tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34229702624908823462024-03-19T01:29:26.347-07:00Tom's Travel BlogAn occasionally published narrative of our travels. An emphasis on photos and the "offbeat" aspects of Tom and Linda's jaunts around the U.S. and the world.
CLICK ON PHOTOS TO SEE MORE DETAILT J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.comBlogger1130125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-19470536531591978672024-03-18T06:11:00.000-07:002024-03-19T01:28:53.460-07:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Linda Gets a Haircut and I Make a Nostalgic Trip Back in TimeLinda needed a haircut in early March but the traveling hair stylist that she has used in the past had moved on to greener pastures. After checking with friends, she located a salon at the nearby Dandy Mall. We used Uber to take a ride to the mall, about thirteen miles away.The trip costs about 350 Egyptian Pounds, around $7, including a generous $2 tip.We found the mall still T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-51311923070168991872024-03-18T05:39:00.000-07:002024-03-18T05:39:46.353-07:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - We Replace the Balcony DoorWhen we first moved into our flat here in 2008, it was constructed with doors to the front and rear balconies custom made in the nearby area. While they looked charming, they were not particularly efficient at keeping out either noise or dust. I blogged about the replacement of the front balcony door with a newer style sliding door back in 2013. That's the original on the left T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-25866575732373116982024-03-17T01:56:00.000-07:002024-03-18T05:26:34.346-07:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Linda Makes RoqaqWhen I saw this product in our local supermarket I was intrigued so I bought a package of it. I had no idea what it was.
We opened the package once we were home. Still had no idea what it
was or what to do with it. We asked a visiting friend what it was and he
said, "Raqaq." I asked how it is used. He said that you dip it in soup
and bake it. This friend is not known for food T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-69318976430892140342024-02-29T12:39:00.000-08:002024-02-29T12:39:16.834-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Walk along Al-Azhar and Port Said StreetsAs Ramadan approaches, there is much shopping going on along the streets near Khan el-Khalili. As we were leaving the Khan a few days ago on the Al-Azhar Bridge, we noticed the large crowd below us near the old Tiring Building in the Al Mosky area of Cairo.
We returned to the general area to take a half-mile walk along Al-Azhar Street and Port Said Street before turning back T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-57991522643426296842024-02-26T02:01:00.000-08:002024-02-26T02:36:09.688-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Walk Through AbbassiyaAfter renewing our passports at the new General Administration of Passports office in Abbassiya, we decided to walk back toward Khan el-Khalili and perhaps stop for dinner if we found a restaurant. We walked toward the Abbasia Metro Station (Wikipedia, businesses and the Metro differ on the English spelling.)
There are a number of interesting places in the northern end of T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-31828266759236069192024-02-23T13:45:00.000-08:002024-02-23T15:41:25.485-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Extending Our VisasI previously blogged about the laborious process of extending a tourist visa here in 2009 and again in 2018. We normally arrive in Cairo without a visa and purchase one for twenty-five dollars at the bank window in the airport immigration area. That visa is only good for thirty days and there is a penalty for overstaying, but the penalty is waived for visitors over 60 years of T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-63577117219746351792024-02-22T13:29:00.000-08:002024-02-22T16:47:48.726-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Linda Buys a New Kitchen ScaleLinda makes considerable use of a kitchen scale for many of her recipes. She regularly uses the scale to measure flour, butter and other ingredients. She has had a very nice OXO scale for several years that she keeps here in Egypt.
Unfortunately, it became a bit erratic for a day or so and then simply stopped working. New batteries needed? No, that T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-57015607504122195202024-02-16T01:06:00.000-08:002024-02-20T13:33:59.285-08:00Egypt, 2024 - Convenience Stores are ProliferatingWhen we first moved into our apartment here in Cairo sixteen years ago, we had a limited number of nearby options for grocery shopping. The whole neighborhood had been created from farmland at the same time as the Ring Road was rising on pylons in front of us.
