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Egypt definitely qualifies as the most foreign place I've ever had the pleasure to visit. Most cities seem at least somewhat familiar...

Cairo

Hank Shiffman
2003-11-29 14:40:53

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Egypt definitely qualifies as the most foreign place I've ever had the pleasure to visit. Most cities seem at least somewhat familiar; with a little effort I can usually imagine myself living most anywhere. But Cairo broke me of that conceit. Here is a city that lives by a wholly different set of rules. From the insane traffic that never lets up (you know you're crawling when you're passed by cattle!) to the high/low levels of security (metal detectors everywhere, but nobody seems to care when you set them off), it's pretty obvious that you're not in Kansas any more.

Only on the Nile does the city seem to slow down and become almost serene. But eventually it's back on the roads with the noise (Cairo drivers seem to think the horn is attached to the accelerator) and the crowds (pedestrians cross everywhere and anywhere; and I thought New Yorkers were aggressive!) and buildings that were old long before America was young.

My visit was all too short, with one free evening and the following morning before my next flight. I did get a quick look at the pyramids at night. And my host took me to visit the Museum of Antiquities. It was strange seeing artifacts from the time of Seti and Ramses and having to imagine them as real people and not just characters from bible stories. And then there's the King Tut collection, as magnificent as I'd always heard. (I'm ashamed to admit that Steve Martin kept running through my head the whole time...) In one respect the museum seemed familiar. Judging by all the students with sketchpads, I'm guessing it was close to the due date for final projects in art class. See, some things are universal.