Alexandria Blog

Here's what I typed on Kim's computer while in Alexandria:
Tuesday, 6:30 pm
We took the 9 pm train from Cairo to Alexandria, first class (I think that may have been my first first class adventure - had I been alone, I would not have bothered, but I wanted to sit with everyone else, obviously). We got into the train station in Alexandria at 11:25 pm. Getting taxis to the hotel was a major fiasco - Cameron haggled to 30 pounds for two taxis, but then gave one of the drivers my bag, which we promptly locked in his trunk...and we ended up being forced into three. Cameron lived in Lebanon for a year and loves to fight with people - he took forever bargaining over the hotel. It was a fairly cheap hotel and we overpaid, it felt like. Today getting to the beach was another craziness. Kim's roommate is from Alexandria, so she gave us the name of a beach. The taxi drivers took us to the wrong place at first. We finally got the right beach, only to be told it was private. We were going to wait for Kim's roommate to meet us, when suddenly our cab driver came over and had convinced them to let us in. He, of course, then wanted massive amounts of baqsheesh, and followed us around forever. Kim's roommate ended up not coming because her father is ill (I think he's going to be okay, though), but the beach was nice, filled mostly with natives, and the water felt fantastic. After more exploration, we found a great hotel right on the sea that's an incredibly reasonable price. Kenny brought a guidebook and I've been looking through it - here come the Roman Catacombs, Library of Alexandria, the Souq, and all sorts of other wonderful things. I think some of the boys may be heading back tomorrow fairly early, but I think I'll stay through Friday evening with several others.

Wednesday, 12:15 am
Hilary has now joined us. The hotel we're staying at is incredibly observant and notices everyone who comes in to the building. I suppose I should be glad of this, but it meant that Hill had to pay an additional amount of money to stay. We all get breakfast, though!
We went to a Greek place for dinner that had seafood and was really good. The rest of the gang went out for sheesha; Hilary and I watched a movie in the hotel and walked around the streets a bit.
On the agenda for tomorrow (well, today) are the Library of Alexandria and the Roman Catacombs. Then some of the boys are headed back; the rest of us will stay and do other cool history stuff and/or more beaches. (Probably and.)

Wednesday, 10:39 pm
Today was absolutely fantastic!!!!
Slept in quite a lot, and then had a really good breakfast at the hotel (egg, croissants with fantastic strawberry jam, veggies, beans). Most of us then headed off to...The Library of Alexandria!!!!! And - Oh. My. Word. It was absolutely AMAZING. I was incredibly happy with everything. The original was, of course, destroyed. But they recently did a renovation, including the discovery and restoration of some stuff belonging to the old library. It's an actual library too, where students from the University of Alexandria study. There was a manuscript museum with originals of all sorts - Euclid and Hippocrates translated into Arabic in the 900s, letters Muhammad wrote, a Book of the Dead, and all sorts of other wonderful things. I was absolutely ecstatic.
After the Library, we went to "The King of Mangoes." Great mango juice - oh my word. Then the Fish Market - great fish for dinner, and a phenomenal view. I wrapped up my day hanging out an an over-ninety-years-old cafe, where I had some water, tea, and Arabic Coffee, and the rest of the gang had sheesha. They're all off to a pub; I'm going to bed, as we're getting up to see the sunrise tomorrow. (We didn't actually end up doing that...)