Our only nearby grocer was a convenience store about two hundred yards down our block. We refer to it as the "T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-57940888679495212822024-02-12T14:06:00.000-08:002024-02-12T16:22:50.109-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Watching the SuperbowlAfter getting a decent Internet connection in Cairo a few years ago, we quit using our satellite dish for entertainment. Most television programs that we had an interest in were available from Amazon Prime or Netflix via our Amazon Firestick.Of course, we occasionally hit a roadblock in the form of a screen displaying the message "this program is not available in your region," or words to T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-25646618085947591082024-02-09T11:32:00.000-08:002024-02-09T12:33:55.924-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Shopping for EggsWe needed eggs a couple of weeks ago and picked up a pack of 30 at the new BIM mini supermarket in the neighborhood. The eggs weren't visible inside the package and we were quite surprised when we opened them to discover that they were mini-eggs. Linda referred to them as "pigeon eggs". When we looked up the egg sizes of American eggs we discovered a category we didn't know existed. Pee weeT J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-84588019413193620962024-02-07T03:54:00.000-08:002024-02-07T04:18:13.570-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Walking through the NeighborhoodWe spent part of the afternoon at the home of friends in the neighborhood to install curtains in the bedroom that we remodeled last year. We are going to go back with my hacksaw and cut that curtain rod down to size next week.(Photo from last year on the left, this year on the right.)
Linda made an excellent choice of fabric for this girl's room decor, don't you think? We took T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-83205716690067535062024-02-05T07:16:00.000-08:002024-02-06T14:32:39.116-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Farewell to a Friend We were very saddened two days ago to hear of the passing of our long-time friend, Fergany el Komaty.Linda first met Fergany some 40+ years ago near the pyramids on one of her early trips to Egypt. Things were much simpler in those days. There were no vast crowds queuing to enter the pyramids compound; there was no compound, no gate, no fences. Tourists could simply walk T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-44521054188464757722024-02-04T04:18:00.000-08:002024-02-04T04:18:10.556-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Picnic Lunch in the Mango GroveOne of our friends is moving from the crowded Taksem abu Talb village near the pyramids to a more suburban location. This places him near some of the small farms south of Cairo or about two miles from our place.In exchange for Linda's cookies, he brought us a just picked head of cauliflower and two eggplants from one of his neighbors. It's quite hard to find cauliflower that isn't covered T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-29768582630377563762024-02-02T07:55:00.000-08:002024-02-05T08:45:09.254-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Cabbage Rolls for DinnerWhile visiting at a friend's home nearby, we were invited to stay for dinner. We accepted the invitation and had the opportunity to watch stuffed cabbage rolls, Egyptian style, being prepared.First you need a cabbage. They seem to come in what we would call "extra large" size here. Linda describes them as "way larger than a human head".
Our friend, Samia, peeled away the leaves in T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-37265150919579070842024-02-02T01:39:00.000-08:002024-02-02T01:39:53.707-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Buying ButterBuying butter for baking here in Cairo is not as simple as heading over to Jerry's market and picking up some Land O' Lakes butter from the cooler. There is a local brand of packaged butter, Almarai, that we buy sometimes. It's available in some of the nearby convenience stores.
