June 8 - Heliopolis, Khan Al-Khalili, prep for flight to Paris

Caught a tram to Heliopolis, an Egyptian English teacher spoke to me and bought my ticket for me. It was a nice gesture but the 25 piastres ticket works out to about 5 cents ;-). He was helpful in where to get off too.

I saw the Uruba Palace, where Mubarak has offices. Heliopolis is supposed to be a trendy area of Cairo. Passed by the Amphitrion open air cafe and carried on to see the Basilica which is an impressive church. I actually missed seeing Baron's place which is supposed to be impressive. Probably just too much walking under the sun that I forgot.

The main thing I came to see was the October War Panorama. This was built with the help of North Korean artists. It is just a look at the 1973 'Victory' the Egyptians had over the Israelis. When I got there, which was a 2km walk out of the way, they said there would be no show unless there were 15 people at least. There was a family of 4 waiting and then I came, no show until more showed. So I hung out for a while, and a group of school kids eventually came by to justify a showing. I don't see the big deal about turning on a movie for less, but the attendants, who were doing there military service there, said the rules were the rules. So I was quite happy to see the kids arriving to justify a showing.

Sort of glosses of the fact that the Israelis severely pounded them back very shortly after. But it gave the Egyptians leverage to get the Israelis to negotiate with them. I listened to some English commentary and it layed it on pretty thick about rising up against severe injustice and all that. Typical propaganda style documentary a la World War II/Eastern Bloc style. But still pretty good.

Went back to Khan Al-Khalili for a few more souvenirs before leaving. I have arranged a taxi to pick me up at 4am to take me to the airport for my Paris flight. I will be staying at the Hotel du Printemps there. Will be a refreshing change of weather as I have had as much heat as I like and would like somewhere a little cooler. Egypt & Jordan have been great!