Egyptian Museum, Taboula and Felucca cruise

The next day we went to the quite extensive Egyptian Museum, which wasn't too far from our hotel. This place houses most of the treasures from ancient Egypt that weren't stolen and housed in the British Museum (although even some of those have come back). They send subsets on tours fairly regularly, such as the treasures of Tutanhkamen. Still, the collection here was pretty incredible. We knew that we weren't allowed to bring cameras in, so we don't actually have any pictures from the museum, but it was pretty cool. I opted not to pay the extra fee to go in and tour the mummy chambers, mostly because I really find dead bodies creepy, even if they've been dead for thousands of years and are historically interesting. Lame, I know, but it's my vacation, and if I'd rather sit and wait while Jeremi has a look around, it's my prerogative.

An aside about my health at this point: Sitting down while he looked at mummies also gave me a bit of much-needed rest. At this point we'd both contracted some traveller's diarrhea, and unfortunately Imodium isn't available in Egypt. We did try a couple of different medications that we got from the pharmacies there (anti-amoeba treatments), but without much success. My breathing was also getting pretty bad, which I'd just chalked up to my asthma from the air pollution, and I was up a lot in the night coughing. It was only upon returning to Germany that I realized it was something more serious. When it didn't clear up after a couple days of the comparatively fresh air of Jena and I found myself with a fever, I went to the doctor and ended up on antibiotics for the bronchitis that I'd had all week, likely picked up during the crazy travel and lack of sleep before we even ended up in Cairo. I'd just been blaming everything on a combination of air pollution, traveller's diarrhea, and the heat, when I actually had a pretty bad chest infection. In any case, I was well again within a week.

Back to the museum - while he looked at mummies I had scoped out the highlights on the second floor, figuring out how we could maximize the 45 minutes we had left until the museum closed. Unfortunately, we weren't able to take advantage of this time, as the guards decided to kick everyone out well before the place actually closed. We weren't impressed, but there was no point in arguing with the teams of armed men. They at least let me wait until Jeremi got out of the mummy chamber, so we weren't separated.

From there we decided to head out for a fancy-ish dinner at a Lebanese restaurant I'd read good reviews of, called Taboula. It was a bit tricky to find, near the US embassy complex, but eventually we found it.
It was a great place, with a cozy atmosphere, and lots and lots of little dishes to choose from. Here I am, eating as much as I was physically able. The waiter also obliged us with a picture of the two of us.
From there, after a late supper, we headed down to the banks of the Nile, where you can hire a traditional sailboat with a distinctive sail called a felucca

for a private or group cruise along the river. It being our honeymoon and all, we opted for a romantic private cruise. It was an hour entirely under sail power, despite the fairly light winds, and we were able to see many of the lights of Cairo from the water, which was quite beautiful. There were some police boats patrolling the waters as well, and the guy sailing our ship seemed quite panicked in his search through every nook and cranny for some sort of documentation that he couldn't find. Luckily, they didn't stop us.

Taking pictures on this ship was difficult due to the combination of low light levels and movement, but Jeremi had lots of fun playing with our new camera, figuring out the best way to take pictures under the circumstances, and using the timer. Here he's sneaking in a little kiss, which is totally taboo to do in public in Egypt, but it was dark and we were alone in the middle of the river, so it was sort of okay.

After the very romantic tour on the river we slowly made our way back to the hotel, and even took a couple of pictures to give you some idea of what it was like. The location was amazing, in terms of being in the heart of the city, and the price was pretty good. (Six nights here was cheaper than the one night out at the five star resort where the wedding was, and we were able to walk almost anywhere we wanted to go.) It even included two meals a day, though we didn't often make use of both of them, as we were usually out and about (or sleeping) too much.

And it certainly had character! Everything was a little bit shabby, but the lobby had some really nice woodwork, and these classy old-school elevators:
Complete with wooden interior and a little grate to pull across!And here's a view inside the room. It was simple, but sufficient, and even had a little fridge and an air conditioning unit which, although noisy, made it more comfortable to sleep. There was even a rooftop patio where there was a restaurant and a bar, which we visited one night for a couple of beers. All in all, the Carlton Hotel was a good choice for us.