Hotel

Cairo is HOT. It became too hot for us. The handicapped home where we were staying was great. Even though we weren't able to communicate with the people there, with them speaking Arabic and us English, we appreciated our time there and enjoyed seeing that part of Cairo. But, with no air conditioning, the nights became too uncomfortable. Every night taking a taxi back there was a dangerous/fun/frustrating ride. We decided to check into a hotel.

Since we had been meeting Ellen at the Marriott, which is located on the Zamalek (the island Ellen lives on) it was familiar, very nice, has a pool, and air conditioned. We all then decided to relax, because that's what you do on vacation...relax. Anita got a little over heated in Cairo and needed the rest, Martin got hot there and needed the rest, Katie was hot needed the rest, and Pat got hot/sick and needed the rest. It turned out to be really nice for Katie and Patrick to sleep in comfortable beds, since we've been sleeping on harder ones for the past 6 months in Nairobi.

Our stay at the Marriott was the first time since leaving the States, where we have had any sort of "luxurious living". It was very odd at first to be staying there, knowing only a few days before we were living with the children at Bosco Boys who have never even seen something as plush as the Marriott. We don't know how to explain our feelings about living with so little, to living with so much unnecessary, in such a short period of time...

Well, it turned out to be a good decision, due to the fact that I (Patrick) got pretty sick. In fact, I ended up going to the doctors back in Nairobi and I had some sort of a bacterial thing in my stomach. I think it was due to a bottle of water I got in Cairo, when I tasted it something wasn't right. Ellen told us that companies fill old bottles of water with tap water, re-glue the top, and resell it. I got one of those bottles.

The hotel is a beautiful structure, has a very nice pool, and has a pretty cool history. The Marriott Hotel was built by Khedive Ismail Pasha to accommodate Empress Eugenie of France on her visit to Egypt. The Khedive spared no expense in building this hotel to house the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte III and other Cairo Marriott European dignitaries during the inaugural celebrations of the Suez Canal in 1869. Over the years, after the revolution, and through the changing over power, the purpose of the building changed a few times. It was first for Empress Eugenie, then became a home for someone else, then a hotel, and finally became the Marroitt. The pictures that the hotel has up of the original building is just beautiful and the hotel today is keeping up that standard.

Golden arches to the entrance

Marble floors

Patrick and Katie

Martin and Anita