Tidbits: Part of Old Cairo made up of the Babylon Fortress, the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. George and many other Coptic churches.
The Holy Family is said to have visited this area and stayed at Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church (Abu Serga).
So we went a little late in the day and the church of St. George was closed. But we walked around the area and took in the sights anyway. Especially the graveyard.
We were joined on this day by an old friend Thalia who lives in my home town. She studied Arabic with Daniel and will be living in Cairo for a year. Just as with any place, but especially a city like Cairo which is very different form the U.S., she felt it was nice to see familiar faces. I could not imagine living in Cairo for a year. I am just not used to the modes of transportation there, the heat, the language of course. But having lived in the U.S. for so long the idea of being a woman alone in Cairo makes me a little scared. I don't know if it's because I heard from Thalia that it's hard getting around alone and you get harassed a ton or that...it just reminds me of Dhaka and I haven't been there in so long. And even when I was in Dhaka I never had to fend for myself, I was always under the protection of my family.
Everything else about Cairo I'm sure I could get used to. I wasn't surprised to see Zamalek and Maadi the areas where Westerners frequent. There are signs in English, mini-supermarkets where you can shop much like here in the U.S. Actually on a trip to such a supermarket I met a former classmate, Monika, who took Arabic with me last year. It was so strange seeing a piece of Simmons right in the middle of a supermarket in Cairo. Of course I knew the IR professor was organizing a trip to Egypt and I knew that some of the girls would stay on. But it was quite a surprise to see her there. We did not plan it because the trips didn't totally overlap.
So here are some pictures from our day in Coptic Cairo.
The church we could not enter:
A family plot with pictures of the deceased on the tombstone.
An older part of the graveyard
The "Muslim" girl standing in front of a door full 'o crosses
A decrepit door
Daniel took this shot. It looks pretty cool because they were burning detritus and the smoke from the small fires gave the graveyard an eerie feel.
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