Back in Cairo again!

Hello! 

 

 Welcome back to Cairo!  We have started on our return journey!  I don’t know how other people feel, but there occasionally (not always!) comes a point in a trip where one says, “Yep, time to go home!” And this is ours! So, to start from last blog … and if I confused anyone with my two blogs yesterday, I do apologize. Do hope that the color from such long ago times made it through to your computer.   I truly think that I “tilted” Blogspot … rightly, so, though, as they have tilted me on many occasions!  But that’s another story … 

 

After being dropped off by the amazing Abdul, we decided to see what if anything we could do about the unused Egypt Air ticket that we have from the Luxor-Cairo flight.  I believe I indicated that because of the goofy website, we were not able to change our existing reservation, so it was necessary for us to totally purchase a brand-new ticket, thereby leaving us with the old.  Robert very cleverly spotted an EgyptAir office actually attached to the Winter Palace Hotel, but of course it was closed.  (Remember, they close at 2 on Thursdays.). This time, however, one of the hotel people told us that they were just taking the Friday afternoon (the Muslim holy day) prayers off, and would reopen in “5 minutes.”  Well, all I can say is, beware an Egyptian “5 minutes…”. The call for prayer, which is truly incredibly shrill under normal circumstances (and in this case, doubly so, as the mosque was immediately adjacent to the Hotel) just kept going and going and going.  Not at all the thing when you’ve got a migraine, I assure you!  Finally, after waiting and waiting … I Googled “How long is the Muslim Friday call to prayer?”  And the answer??? 45 MINUTES!  Gracious!  

 

At any rate, eventually it did stop, and then it took another 10 minutes or so for the EgyptAir folks to come back and open up the office.  We were there!  Wait!  First, of course, everybody needed to get back to their computers, putter around the office, and get settled in.  There was a signboard saying “Client Number” – but there were NO numbers to take!  We asked, and were told to just take a seat … which we did.  So, after getting coffee all around, and settling back in, we were finally called forward to a desk.  Okay … the guy first reconfirms tha,t yes, we actually do have reservations on Saturday.  Second, we asked if he could print us boarding passes.  The response:  “We don’t have a printer.”  Right … now let me tell you about a bridge I’d like you to buy.  When met with looks of disbelief, he said he has requested our passes, and they would magically somehow appear on our email within the next 24 hours … considering that it was less that before our flight left … Okay!  Get them at the airport, check!  And, finally, we asked him what we could do about our unused flight.  He was able to help us with that!  He went ahead and cancelled the flight, but of course he couldn’t apply for a refund … We have to do that part on-line ourselves.   So … we were able to walk through that back at the hotel, and EgyptAir has agreed to refund, which is great news!  Whew!  An interesting trip!

 

Back to the hotel.  About 5:30 pm I took the camera and headed out the back door to see what the grounds of the hotel looked like.  Really lovely; hope you enjoy the photos.  I also stopped at Guest Services, and made a reservation at the Corniche dining room for 7 pm (when they open).  First ones there, and had the same lovely table we had for breakfast, right near the windows.  Several large-ish tour groups there, but keeping with Winter Palace standards, not too loud and boisterous.  For starters, I had an excellent mushroom and asparagus soup and followed with a beef tenderloin with mashed potatoes.  R thought he would start the evening with an avocado with fried prosciutto salad, followed by Rosemary-Anchovy Chicken.  (Editor’s Note:  UGH!).  Turns out, though, that R’s avocado somehow morphed into salmon and seafood salad … surprise!  Fortunately, he likes salmon … he said it was fine, just unexpected.  He enjoyed his chicken very much.  No room at all left for dessert, and we were back to our room about 8 pm.  (Note:  I’ve been taking both antihistamines and decongestants, as well as the migraine meds and Advil, and have always had an issue with decongestants; I get REALLY wired!  However, last night, I was just exhausted.)

 

Boat on left pulls out; boat on right moves in!

View down onto the staircase from 3rd floor

View down on chandelier from 3rd floor 

View outside to back garden

Great Lion!

Garden pond with sprinkler

View from grounds of back of hotel

The hotel's BBQ restaurant

Hotel pool

Closer view of back stairs; just lovely!

In Corniche dining room

R's "surprise" salad!

