Alex the Great-ish.

The last stop on our extensive travels through Egypt was the city of Alexandria... founded and named after Alexander the Great in 332BC. This is the city where the famous "Queen of the Nile" Cleopatra also reigned. The ancient city was considered to be the intellectual capital of the world at that time, due in large part to it's massive library. The modern city was again popular in the early 1900's when foreigners came in and built some beautiful buildings. Today, the city is a bit run down.. a sad version of it's former glory. However, the library, which burnt down in ancient wars, was just rebuilt. It was GORGEOUS. The largest modern library in the world. Aunt Gale - you would have died! We spent a while wandering around there marvelling at the architecture and lamenting about how depressing our university library was in comparison (if Weldon library looked like this, I may have actually gone to it! haha). "Alex" is also known for it's great seafood, and we chowed at a very local place that has no menu and serves 3 kids of seafood all at one.. it was soo good! The hotel we stayed in was like a scene from a horror film.. you had to enter it from a back alleyway that looked like a dungeon, then there was a ancient rickety elevator, the other guests there were all amazingly bizarre, I had to pry one little girl out of the stuck elevator, and Mars and I caught one of the creepy staff dudes lurking inside our room! Alex was QUITE a strange place!

After 2 days in Alex, we returned via train to Cairo. As has become our tradition, Mars and I went out for a fancy dinner for our last night in the city, along with our artist friend Wai. We went to the Buddha Bar inside the Sofitel El Gizira... it was stunning. We had an amazing meal (thanks mom for funding that...!) and some Egyptian wine.

Tonight, we fly to Nairobi. Cannot believe we are starting our last trip! Where has the time gone?? I am soooo excited to start the safari. I'll try to post as often as I can, but not sure if there will be much internet available in the jungle (the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight... ah weeee eeee....!!) We have a day in Nairobi before our 43 day safari starts. I am so going to pet a lion.