Run-up to Christmas

I’ve delayed writing until I had something more to say than “dinner at home.” Thanks to the elections, I taught both Saturday and Sunday, but was finished teaching as of Monday the 12^th. I’ll miss my students but some tell me they have enrolled in one of the spring courses.

Mona Lisa sells veils

Harris and I are preparing for the arrival of the Bruce McCombies and Andrew, making sure there are plenty of pillows and blankets, and planning meals and outings. It’s exciting because it makes it real. As I was picking up a few things on Road 233, a nearby shopping street, I noticed a scarf shop I’d passed before—the  Mona Lisa, whose sign depicts the enigmatic smiling Leonardo image veiled. I’ve added it to my collection of Mona Lisas.

Thanks to Eden and Nate Bowditch, we went to a performance at the Cairo American College (a private high school in Ma’adi) of “Little Shop of Horrors,” in which their son Julius played the dentist. Not only did we emerge singing, but Eden led us to a place of joy afterwards: the Deli, a little shop run by a Coptic family that sells bacon, pork chops, prosciutto, ham—you get the picture—and for an exorbitant price, imported spirits. We had bacon today, and one thing you learn living here is to savor every morsel, unlike our usual greedy gobbling. We most certainly dig on swine.

Egyptian Museum

Ka-Aper, c. 2500 BC

Ka-Aper detail (from Corbis)

Now that classes are finished, we can be tourists here. On the 13^th, we finally went to the Egyptian Museum with Sarah and Mark Mineart for a curated tour with Tarek Swelim, a Cairo-based guide who also holds multiple degrees (including a Harvard PhD) and possesses a great sense of humor. We started with the famous stuff—King Tutankhamen—and then with Tarek’s knowledge as guide, enjoyed the more subtle and elegant works there, particularly the sculptures from the Old Kingdom. The naturalistic details of the world’s oldest wooden statue from about 2500 BC (making it almost 5000 years old) was breathtaking. Ka-Aper, a priest whose tomb at Saqqara yielded the sculpture, is perfectly recognizable, with a soft double chin, tight braids across the back of his head, a bit of a belly, and a serene expression emphasized by inlaid eyes of rock crystal and ebony that glowed softly when Tarek held his mini-Maglite up.

Former Interior Ministry building

The museum was touched by the Revolution, however; Tarek pointed to cracks in the glass ceiling above Tutankhamen’s shrines where looters entered (and got away with heaven knows what). He also noted how dust coated so many things since no one is caring for them. On our last visit there in 1996, Harris and I had been struck by the sense of disorder there, which is magnified now. Many pieces are wrapped in plastic for transport to a new museum that was begun under Mubarek and will open someday, maybe, whenever. The gift shop had been completely looted and never re-stocked, so when we exited through the gift shop, we had no chance to buy. Next door to the museum is the hulk of a burned out building that originally housed the interior ministry and political party of Mubarek, then provided snipers with a perch from which to pick off protesters in Tahrir last January and February. Now it’s a burned-out concrete testament to the revolution, a strange disjunction to the grandeur of the museum building, and a reminder that Egypt is changing.

Harris at lunch

After so much culture, we needed a rest, and headed to a Nile-side restaurant within the Sofitel El Gezira. Tarek ordered for us in Arabic, and we feasted on salads, babaganoush, falafel, tahini, hoummous, and a mixed grill. Lunch included a sheesha water pipe, the hubbly-bubbly with flavored tobacco (apple and anise), gently lighted with bits of charcoal, and surprisingly pleasant. I’m no fan of tobacco but can see how sheesha works as part of a relaxing meal. Interestingly, every diner there had sheesha at their tables.

 

European-style Cairo building

Minarets of Al-Azhar Mosque

Cairo’s architecture bespeaks its multicultural history. Parts of the city, which Tarek said were designed by Baron von Haussmann after he finished work in Paris in the 1860s, are distinctly French, with neo-classical ornament and the grand entries akin to Parisian department stores. Government buildings tend to be Stalinist-style concrete slabs. Mosques abound, and even if they are recent creations, hew to the styles of medieval Cairo. 

Medieval Cairo building detail

After battling Cairo traffic, we finished the day with a short walk through the medieval part of Cairo where Al-Azhar Mosque, built originally in 970AD, sits next to the maze of streets of the Khan al’Khalili. The details and carvings of the buildings are exquisite, and the dense streets, filled with markets offering everything from silks to vegetables to underwear to gold are overwhelming. Tarek led us down the main narrow street, Sharia al-Muizz; it’s this neighborhood that was made famous in Naguid Mahfouz’s Nobel Prize-winning books, The Cairo Trilogy. One shop we entered made its own papers, some marbled, all exquisite, bound its own books; another offered exquisite custom-made robes, jackets, and linens. More shopping is in our future.

Abd El-Laher Bookshop

Khan Al'Khalili butcher shop

Sharia Al-Muizz main street, Khan Al Khalili

Spice shop in the Khan

Vegetable market in the Khan

Cairo's permanent traffic jam

BTW, I heard from my friends that the December 3^rd memorial service for my colleague Annie Fitzgerald was amazing, and Paul Lauter sent me links to some of the photo tributes to her. It’s still hard to imagine that she won’t be there when I return to campus.

Memphis, Dashur, and maybe Saqqara with Tarek in a couple more days, when I’ll blog again.

another gorgeous building detail