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Saturday, March 2, 2019
Update 59
Day 2 in Alexandria, we headed out in search of the Catacombs...the largest burial site in Egypt. A 35m long shaft in the center was used as a dumb waiter to lower corpse. The most stunning burial area complete with pillars, statues & art work was for Romine Emperor Caracalla...hated by the locals as he'd killed over 20,000 that opposed him...many burned there in the catacombs with him. The seemingly endless dark tunnels had cavities in all the walls. Creepy!!
Next to Pompey's Pillar-25m-guarded by two sphinx and built on the ridge. It's surrounded by partially excavated the ancient acropolis & Serapeum. It's really got nothing to do with Pompey...misnamed by Crusaders who thought Pompey's ashes were encased on the top.
We were glad to get out of the cold wind and marvel at the Bibliotheca Alexandria (new library opened in 2002). A throughly modern building with seating for over 2000. Skylights with some blue & green stain glass made for a enchanting place to learn. So fitting for this city.
In the basement, the Antiquity Museum was filled with more treasures including the mosaic floor of the ancient library.
The Sadat Museum was in another wing and was a tribute to all he did in his life. The uniform he was wearing when he was assassinated in 1981 made me think of JFK. He'd been asked after his peace treaty with Israel's president & Carter what he'd like on his tombstone: That I lived for peace and died for my principles.
Another wing was a tutorial about how & what you could access...a massive amount of information on their website: www.bibalex.org
We spent over 5 hours absorbing just a fraction of what Bibliotheca has to offer!!!
I'd hoped for a nice seafood dinner but getting anyone to understand English here is near impossible & it was too cold to walk far...so we popped into the first warm restaurant ...KFC. Got back to our room, Rog hit the sack while I visited with a girl from England & then caught up on writing.
Next morning, we were able to get to the National Museum to see the items revived from under the sea thought to be from Cleopatra 's palace. And our final stop was at the Roman amphitheater discovered only recently when a donkey disappeared into a pit. Makes you wonder what else is where we were walking.
We caught the 2 pm train back enjoying once again the view from the train window.
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Next to Pompey's Pillar-25m-guarded by two sphinx and built on the ridge. It's surrounded by partially excavated the ancient acropolis & Serapeum. It's really got nothing to do with Pompey...misnamed by Crusaders who thought Pompey's ashes were encased on the top.
We were glad to get out of the cold wind and marvel at the Bibliotheca Alexandria (new library opened in 2002). A throughly modern building with seating for over 2000. Skylights with some blue & green stain glass made for a enchanting place to learn. So fitting for this city.
In the basement, the Antiquity Museum was filled with more treasures including the mosaic floor of the ancient library.
The Sadat Museum was in another wing and was a tribute to all he did in his life. The uniform he was wearing when he was assassinated in 1981 made me think of JFK. He'd been asked after his peace treaty with Israel's president & Carter what he'd like on his tombstone: That I lived for peace and died for my principles.
Another wing was a tutorial about how & what you could access...a massive amount of information on their website: www.bibalex.org
We spent over 5 hours absorbing just a fraction of what Bibliotheca has to offer!!!
I'd hoped for a nice seafood dinner but getting anyone to understand English here is near impossible & it was too cold to walk far...so we popped into the first warm restaurant ...KFC. Got back to our room, Rog hit the sack while I visited with a girl from England & then caught up on writing.
Next morning, we were able to get to the National Museum to see the items revived from under the sea thought to be from Cleopatra 's palace. And our final stop was at the Roman amphitheater discovered only recently when a donkey disappeared into a pit. Makes you wonder what else is where we were walking.
We caught the 2 pm train back enjoying once again the view from the train window.
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Update 58
Alexandria, of course, was built by Alexander the Great in about 350 BC and was the home to the first major library. Alexander was tutored by Aristotle who encouraged the love of reading. Cleopatra had a summer palace here...which unforgettable was built on land now under the sea.
After we'd dropped our backpacks at our room, we headed to the Qaitbay Fort built in 1480's on top of the site where Pharos (light house) stood...one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient world. It only lasted 17 centuries !
Next we headed to the Coptic Cathedral of St. Mark. It's named after the apostle Mark who spent much time in Alexandria and it was here he was martyred...dragged through the streets behind 3 wild stallions. Kinda felt guilty taking a horse & buggy ride back to our hotel. We enjoyed our Mediterranean view until dark and then had to cover up & try to stay warm. It's cold here!!! Well, cold for Egypt.
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After we'd dropped our backpacks at our room, we headed to the Qaitbay Fort built in 1480's on top of the site where Pharos (light house) stood...one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient world. It only lasted 17 centuries !
