Return to Cairo, 2016

We left Minneapolis on Wednesday evening for our annual winter stay in Cairo.  As usual, the trip was via an eight-hour flight to Amsterdam followed by a four hour flight from Amsterdam to Cairo.  We had ten hours to spend in Amsterdam between flights.

Many people watch movies on the much improved video systems on the newer planes, but I prefer to just follow the flight information screen and catch up on my reading.  Toward the end of the flight, I noticed that the rising moon outside the cabin window was accompanied by Venus.


Soon, the early morning sunrise began to illuminate the sky and I captured a decent picture of the combination.


We checked our carry-on bags in a locker at the Schiphol airport and took the train into Amsterstdam's central station for lunch.


It was cold and raining for much of the time we were in town so we spent a good bit of the time just people watching from the inside of the restaurant.


I don't know how Linda does it but she managed to get us seats in First Class for the four hour flight to Cairo.  Complimentary Chivas, real china, a choice of appetizers (we both had the pumpkin soup - very tasty) and lots of attention from the flight attendants.  It's interesting to find out how the "other folks" travel.