Beautiful sight...but the official "Shake Down"

Amazing. There are not enough words to describe what I have seen over the past three days. Rome was in ruins, Barcelona had narrow streets, Paris had political riots, London had bad food, and Egypt had the pyramids.


My hike through Europe was me, my bag, and my travel guide. However, I got the official upgrade when I got to Cairo. From the minute we got there we had our own personal travel guide and driver to take us to the different sights. As I flew into Cairo at 2:30 in the morning I could still see the turns of the Nile River from the window of the plane.

The pyramids were the first place Stephanie and I visited. You are drive through the very crowded and hectic streets of Cairo (you think driving in NY is crazy, go to Cairo) all of a sudden the streets get real quite, cars turn into mules pulling carts, and buildings are replaced by farm land that is watered by the Nile. When you see the pyramids and the different tombs you can only be amazed at what the Egyptians had to do in order to build them. So I could not believe that I was actually there. I had to put my hands in the sand to really feel the desert.

The best part about seeing the pyramids was riding a camel around them. That was the official beginning of the shake down. When the 13 year old kid who was taking us around on the camels took our picture and then demanded 50 Egyptian pounds for them. At one point he held our cameras until we pulled out some money, which we did give him. When I say shake down, I mean no matter what you do or where you go in Egypt everyone wants an unreasonable tip. The cab driver wanted a tip for a picture. The man holding the broom at the pyramids asked for a tip because he said hello. Then random people start jumping into your pictures all for, you guessed it, a tip. After awhile very nice hospitality turned into a nuisance. The people are very nice, but expect to pay out of pocket for it.

I must mention our 1950 style of travel from Cairo to Aswan. I mean we had a sleeping car porter who was there to let down our beds and serve food. It was a train fully equipped with arm guards ready to throw down at a moments notice. Even though it was 12 hour ride it only felt like three. Plus, in the morning you can see the Nile River from the train which is lined by the biggest palm trees you will ever see. In Aswan everything is on an island which is only accessible by motor boat or felucca. Sailing on the Nile in a felucca is up there with the camel ride.

It would not be socially responsible of me if I do not acknowledge some of the social conditions of Egypt. While the tourist enjoy first class developed accommodations, still many in Cairo and Aswan can only realize 3rd world conditions. The amount of kids (5-13) who were working and selling things to tourist on the street was shocking. Even the ones working in the carpet industry, which we had visited. For Aswan the tourist make up a huge part of their economy.

There is so much more to tell you, but I have to leave the internet cafe. I'll post more stuff later with picture.

As they say to me in Aswan, bye cousins.....




















This is our Cairo tour guide Rehamm.

Made it to Egypt

I've made it to Egypt. It has only been a few hours, but I have done so much. I met my friend from the law school Stephanie and we've been having an excellent time seeing all of the pyramids. I would write more but we are catching a 12 hour sleeper train to Aswan. When I get better internet connection and more time I will post pictures....there is a lot to talk about and show.

When in Rome...Don't do as Adam

I know it has been a few days since I have posted anything, but Internet access has not been as accessible as before. Nonetheless, I've been in Rome for about 4 days and it has been the hottest (temperature) out of all four cities that I have visited.

When I got to Rome I did all of the touristy things, like go to the Colosseum and the Vatican. One thing I can say is that Rome is probably the most heavily populated American tourist spots in Europe. One thing I hate is that it is overly saturated with tour groups and school kids. I mean you cannot walk five feet without hitting a cluster of fifty people with some extremely perky person at the front holding a colorful umbrella. Then the Vatican, although beautiful, was very crowded. I ran through that place so quickly because the congestion of all the people started to get to me. I did stop at the Sistine Chapel to take in the glorious work of Michelangelo.

My stay in Rome was split between two hostels (just how I planned it out). The first hostel was this trendy place that was geared towards American travelers. The other hostel was some random place I found on the Internet. After I checked out of the first hostel I went looking for the Sunshine Hostel. I started walking in the hot Rome sun looking for this hostel. The area went from a very tourist friendly to this broken down "skid row" type of an area. Who ever knew Rome had a skid row? Nonetheless, by the time I found this hostel it was in a run down building with graffiti all over it (I can't believe that I did it again...I sure can pick em').

So I buzzed the hostel at least three times and no one answered. When I went to the front door of the Sunshine I rang the bell and again no answer. No one would come to the door. I think the place went out of business. I had already walked 30 minutes away from other hostel to walk back. So I was left homeless in Rome.

Next best thing was to start randomly going around to hotels and see if they had any available rooms within my budget....which again is a very low budget. The first hotel turned me down, but the second hotel had one available room. The guy at the front desk, Julio looked at me and said in a very thick Italian accent, "For you 80 euros a night". I told Julio AKA "Jewels" that I could not afford 80 euros a night for a hotel. I told him what my budget was and he affirmed that I would not get that rate anywhere in Rome. He was nice enough to call around to a few places to find me a cheaper place, but no luck. The cheapest he could find was 120 euros a night. He even called the other trendy hostel to see if they had any beds, but they too were completely booked.

So my good friend Julio broke down and said that he has an extra room that they only use in emergencies but the bathroom is outside of the room. So my good friend Julio showed me what looked like the old maid quarters from 60 years ago, but he would give it to me at my quoted rate. I could not complain because I know the going rates for hotels in Rome from my research and I was not going to get a better than that. So we went back to the front deck and before he could swipe my card Julio looks at his book and looks at me and says, "I'll give you a regular room at that rate. I won't put you in that other room". My good friend Julio must have felt some petty on my poor American soul and cut his regular price by more than half to satisfy my weak and pathetic budget. Without Julio I would have been sleeping on skid row.


Just as a side note I almost was deported for making this entry into this blog....or close to it.

While I was sitting in some random Internet cafe around the corner from where I was washing my clothes, the place got raided by the Italian police. They went around and started asking everyone for documentation. It turns out that the law in Italy is that you have to give up documentation (passport) in order to use a public Internet cafe. They passed the law as part of their anti-terrorism efforts. I don't know how it prevents terrorism but they think it does. I think it is worth mentioning that most of the cafes in Rome are run and used by Arab immigrants. They question you as though you were pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike for driving the speed limit in a nice car. My inner law student wanted to protest, but I remembered that I was not in the US. I don't know what they were saying to the guy working the place, but I can only imagine exactly what was being said. If you ask me the whole shake down was pure harassment.

Therefore, this will be my only post from Italy. I am going to wrap myself up in my American flag and its Bill of Rights and wait to use the Internet in a more free nation.





The outside of the Pantheon. The only structure in Rome that it is not in ruins. I studied this in Classical Art freshman year at Howard.

The inside of the Pantheon.

She wolf with Romulus and Remus. This is one of the few pieces I actually remember talking about in the class. My professor would always tell us what to check out if we were ever in Rome.