Here are some pictures I just never seemed to get around to putting up.

Below is a group of kids I met at Al-Azhar park near the Citadel. The park is a beautiful large green space, which is very unusual in Cairo. The place was very crowded and they were actually turning people away, but they let us in entirely because we were Westerners. And while I hate to feel like the crass colonialist, the real reason I wanted in the park was it is the only public toilet around for miles, and man when you gotta go you gotta go!

Anyway, the teens there were terrific. And that seems to be true all over Cairo. They are fascinated with me because I am from America and can speak English. So there were pestering me non-stop by coming up to me and saying "How are you?" "What's your name?" "Good afternoon." All obviously in page 1 of their learn English book. But they are so sweet and genuine in their warmth toward me, and they truly mean it when they say "Welcome to Egypt." I had fun with a group of them by taking pictures on my digital camera and then showing them the pictures, which they thought was fantastic. Not that they don't have those cameras here, but most of them cannot afford them. After a while, however, I had a large group of teens around me, about 30 or 40 I would say, and the pressing crowd was making me uncomfortable. So I started to say "emshee," which is the Arabic word for Go Away! but I was afraid that was too negative. They weren't being hostile, just crowding me too much. So the only thing I could think of to say was "helas," which means finished, and I was afraid that might be a little too negative too. But not knowing what else to say, I held my hands up in the air and kind of made a finished! sign and shouted "Helas!" And they cheered me to the stars! Because I was speaking Arabic, and used just the right word. Then with a few more "Welcome to Egypts" and some "ma salaamas" (go in peace) they quietly retired and left me alone.

While walking in Islamic Cairo with Valentina we were invited into a mosque. The guys at this mosque were especially nice and welcoming, and they didn't ask Valentina to wear this awful green overcoat to cover her entire body like some of them do, but let her in with just a head scarf. The man there couldn't speak any English, but managed to show us around. It wasn't much, really, but there was a tower on the top that he took us up in so it offered some neat views of the city from up high.

From the tower you could also look down onto the roof of an apartment building. Which is strange, because in the West we would classify this as high end property: near downtown, in the historic district and close to popular tourist areas. But in Cairo I think some of these apartments have been in families for years, and they continue to live there.

Here is a video of me and Scott taken by the El Hussain mosque in Islamic Cairo. We walked from here down to the old city gate, which was built around 1000 AD.

We left there and took a cab to Zamalek where we had a few drinks at the Marriott Hotel. This is a neat place, I think it used to be a palace for one of the Egyptian rulers in late 1800s or early 1900s. We walked back over the Nile to catch the subway, and here is a video of us on the Nile bridge.