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Monday, 9 April. The morning was relatively relaxed. At 7:30 we went to the hotel's generous buffet breakfast. There was an orientation meeting at 8:30 at which each of the approximately 100 travelers was assigned to one of three color-coded groups. (We were put in the yellow group with Salah as our Program Director.) Beverages served included hibiscus juice (karkade), which we found was very popular in Egypt. This was also the time to sign up for optional tours. We booked all of them except the 13-hour train/bus trip to Alexandria. We agreed that would be to much for Jane. At 10:15 there was a very interesting lecture on Ancient Egypt. I don't intend to go into much history in connection with the many monuments, temples, etc. that we visited on this tour. Ancient Egyptian history is too long and complicated. However, just to provide some point of reference, I've attached a very capsulized summary at this link: [History] At 12:30, after the lecture, the three groups left on separate buses for the Cairo Museum (1900) [also called the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities or the Egyptian Museum. See official site: https://egyptianmuseum.cairo.eg/emc ]. As we boarded the buses, we noticed a small military truck loaded with six heavily armed men maneuvering in the parking lot. We didn't give it much thought, but as our tour of Egypt continued, we realized that these were the tourist police. Such groups of armed men accompanied our buses wherever we went. At least one armed man in civilian clothes usually rode on each bus and accompanied us on our visits to tourist sites.
Once we got into the Museum, for two hours Salah led us through exhibits representing Egypt's Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, providing us interesting explanations and details regarding each exhibit. We concluded with the Tutankhamun (King Tut) exhibit, the highlight of the Museum. It was magnificent!
Salah turned us loose at 15:00, giving us an hour to roam the Museum on our own. Jane and I went back to the King Tut exhibit and saw it all over again before moving on to some of the other exhibits.
Eventually we left the building and went into the courtyard, intending to visit the gift shop, but it was closed for an Egyptian holiday. The snack bar was open, though, and we each had an ice cream bar. The bus had us back to the hotel by 16:30. At 18:30 most (26) of the yellow group left by bus for dinner hosted by two Egyptian families. We split into two smaller groups, one for each family. Our group had 12 people which we thought was too many for one family to host. Our hosts were a well-off family of professionals who welcomed us in a very large living room/dining room. The father owned a "wood-working" enterprise that manufactured elegant furniture; the mother was a lawyer; and the one son who joined us was an engineer. The son spoke fluent English; the mother understood a great deal but spoke only a little; the father understood only a few words. They lived in a high-rise condominium building which the father and his brothers had inherited from their father. The meal was very elaborate with probably a dozen different dishes, all delicious. The conversation touched many topics, including Islam, the economy, and family life. Unfortunately, we were so spread out around the rooms that only a few could participate. I walked over to the wife and started a separate conversation about legal matters, but her duties as hostess called her away after a few minutes. We were having such an enjoyable time that we forgot that we were supposed to be waiting outside the building to be picked up at 20:30, and Salah had to come in to get us. The bus had us back to the Marriott before 21:00.
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