Cairo, Egypt

We arrived in Cairo in the evening and it was already dark. We hadn't arranged any transport to our hotel but figured it out. The driver spoke very broken English and when we arrived I think he was expecting a bigger tip than we gave him, but the staff ushered us in to the hotel and we avoided any issues. The hotel is amazing, 11 restaraunts, a pool, hot tub, steam room, gym, tennis, casino, several banks and shops. Our room is great, nice view from the 16th floor of the pool area and down the Nile. Our first night we stayed at the hotel, didn't feel like venturing out into the night right away. The food at the Egyptian Nights restaraunt did not disappoint, it was incredible, we both had a shawrama type dish with rice and a yogurt sauce. After dinner it is customary to have some sheesha and a tea with mint. We enjoyed some grape sheesha and the tea was fantastic.

The next morning we got up at decent hour and went to the gym. After working out we had a quick lunch and freshened up. We decided to head to the Egyptian museum which appeared to be fairly close to our hotel. It was quite the experience walking there. I don't think too many if any tourists walk around this city. I think everyone just takes taxis or books tours through the hotel. People were for the most part very welcoming, shaking my hand and smiling and saying "welcome to Egypt". I even had one guy ask to have a picture of me on the way to the museum. There were a few people who seemed to be saying stuff at us in Arabic, I can't be sure but sometimes it didn't seem friendly. We spent a few hours wandering around the vast museum, pretty incredible place with endless artifacts some of which are 4000 years old. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed so we only have some pictures from the outside. On our walk back we took the more crowded route. I failed to mention that there is some sort of festival on this weekend and everyone is celebrating and lots of stuff is closed. So we walked back along the Nile where there were tons of locals getting on these long boats with bright lights and blaring music. I think we were approached every 10 steps to go on one of them but decided not to. Anyway, it was an interesting walk back to the hotel and we were both exhausted when we did get back and decided to eat at the hotel again. We had some more Egyptian style food, one dish, called Fatir, a pastry of sorts that you can have sweet or savoury. We had it with a spicy cheese dip, very tasty!

Today we had a very laid back relaxing time. Slept in, had breakfast and headed to the gym. (We both are getting some exercise to work off all the food we are eating haha). After the gym we parked ourselves on some recliners by the pool and enjoyed the 32C weather. Lindsey is currently getting a massage and I just had a haircut. We have not decided what to do for dinner tonight, might venture out or might just stay here tonight.

We have booked a full day tour tomorrow to visit the pyramids, sphinx, Memphis and Sakkara. We are both very excited to venture out and see some more of Egypt to tomorrow.