After many more hours in airports than I care to count, I finally arrived in Cairo on Saturday evening. I didn't get to leave the airport right away, though, since the passport control computers were down. With as little logic and order as I have come to expect in Egypt, the officers confiscated the passports of several hundred passengers who all had arrived within an hour and left us all standing in a large room, waiting to hear our names called out one at a time in a strong Egyptian accent. It wasn't at all as orderly as it sounds...three different officers would be shouting at once, moving to different parts of the room, and waiting for the officers in the back office to thumb through stacks of log books to see if our names were on "the list." Not wanting my name to be shouted to hundreds of people, followed by "AMERICA!" (definitely not a good idea to advertise that here), I waited just behind an officer and took my passport back just before he called my name. All in all, a fairly humorous experience. As my mother says, if it's not a good time, it's a good story.
Because of the delay, I was not able to get any good reference, as the sun was setting as we left the airport for a terrifying cab ride to mom's flat. We finally ventured out yesterday morning to the Coptic neighborhood of Cairo, which has a definite appeal for me. This image is from a winding subterranean alley that led through the complex to the church of St. Barbara, who (so it is said) was beheaded by her own father.
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