Next we headed to the Coptic Cathedral of St. Mark. It's named after the apostle Mark who spent much time in Alexandria and it was here he was martyred...dragged through the streets behind 3 wild stallions. Kinda felt guilty taking a horse & buggy ride back to our hotel. We enjoyed our Mediterranean view until dark and then had to cover up & try to stay warm. It's cold here!!! Well, cold for Egypt.
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Update 57 by Roger
Hyena
I talked with a young man from Sudan after class. He told me that he wanted to improve his English speaking ability so I suggested that he tell me about his life. If he made errors in speaking, I planned to point them out to him.
He told me that he was from a family of five sisters and two brothers and his father worked at a stockyard.
After further description I found out that his father actually works with several brothers raising cattle in Sudan. When the cattle are fully grown they sell some of them (about 10 per cent) at the market in Khartoum. They don't sell more because they like to keep increasing the size of the herd.
He told me that they allow the cattle to graze where they can find water and grass. There is plenty of land and they apparently are not limited by land ownership or fences. The herders ride horses or camels and they also have a pickup truck.
He said they have to protect the cattle from an animal that is a serious threat. He described the animal as having tall front shoulders so I asked if it was a hyena. He had never heard that word before so we quickly googled Hyena and he agreed that was it.
As we talked he was very interested in the names that I used and I he carefully wrote them down in his notebook. Cow=mother
Bull=father
Calf=baby
I tried hard to imagine watching the cattle all night while anticipating an attack by a hungry hyena. His father must be a very brave man!
See the link below. https://www.google.com/search?q=hyena&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#imgrc=QJYAFcMlcODyRM:
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Update 56
We were on the train to Alexandria for $5 each by 9am. Looking out a train window is one of my favorite things to do! I love getting a quick peek of the everyday life of people. We skirted the Nile as we sped by the consistently rich fields of wheat, rice, grasses, fruit trees & vegetables. Even the 10' between the tracks & road was cultivated. Rog read somewhere that some crops grow 27 times faster here. Sure saw lots of butts of the field workers...male and female. Some just sit right on the ground. Tallied 5 tractors but donkeys far out numbered them! Did see one new tractor dealer. Wonder how it will stay in business.
About halfway, we started to see groups of 3 or 4 cows tied sporadically in lanes usually under a lone tree. The manure behind them was proof they'd been there quite some time. We'd see maybe 4 or 5 groups of cows down a lane. Saw a few flocks of sheep penned up.
Pigeon houses...large cone shaped with large holes...are common. Easy quick meals!
Small villages seemed to have turned into large cities with those same tall mundane brick apartment buildings topped with re-rods sticking out the top. The fewer the buildings, the more color we saw. . But still hardly any one family homes. Egypt has a population of almost 100 million so I guess they gotta live somewhere!
Everywhere mosque which were the most beautiful building around by far. Sometimes you could see 3 or 4 unique minarets at a time.
But also we saw where the trash goes...on the side of the tracks. We'd read and heard that Egyptians haven't figured out how to deal with their trash...we saw lots of evidence of that!!
We often rode along side wide ditches/tributaries. Some even had small ferries so they could be crossed. We could see they were being used for drainage and irrigation...saw two ladies washing clothes...and unfortunately trash bins. Many of them have been dredge but the ugly mess of trash & muck was left on the banks.
I especially relish seeing sights like kids playing with sticks & stones, soccer games, carts loaded with veges, old men sitting on benches, carpenters building furniture, crowded markets, school kids with their arms around each other, women hanging their laundry on their balconies...just a peek into the ordinary life of the Egyptians!
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About halfway, we started to see groups of 3 or 4 cows tied sporadically in lanes usually under a lone tree. The manure behind them was proof they'd been there quite some time. We'd see maybe 4 or 5 groups of cows down a lane. Saw a few flocks of sheep penned up.
Pigeon houses...large cone shaped with large holes...are common. Easy quick meals!
Small villages seemed to have turned into large cities with those same tall mundane brick apartment buildings topped with re-rods sticking out the top. The fewer the buildings, the more color we saw. . But still hardly any one family homes. Egypt has a population of almost 100 million so I guess they gotta live somewhere!
Everywhere mosque which were the most beautiful building around by far. Sometimes you could see 3 or 4 unique minarets at a time.
But also we saw where the trash goes...on the side of the tracks. We'd read and heard that Egyptians haven't figured out how to deal with their trash...we saw lots of evidence of that!!
We often rode along side wide ditches/tributaries. Some even had small ferries so they could be crossed. We could see they were being used for drainage and irrigation...saw two ladies washing clothes...and unfortunately trash bins. Many of them have been dredge but the ugly mess of trash & muck was left on the banks.
I especially relish seeing sights like kids playing with sticks & stones, soccer games, carts loaded with veges, old men sitting on benches, carpenters building furniture, crowded markets, school kids with their arms around each other, women hanging their laundry on their balconies...just a peek into the ordinary life of the Egyptians!
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