Globe Trotting J's 2019 Trip Day 2: A Mugs Odyssey
And like that we’re in our second day here in Cairo. After a late night that ran into this morning at the hotels bar we all came back and slept through the night. I think I was the first awake this morning at 9 AM and by 10 AM we were all up. We had breakfast brought up to the room which was a basket of pastries, orange juice, and coffee. Not the most nutritious breakfast, but the pastries were delicious and the coffee (albeit not great) hit the spot.
Originally our plan was to do nothing today. Use it as a day to recover from the travel over here and gear up for two full days of touring. But when we woke up and felt good we decided to get out of the hotel and enjoy. While Jenn got ready Jake and I went down to the beautiful gym that overlooks the Nile. We got a nice half hour workout in before coming back to the room and getting ready for the day.
We left the hotel a little after noon and had an Uber take us the mile or two to the second most popular tourist attraction in Cairo (after the pyramids) the Egyptian Museum. When we arrived we went through security, got some Egyptian currency out and bought our passes to enter the museum, see the mummies, and two vouchers that allowed us to take pictures in the museum. I’m so glad we were able to muster the energy to get out today because the museum was amazing. It’s a two story stunning building with over 100,000 items. If there was any complaint it was that there was just so much to see and it was hard to really comprehend the importance and work involved with saving so much of the history.
I did mention that we also got the pass that allowed us to see mummies. And although you’re not really supposed to take pictures in there, we were able to grab a couple. But more than anything its just hard to put into words the moment where you realize that these were real people, with emotions, feelings, and beliefs and now we were starring at their remains thousands and thousands of years after their demise. It made me wonder what they’d think about where their mummified corpse ended up.
After nearly two hours of walking through the museum we left and grabbed an Uber to take us to a nearby Starbucks. At this point it probably doesn’t need mentioning but Jenn loves to collect Starbucks mugs from everywhere we travel to. Unfortunately when we arrived they didn’t have any mugs available. We grabbed some waters but weren’t deterred so we went to the next closest Starbucks and they too didn’t have one. So we called it quits for the day, grabbed another Uber to take us back to the hotel. So far we’ve been unsuccessful in acquiring an Egyptian Starbucks mug. When we arrived back at the hotel we asked too concierge to call around to see if any of the Starbucks mugs that we could travel to. Instead of doing that they sent one of their staff on a quest to find one. After checking almost every Starbucks in the city I can sadly report back that there weren’t any mugs left in the city. Kudos though to the Four Seasons for trying everything in their power to get Jenn her mug.
When we arrived back our hotel we ordered some more room service. Jenn had their spaghetti bolognase, Jake and I split a cheeseburger, and we had wings to split. It was a great light meal, exactly what we needed. Once lunch ended Jake and I went for a quick walk around the hotel before coming back and letting both Jake and Jenn take quick power naps. We rested up until a little after 7 PM when we grabbed an Uber to take us to a nearby Egyptian restaurant called Sabaya.
We made it to the restaurant a few minutes before our 7:30 PM reservation. We wanted some authentic Egyptian food and that’s exactly what we got. When we arrived we had what felt like half the restaurant staff come out and greet us and welcome us to their restaurant. We all started off trying three Egyptian wines, Jake and I tried a pretty rough Cab and Jenn had a nice Chardonnay. They also brought out a very nice fruit juice welcome drink that helped start the meal off on the right foot. We ordered hummus to start although they brought a giant plate of vegetables which they told us we should make a salad out of. None of us really wanted a salad nor risking if any of that would get us sick we all chose to pretend to eat it rather then actually partaking. For our main course Jake got the cubed beef, Jenn had a meatball dish in a white sauce and I had the koobideh with potatoes. The hummus was exquisite and the entrees were all quite good. We finished the meal with a very authentic Egyptian dessert that was phenomenal.
When the meal ended a little before 10 PM we grabbed an Uber, drove back to our hotel, and turned in quite early tonight to get ready for a big day three tomorrow.
