, Finn insisted, was 'Chinese'.  "Really? Are you sure?" we said.  "He's Chinese, his name is Chinese", Finn would say.  He wouldn't hear reason on that one...

We walked to school every morning with Wilf in the pram.  During those hot summer months, Finn would complain bitterly how unjust it was that he had to walk.  I would point out things we saw along the way to distract him and Finn would reluctantly agree that yes, seeing those dates on that palm tree had been interesting, and he was glad he'd seen that street dog and that donkey and that car driving the wrong way around that round about.  Now that I look back on it, everyday was an experience; especially in retrospect, looking now at our life in Abu Dhabi.  I don't think many people would disagree that Cairo is a more colourful city.

What about Wilf?  He's now almost two, he has crazy mad-professor hair that won't be tamed that matches his witch cackle laugh.  He loves climbing things, riding his scooter and doing everything that Finn does. And, like all two year olds, he has very definite views on what he wants.

He has lots of words - "I wan dat!" features a lot, he names objects he sees in books and around him, he knows the word for IPad and his favourite song is "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round" (and you'll be shocked to hear that song gets old fast).  When he watches cartoons, he gets upset if someone is hurt, like when he started to cry when Mog the cat got stuck in a cage and couldn't get out (luckily Meg came through with a spell).

The other highlight of our last few months was our trip to Luxor.  We hauled the kids down there, in scorching weather, and we saw some unbelievable things.  It's a strange feeling looking at the originals of images that you feel so familiar with through popular culture.  It's the same when you first see the pyramids and the Sphinx.  A kind of faux deja vu.

We stayed at the Sofitel Winter Palace, which was built in 1905 and was popular with British colonialists.  Its claim to fame is that Agatha Christie wrote "Death on the Nile" whilst staying there.  It was charmingly moth-eaten and we loved the pool and John loved the colossal ceilings.

Karnak Temple - the second largest ancient religious site in the world. Mind blowing.  
The highlight for me was the Hypostyle Hall, which has 134 huge columns arranged in 16 rows.  I also loved the rows of human headed sphinxes (called the Avenue of Sphinxes).

That thing on top weighs 70 tonnes!

Luxor Temple - 1400BC

If you've been to Paris and seen the obelisk at the Place de la Concorde, this is where they pinched it from.

The muslim community of Luxor settled in and around this temple.  In one part, you can see that a mosque has been built on top of a church, which was built on top of the original temple.
The Valley of the Kings

I loved this part of the trip.  The drive to the Valley of the Kings is about 45 minutes from Luxor along the Nile - it's beautiful, and what Cairo would have looked like 50 years ago.  And the tombs were incredible, with the dark painted ceilings with stars on them, and the hieroglyphs covering the walls.  There weren't many tourists, and some of the tombs we had all to ourselves.  We had been told that 10 years ago, you'd be waiting an hour or more to see each tomb, which was great for us, but sad at the same time when you reflect on what this means for Egyptian tourism.  You can see the Temple of Hatshepsut below, which is where 62 tourists were shot in 1997 - it's a real tragedy that the majesty of this place is combined with a niggle in the back of your mind that this could occur again...and that's why we had the place to ourselves.
The Temple of Hatshepsut 

We ended our final day in Luxor with a felucca ride along the Nile (Wilf in the baby carrier so he didn't 'jump ship').

Both John and I already have the rose-tinted glasses firmly in place.  We already miss this place.