Day 13

After our last visit to the step pyramid it was back to our hotel to pack and prepare for our second part of our journey on the road to Jerusalem.

We made some good friends on the tour group, particularly Jaqui and Gillian from Canada and it was sad to say goodbye. Perhaps we will catch up with them should we have the opportunity to travel to Canada, particularly to Toronto where they live.

We wound down in Cairo by having a late lunch at McDonalds and some window shopping, at the mall across the road.

The next day was a rest and relaxation day and making ready for the trip to Israel. After breakfast Grant, Penny & Linda decided to visit the markets to get hassled by the stall keepers and then we met to see Prince of Persia at the movies as we were still in the mood for Arabs and desert scenery. The movie was loud and we were presented with an intermission break during the movie, which gave some of us a toilet break. I haven’t had an intermission break in a movie since Gone With The Wind. It was very quaint to experience this again.

We finally left Cairo for Tel Aviv Israel via Amman Jordan. We travelled once more through the streets of Cairo with all its chaos and mayhem and finally boarded our plane.

The plane trip was uneventful, but smooth in timing and travel. We landed in Tel Aviv airport, which is a clean and new structure. Catching the taxi to our hotel and travelling along the roads of Israel was quite a contrast with those of Egypt. We didn’t hear a horn and all the cars stayed in their lanes and there were no pedestrians walking with the traffic. The scenery reminded me of home and for the first time in over 2 weeks we didn’t feel out of place or did we stand out in this society. We reached the hotel and bedded down for the night.