One Way Ticket: Azhar Park

This is a beautiful park on a hill above Cairo. It is actually the biggest park in Cairo, but smaller than most of the parks that I am used to in Rochester we walked our dogs. It affords views of a number of mosques, the skyline of Cairo, the cliffs of Moqatam (where they carved a lot of the stone for the pyramids) and on a clear day, like yesterday, we could actually see the Pyramids.

On our way out, I had a hilarious thing happen to me. There was some folklore show going on right in front of the gate, and a bunch of Egyptians were crowded around it, so naturally we went and took a look. It was mix of dancing and comedy sketches about the time of the sultans in Egypt. All of a sudden, the MC came over to me when he noticed that there were foreigners in the crowd (we were the only ones) and gave me a hearty kiss on the cheek. Then two minutes later, he dragged me out of my spot in the crowd into the show, and I found myself in the middle of a competition for his "daughter" adorned with a rifle, a robe, and a tall hat. This went on for a good ten minutes, and in the end, I made it out a live to a large applause and new fame, with a free papyrus from the group, with the name of the group (which was lead by Hassaan - the guy who kissed me), and a slogan that says "We want peace for Egypt and all of the world." Sweet.