Where's Alexandria

October 6th - 9:30pm
I've been walking around Alexandria all day. I just returned to relax, take a shower, then go to sleep. I started off my day by eating at Athenos resturant right around the corner from the hotel. I had a fish, mushroom, curry dish which was so good. Like really good. I've never had a curry dish with fish that tasted so good. And the fish... ahhh

I left the resturant in search of a bank to exchange some of my US dollars. I went to four banks and two were closed, the other two were the same branch but their computers went down. I decided to keep walking and about 20 minutes later I arrived at the Alexandria National Museum. I was shocked at how small it was. For a city to have as much history as Alexandria there's very little to show for it. I can't believe there was only a few rooms of antiquity on display. I have to be missing something. What was on display was wonderful though. After the museum I started walking again and probably walked a couple miles around the city just looking. I finally grabbed a cab and took a ride over to fort Qaitbey. I spent about an hour or so walking around the fort. I was late in getting there so I couldn't get in but I spent time on the boardwalk watching people and taking photographs. After that I walked the roughly two miles back to the hotel, took a half hour break, and headed out again to go shopping. I just got back and the only thing I picked up was a dress shirt, beverages, and stopped to get a yummy pastery topped with fruit, and a hot tea. I'm so tired from walking today and I've been walking so much on this trip. Along with that, it's been so hot that I've lost weight and my pants are starting to fall off. I'm going to have to buy a belt soon, like tomorrow. 

So, tomorrow is my last day in Alexandria. I'm kind of sad because I like Alexandria. I would stay a bit longer but there's a few more things I want to see in Cairo. I'm off to the crayziness again. I mean really, Cairo is a bit of madness,... so many people, so much traffic, so much polution. I think if there's one thing I would have to say that's overwhelmingly sad about Egypt is that it's choking on it's trash. Egypt is a beautiful country but saddly it's loosing it's luster to polution. I think that was one of the shocking things for me when visiting Saqqara and Giza. The amount of trash on the ground at those locations was sad. And not only that, but the amount of people that visit are taking a toll on the locations. You can see bag marks (people with backpack or shoulder bags scrapping or rubbing the walls), oil from hands over years and years of touching, and vandalizim. The one place where some of this was an exception was Luxor. It was so clean in comparison. Anyway,... I forgot to mention that I was stopped on the street again by several people and spent several mimutes talking today. One guy came running up behind me and stopped me for a while just to ask questions. He is an accountant, has two kids, a wife, is 54 years old, has traveled to England and Switzerland, wants his brother to get him and his familly in the US (New Jersey), and smokes heavely. People are very friendly and open in Egypt.