Aleskandria

Last weekend I went on the AUC-sponsored (and supposedly subsidized) trip to Alexandria.
A little anecdote about EST (Egyptian Standard Time): we were supposed to be in front of the dorm building at 8am to get a bus to campus, from where we would leave at 9. we woke up at 8. mish mushkila, we said (not a problem), we'll just cab there. the cab from dorm to campus is 3-5 pounds, if you're savvy, which is less than $1. mish mushkila. but when we wandered down at around 8:45 the buses from the dorm were just loading. we should have known. mish mushkila, we got there no problem in time to see the library of Alexandria and a beautiful sunset.

The ancient library of Alexandria was destroyed by an earthquake a long time (note my historical accuracy) ago, but a new one was built in 2003, and it's pretty amazing. I mean, the heirogliphics etched on the outside are shwaya (a little) tacky, but mish mushkila. it's one of (if not the) biggest in the world and the inside is designed to minimize shadows and maximize natural light. (see picture above right.)

<- I thought this was fun. In case you need a pepsi after prayer, you're all set with this Pepsi-Mosque. other sites we saw were: Pompey's Pillar, the Roman Ampetheater, the Catacombs, and the Citadel. then we had amazinggg seafood at the restaurant "Fish Market." For the tourist attractions I'm not going to post individual pictures, but there's a compilation of sorts on the top of this post. The citadel was pretty magnificent though, it was built on top of the ruins of the old lighthouse and now is basically just used for tourism revenue. I took about a hundred pictures of it, but here are a few of my favorites.we didn't get time to go inside (I plan on going back), but there was an amazing old mosque which we are told is the largest in Alexandria, and it looks magnificent from the outside. The sun is positioned just right in this photo, maybe it is Allah? It does say "Allah" in neon lights on top. That's something I've found very strange in Egypt. Mosques use neon lights. Either the word "Allah" appears, or the entire building is lit green or pink or another outrageous color. For me that would kind of detract from the religiosity of the place, but I guess it's intended to do the opposite. Funny. Anyway, I took about a hundred photos so if you'd like to see more, here's the link to my photobucket page: http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg67/aazoff/

Enjoy!