But for eating we really prefer Danish Lurpak. It's known as one of the best butters in the world.&T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-36521169414534153592024-01-30T23:20:00.000-08:002024-02-01T17:04:08.954-08:00Winter in Egypt 2024 - At the Vegetable MarketOne of our favorite things about our annual winter in Cairo is access to abundant fresh fruits and vegetables - and at economical prices for us, at least. Egyptians tell a different story about prices.We headed down the block about a quarter mile to our favorite veggie shop shortly after arriving. This store has everything you could ask for. Out front, the big selling fruits are T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-64831457483887848972024-01-28T04:19:00.000-08:002024-01-28T11:36:42.229-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - The State of the Economy The state of the economy in Egypt is poor. Hard currency income is down due to declines in the the tourism sector because of the war in Gaza and declines in Suez Canal transit fees owing to the Houti attacks on Red Sea ship traffic. (Reports say Suez Canal traffic is down by 42%)Tourism accounts for about 12-13% of the Egyptian economy according to most reports. It's size T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-22454350141866552962024-01-28T00:10:00.000-08:002024-03-01T22:05:01.521-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - What's the Temperature?Many people are surprised to hear that we spend each winter in Egypt. The most common question that we hear after, "How long does it take to get there?" is "What is the weather/temperature like?" Here's a chart of the temperature for the past few days as tracked at this weather site:It's pretty boring. Low of 54 and high of 66 for the past five days.Of course, as T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-43034033560554315512024-01-27T09:41:00.000-08:002024-01-27T10:25:30.519-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Fixing Things, Part 2With the utilities secured, we took a shopping trip to the nearby Spinney's on Pyramids street and stocked up on food and then turned to secondary arrival tasks.Although we hired professional help to repair the dining room ceiling medallion, Roshdy thought that the two of us could easily fix the powder-room light. The water damage to the ceiling must have resulted in the crashing of the T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-5747425792137026512024-01-26T02:49:00.000-08:002024-01-26T03:00:04.649-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Fixing Things, Part 1.Besides turning on the water and gas, we noticed that we were going to need a few repairs. There had been some significant water damage to our apartment during the previous nine months, the results of leaks from the unit above us. While the worst of it is above the kitchen and powder room, the damage extends out into the living/dining area. One light fixture had completely fallen fromT J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-28377572529746226822024-01-19T11:11:00.000-08:002024-01-19T11:12:24.574-08:00Winter in Egypt, 2024 - Our Annual Escape from the ColdThe early part of winter had not been too severe this year. Linda took a picture of our street again this year to compare to the one she had taken the year before. It showed quite a contrast.
The Egyptian adventures began before we left Minnesota
(Linda recounts our departure and travel to the land of the pyramids)
We were scheduledT J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-48624313597402418832023-12-14T19:27:00.000-08:002023-12-14T19:27:43.147-08:00A Visit to Knoxville - Day 4, Lebanon to KnoxvilleWe left Lebanon in the morning and headed east on I-40. The leaf color, along the Interstate was very bright.
With only 170 miles between Lebanon and Knoxville, we decided to take a scenic detour off I-40 and drive the final 60 miles through some of the Tennessee back country. Our GPS indicated we would only add 36 minutes to the trip with this detour. We expected it would T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-7301541806279883632023-12-09T20:29:00.000-08:002023-12-10T12:00:08.251-08:00A Visit to Knoxville - Day 3, Part2 - Paducah, KY to Murfreesboro, TNAfter touring the Wall to Wall murals along the riverfront in Paducah, we continued on toward our final destination of Knoxville, TN. I wanted to stop at Murfreesboro to see what General Mills had made of the old Pillsbury (Totino's) pizza plant. Linda didn't think that sounded like a worthwhile stop until she recalled that she followed the owner of a furniture store in Murfreesboro T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-49587624217928697192023-12-05T17:35:00.000-08:002023-12-05T17:35:37.223-08:00A Visit to Knoxville - Day 3, part 1 - Paducah, KentuckyTuesday morning gave us the opportunity to drive downtown to the riverfront in Paducah. The town has a population of about 27,000 and is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and Illinois rivers with a rich history of riverboat and railroad activity. A twenty block area of downtown is designated as a historic district.A large collection of murals, about a quarter mile in length, T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3422970262490882346.post-86881195450690956922023-11-28T11:11:00.000-08:002023-11-29T22:46:45.263-08:00A Visit to Knoxville, Tennessee. Day 2, Iowa and Illinois.From the Quad Cities to Paducah Kentucky Davenport - Largest of the Quad CitiesWe pulled off the I-80 freeway for the night on the northern edge of Davenport, Iowa, the largest of the Quad Cities (Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa; Rock Island, Moline and East Moline across the Mississippi in Illinois - yes that is five cities). We found a interesting spot for a delicious dinner in the T J Sawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09260687428823173972noreply@blogger.com0