Cairo: Day 5: Egyptian Museum and Mohamed Ali Mosque

Garden area of the mosque

Outside of the Mohamed Ali Mosque

The view of Cairo from the Mosque

We were completely exhausted by this time

Getting covered to go inside

Super awesome lighting

The wash area outside of the mosque

So, this was our last full day in Egypt. After a very long ride from Luxor, we made our way back to Cairo. We had 2 things planned for this day; to go the the Mohamed Ali Mosque, and to visit the Egyptian Museum. First, at the museum, which is a very famous museum, we got to see all of the ancient and historic things the museum had to offer. We were not allowed to take camera's in, so I don't have any photos to show of it. But, it was a cool museum, where we got to see old mummy's, and tombs, and the remains from King Tut's tombs. Our guide told us that during the protests in Egypt, the museum was broken in to, because there was no security at the time. During this break in, about 25 things were stolen, one of which was something that came from King Tut's possessions. Whatever it was that was stolen is supposedly worth about $800 million and can be sold on the black market to private collectors. I cannot imagine having something that valuable. But who knows, the thief might be cursed for stealing one of King Tut's things, so that will be too bad for that person.

After leaving the museum, we headed to the Mohamed Ali Mosque, which is either the old or largest or both, mosque in Cairo, and it was indeed, very big, and beautiful too. To go in to the mosque, we of course had to cover up since we had on short sleeve shirts, but we were not required to cover our hair. We really enjoyed the mosque, but were so exhausted from out trip and the long train ride that we were getting anxious to go. We took some scenic pictures at the lookout area outside the mosque, and went back to the Mercure Hotel, where we would have the rest of the day to ourselves. When we got back to the hotel, we spent literally the entire rest of the day laying in bed, sleeping, ordering room service, and watching movie after movie. It was some much needed zone-out time. We had a good amount of the next day to do what we wanted.

When we woke up the next day, we were hoping to go to the swimming pool and chill there for the day. But, of course, our plans of catching some rays were squashed by a dust storm that was covering a good chunk of the Middle East, so, we didn't make it to the pool. Instead, we got our fitness on, and went to the hotel gym for a good sweat session, followed by a dip in the Jacuzzi, and I spent some extra time sweating in the sauna and steam room. We ended the day with a shower and then off to the airport. 

When we got to the airport, we were rather hungry, so we stopped at the food court to order some food. I went to an Asian food stand, where they had a few dishes sitting out. I asked for the Thai dish, which looked as though it had been sitting out for a while (although all the food there looked that way), but I decided to risk it and eat. Rachel got some food from there as well. The gentlemen at the counter was even nice enough to not charge us for our food. We figured maybe he liked us, or maybe because it was the evening and they would be closing up soon. We sat down and ate. 

Well, about 20 minutes to half hour later, things started going downhill. All of  a sudden, I started feeling really hot and sweaty, and my stomach was on fire and feeling nauseated. Within moments, I was running to the bathroom, and things were not so good. This food was not settling right, and I'm pretty sure the oldness of it meant it was probably going bad. The entire ride on the bus shuttle to the airplane, I was sweating and feeling really gross. More time was spent in the bathroom on the airplane. Sadly, a little after my onset of the food poisoning, Rachel's stomach was hit pretty bad with the same sickness, and she felt like crap also. We both had a pretty miserable plane ride home, and had at least 24 hours of bad stomach.
Despite the sour ending, I once again got to experience another super awesome trip. Good friends, good sight seeing, good eating. I love the travel opportunities that I have been so fortunate to experience. Traveling will always be high up on my list of favorite things to do, and I hope there are many more experiences like this one to com.