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Barb's Journal, day by day

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 Our first night in Cairo
We met son Christopher waiting at Shepheard's Hotel a fair distance from the airport -- downtown.  The hotel is old but charming and history-filled: Jim and Gloria stayed there on a romantic getaway from Israel in 1966.  We walked around the city for a bookstore to buy an Egypt travel guide -- found the book, and near Tahrir Square a good shwarma for supper, as well as unusual mac and cheese with salty ground meat inside and on top. The boys still hungry, they had a muffin and milkshake back at the hotel cafe (they had ordered a waffle -- something lost in translation) while Jeff and Barb had a good, cold Egyptian beer in the pub. Everyone at the hotel was warm and welcoming; touts on the street backed off politely. Almost cold, certainly breezy. Cairo is a cross between Delhi and NYC -- busy and bustling.  Fell deeply asleep despite the street noise outside Shepheard's Hotel.

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