Lucille's: The Best Hamburger in the World?

Ever since my arrival, Andrew has been semi-patiently waiting for me to take them to Lucille's, a decidedly American restaurant just a five-minute walk away. He was able to come home early from school today, so off we went. It was cool to have an American experience (the menu didn't have a single Arabic word on it), and the food was very good (I especially enjoyed the onion rings). An article in Time magazine about a year ago pronounced these the best hamburgers in the world, but since I didn't have a hamburger I couldn't agree or disagree. Although Andrew and Nancy said they were pretty tasty!

Weary Wednesday

Either the time change is still getting to me, or it's the humidity, or maybe it's the mattress, but I didn't get much sleep last night. I've discovered that the mattress is one of those "memory foam" mattresses, but not in a positive way. It remembered exactly where I've slept for the past two nights and stayed smooshed down, so much so that you can see the bumps underneath where the support boards are. Last night it felt a little like sleeping on a ladder. I finally got up around 2 a.m. and took a pain pill to see if that would help (it did). So today I wasn't too upset when we decided Rachel was being too grumpy to go out sightseeing. Nancy and I moved the mattress from Rachel's room and put it underneath the one in my room so that I now have two mattresses. As soon as Rachel went down for a nap, I did, too (I had to make sure it worked!). What a difference! Thanks, Nancy, for helping solve that problem for a grandma with not-so-young bones!

Tuesday Travels

I've been having a marvelous time here, even if it is hot and humid. After we go out somewhere, I come back to the apartment and crank up the air conditioning. I live a pretty spoiled life in Orem, Utah! Cairo is crowded, dusty, and dirty, but so very interesting. I don't feel too out of place, and I'm not at all uncomfortable walking around. People are more interested in looking at Rachel than they are at me!

Rachel is so cute! Here she is at the Victory College playground (actually on Monday). She gives me loves and hugs all the time. When she starts to have a tantrum with Nancy, I can just pick her up and calm her down. I'm hoping this week will help Nancy get some things done and just have a little relief from being with Rachel all the time. The three of us went downtown on the metro train yesterday to see the Egyptian Museum and then had lunch at--get this--KFC!

The Egyptian Museum is huge - and full of stuff - so much that they don't even have most of it labeled. A must see!

This is a view of the Egyptian Museum from across a very busy street, with the Cairo Tower in the distance on the left.

Wild Horses Couldn't Keep Me Away

Remember when Nancy said they had seen wild horses running right down the street? We came across those same horses when we were out on our walk this morning. At least they weren't running, so we were able to get a few pictures.

Did you know that McDonald's delivers? At least they do here in Egypt!

My Welcome

Rachel loves to color now, so she made a cute picture and hung it over my bed to welcome me to Cairo!

Sunset over the Mediterranean

It has been quite a day--24+ hours of traveling! My flights from Salt Lake to Chicago, then Chicago to Vienna, then Vienna to Cairo, were uneventful and pretty boring. It's really more fun to travel with Reid than by myself, but I just kept thinking of the reward waiting for me at the end--seeing Andrew, Nancy, and Rachel. On the flight to Cairo, I got to see an amazing sunset over the entire horizon. The colors just kept getting better and deeper over the span of over half an hour. It was really beautiful.

It was such a relief to land in Cairo. I followed Andrew's instructions on how to get my visa, go through the passport check, get my luggage, and get through customs. I was worried that Andrew wouldn't be outside waiting for me or that he would be at a different terminal or something, but there he was--waving and grinning as only Andrew can. All my fears vanished, and I felt as if Andrew & Nancy hadn't really moved away from us but were just living down the street in Orem. That is, until Andrew started talking to the limo guy and the driver in Arabic. So cool!

It took about an hour to get to their apartment, where Nancy and Rachel were waiting for us. At first I thought Rachel was afraid of me, but as soon as I put my suitcases down and held my arms out, she came running. I can't adequately express how good it felt to hold her. And she must have felt the same way because she wouldn't let go of me for over 10 minutes. She only let me put her down when I suggested we look in the suitcases for surprises.

Opening the cases was just like Christmas! Andrew & Nancy had given me a long list of things they wanted from America, and I was able to accommodate. I kept bringing things out and telling Rachel to "give it to Mommy." She was so excited to be my helper and kept coming back for more. She got especially excited when she saw the packages of Swedish fish and Sour Patch things!

So I'm going to try to get a full night's sleep now. Six hours of fitful sleep on an airplane just didn't satisfy me, and now I have to get used to a new time zone. Hooray for Cairo!

Music and Passion

Okay, I have a confession -- I'm an old geek. Old because I recently turned 50 and still love Barry Manilow, and a geek because I like Star Trek.

So for Christmas my wonderful husband gave me tickets to see Barry Manilow in concert in Las Vegas. I have waited semi-patiently for the day to arrive: April 4. We drove to Vegas Friday morning, spent a couple of hours at the Star Trek Experience in the Las Vegas Hilton (highly recommended for geeks everywhere), and then enjoyed the concert that night. Does it get any better than that?