Funkengroovin Wednesday - Goodbye Cairo, Hello Connecticut

(View from the Mena House.)

Vagabondblogger is returning to the States, this evening, for three months. It's a bit earlier than she had hoped, but apparently, much to her surprise, this is a very busy travel time in Cairo. Vagabondblogger has quite a few Cairene discoveries to write about, and will continue Funkengroovin Wednesdays throughout the duration of her U.S. stay. Vagabondblogger goes from 85 degree F Cairo heat, to a predicted 30 degrees in Connecticut on Thursday night! Yes, she is packing a jacket! In addition, her stay will last about three months, so off she goes from the land of the Pharaohs to a small town in Connecticut, where plays are presented at the local Grange hall.

In approximately one month (actually less) Vagabondblogger will travel to Pennsylvania to pick up a new puppy. For those of you who have followed this blog, you know Vagabondblogger lost Doggie July 17th, and posted a remembrance here. So look forward to some photos, and an announcement Thanksgiving week.

Last Friday, The Boss Man and Vagabondblogger took a trip to Giza for lunch at the Mena House hotel , below the Pyramids (see first photo.) Just as an aside and bit of trivia, Mena Suvari, who is of Greek descent (like yours truly,) and according to USAweekend.com, was named after the hotel, sort of:

"Mena, the world traveler: Part Estonian and part Greek, Suvari was named for her godmother, who was born in the Mena House, a hotel at the base of the Pyramids in Egypt."

Lunch there is okay. The Boss Man thinks it's overpriced, but let's all agree: most of the people who eat there are tourists. The shop owners in Maadi all say their prices are higher at the Khan because they get mostly tourists who will visit them only once, whereas in Maadi they can lower prices since they know they're building a relationship with the local expat community (as if that still doesn't prevent them from ripping us all off anyway.)


We talked our driver into taking us around to see the "White Chickens" aka White VW Buses they use as taxis in Giza, before we stopped for lunch. So here's a couple of pics of what we caught (more and better at a later date.) For now, please enjoy a few photos of buses in Giza, and a very nice blue VW Bug we found at the Carrefour parking lot.




































And finally, another edition, of the Cairo delivery service - this time it's can recycling via bicycle.







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