My mushroom soup

R's rosemary anchovy chicken

My beef tenderloin with mashed potatoes

Up this morning about 4 and repacked and bathed in the truly wonderful bathtub by about 6 am.  As it turns out, while I am pretty hard-core about going carry-on only, going home is completely different!  We’ve packed up SO much stuff into the cases, that now we can (hopefully) get home much less encumbered that before!   (My packing philosophy basically is:  1) NEVER check a suitcase on the way out, and 2) NEVER ever check anything you might never see again!  And 3) check it or ship it home.  I think it’s a pretty good concept!). Additionally, as either of us almost NEVER shop, we have added the following items:  2 onyx small plates, one Egyptian headscarf, that I’m wearing now, and one small picture book on the Nubian Museum.  I know that I did buy a dorky hat while we were at Aswan … and that I left at the hotel!  R says I’ll probably receive it back in the mail in the next month or two, but that is definitely not necessary, and I truly hope they’d ask before they just assumed that I’d left it accidentally and send it!  And that’s it!

 

Abdul was, of course, punctual this morning and, while I knew the airport was close by, it was actually less than 15 minutes from the hotel!  Said a fond farewell to Abdul; he made our time in Luxor an absolutely wonderful experience!  Then, inside the airport terminal.  Okay … first off, immediately after you enter, the first thing you’re going to through is security.  Separate lines (men in one and women in the other) which we did in Cairo.  This time, though, Robert’s backpack got gone through with a fine-tooth comb.  We have carried for some time now (through TSA, Mexico customs, France, Portugal, etc.) a small pair of cuticle scissors – you know, the ones with blunt tips?  Out they went!  They also had a problem with R’s TINY screwdriver to repair glasses with – but he got to keep that.  Also, they weren’t sure what to do with the base of the GPS, but again, it’s still with us.  He did have to take out the electrical extension cord that he always carries … okay…and put it in our checked luggage.  Right … and yet, somehow, through all this, the bottle of WATER R had in his camera case made it through unscathed!  Ha!  

 

From this security checkpoint, we headed directly in to the luggage check/possibly a boarding pass area – and no, it wasn’t divided into men and women, which was nice!  And then into security checkpoint #2 – everything off, shoes included, computer out, etc.  Still have the bottle of water!  At any rate, we were then, with printed boarding passes in hand, able to get to the “gate.”  So – no gates!  They have two big doors, about 20 feet apart.  Each door has video display on either side of it to show the gate number but it changes as the need arises – Gate 9, 10, 11, 12 – but just because the sign says it’s Gate 9, doesn’t mean that you’ll board from that side.  They basically just drive up a big bus, and then everybody gets on, and we get driven to the plane. 

 

Turns out Bob and Colleen, the couple we met in Luxor, were there as well, although their flight was for 9:40 am and ours was 10:40 am.  Their flight was half-an-hour late, and we were able to chat for a bit.  And of course, as their flight (and the one before that) was late, so was ours!  We boarded a little after 11, but the plane filled quickly, and before we knew it, we were back in Cairo!  Very quick flight!  R did point out, though, that the air (at his estimate, up to about 15,000) was SAND colored.  The dust was bad in Luxor and really terrible in Cairo.  It was incredible!  Very breezy, which is about the last thing I need!  Our luggage came quickly, and we were outside before we knew it.  And, UBER worked from the domestic terminal, unlike when we arrived in Cairo originally.  Between the Uber directions and some nice people, we were able to find Hamby, our driver, only to further find that our hotel, the lovely Hilton Heliopolis Hotel was only five minutes away!  (I think the Uber bill was $2.81 US).  I just asked R to check the current weather conditions in Cairo … 75 Degrees and air quality is Poor, having reached “a high level of pollution and is unhealthy for sensitive groups!”  Got my name on it!!

 

Inside, and it felt SO much like home!  Really lovely hotel.  Well-staffed and very busy – and even though check-in time wasn’t for another 2 hours, we checked in at their Hilton Honors desk, and in literally minutes, we were in our room – 5081.  Lovely, spacious and clean – and, unlike the past couple of days, we could both be in motion in our hotel room simultaneously together at the same time!!  Yeah!  R is thinking that, under the conditions of the outside air, our combined allergies and migraine, we should stay in entirely until it’s time to leave, something like 4 am on Monday morning.  They do have multiple restaurants here, as well as an Executive Lounge – as well as a Spa!  Hmmm…is this the time for my first massage since COVID?  Could be!!

 

Our lovely room 5081

View from our window!

Writing now, and it’s almost 3.  We’ll head to the Executive Lounge at 6 or 7 (have to check) with dinner following and see what happens next!  More later!

 

Lots of love,

m

xxx