Death near the Nile, almost

My new hat for the sand traps
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Day 11, Tuesday 15 May 2007 (268 Hours down 620 to go)

It is our last day in Cairo, we have nothing planned and as we are in the best bed in the world what better reason is there to have a sleep in.

Breakfast in club room looking over the Nile thinking that Cleopatra probably sailed past this spot a few years ago, so we make the decision to walk down to the Egyptian Museum to check out a few mummies and soak in a bit of local history to compliment our visit to the Pyramids, no cameras are permitted in the museum so left it back in hotel.

Dinner overlooking the Nile
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We decide to cross the road (4 lanes each way) to get to the walking track along the river and as there are no crossings or traffic lights anywhere we make a dash in a rare break in the traffic. Half way across I feel my reading glasses fall out onto the road but keep going to safety. Then I watch as about 30 cars go by just waiting for them to get crunched but they survive until the next break and I make another dash back to retrieve them and back to the median strip. It is only when we are safely across that I remember that they are only the $5.00 glasses from Cheap as Chips not my good pair.

Find the Museum after a 20 minute walk, buy our tickets and refuse many offers for a guide and go inside to a museum packed with tour groups with the leaders all trying to talk over each other and most of the group looking bored. Apart from the special display of all the items found with King Tutankhamen and the magnificent golden face mask and caskets the majority of the displays are pretty mundane and are poorly displayed with minimal or nil information. Once you have seen one mummy you have seen them all.

Enough culture for one day, so we decide to head on back to the hotel by taxi which is a major effort in lunchtime traffic which is more crazy than usual but it beats walking. Lunch up in the Club floor out on the balcony with a great view of the Nile, serenity now. Hit the pool after lunch for a quick swim followed by a visit to the Casino attached to the Hotel. Now this is a happening place, three staff to every player and you can only bet using US currency, so my idea to blow the last of my Egyptian Dollars is blown away. Manage to get some US dollars so we have a go at the pokies as there was only one other person in the whole place and the minimum bet on the tables was outside my range. As always we start off positively on Cleopatra’s Dream with a small win which slowly disappears and turns into a nightmare.

We soon decide that our fortune will not be won here and as happy hour has commenced on the Club floor we leave after our photographs are taken and we are presented with our CCCC memberships in nice leather pouches. (Conrad Cairo Casino Club).

After happy two hours back to our room to pack and get ready to leave at 11.00pm to catch our 1.45am flight to Barcelona.