5/11/98: Woke to a pancake breakfast courtesy of Nile (the person). Visited the Museum of Antiquities. Lunch with Nick. Walk around the city. Boat ride on the Nile (the river).
5/11/23: Nick and Nile both worked in public health for an international NGO (non-governmental organization). At that point in her career, Ruth already had a master’s degree in public health, and was working in infection control in a hospital setting. So, we had a long and fascinating talk over breakfast.
We visited the Museum of Antiquities, but I’ll write a little more about that tomorrow. As we were walking through Tahrir Square I was approached by a fellow on the street who asked: “Sir, where are you from? You walk like an Egyptian!” And he comically struck “the pose” from the 1986 song by The Bangles. This cracked me up, of course, as I’m a sucker for any pop-song reference. So, I struck the pose too. Sadly, Ruth was unfamiliar with the song and the joke.
In the evening we headed to the Nile to take a sunset cruise on a felucca, which is a small, open body sailboat. It was quite charming and romantic to watch the sun go down from the middle of the river. Afterwards we strolled up the west bank river walk where many other couples were walking arm in arm, and even necking on a park bench. And we thought this was a strict Muslim country!
