At the Tackle Shop in Cairo

I needed a fishing rod.  I know, it's a bit unusual, what with us being in the desert here.  But there are fish in the Nile and in the lake down by Fayoum and up on the Mediterranean at Alexandria.  Actually, it's a gift, not for my own use.  But where would I find one?

I asked our favorite guide, Roshdy, and he quickly came up with a local fishing tackle shop.  It's downtown between Tahrir Square and Talat Harb.  We have probably walked past it a dozen times without noticing it.

It's not Cabela's, or Joe's Sporting Goods in St. Paul.  No, it's not even that little bait shop just off the Interstate at Harris, MN.    This place doesn't even have a sign over the window.  This is truly a "mom and pop" operation.  They were both there as was their son.


They have rods and reels - and note the Magnum Rapala.

Dawn at the Pyramids

Since that group of bicyclers mentioned in the post below was going to be "riding across Cairo" on Friday morning, I thought that we could go over by the pyramids and watch them depart.  It turns out that they aren't actually riding across Cairo.  This is probably a good thing - from a safety point of view.  They began at one of the pyramids inside the controlled access area and rode down the hill.  They were loaded onto a bus and their bikes onto a truck for the ride across the city where presumably, they unloaded and began their ride in relative safety from the insane Cairo drivers.

We did, however, gather a few pictures of the pyramids in the warm orange light of dawn, but with a bit of haze obscuring the scenery.

Just as we arrived at the western entrance, a few tourists were also arriving to take "selfies" with the pyramids in the background.  A camel was also passing by.


I walked up to the gate and took a couple of pictures.  This was a rare chance to to have a picture without people as it was two hours before the gate opened.

Something Interesting at the Vodafone Store

While we were at the Vodafone store buying data connections a couple of days ago, we should have checked on our voice phones.  Our phone are not exactly "smart."  They are pretty much what the typical Egyptian shepherd carries with him.  Cheap, rugged and reliable, however.


Yesterday, both our phones suddenly quit making calls - we could receive calls, but not call out.  The phone displayed this helpful message:


We headed back to the Vodafone store.  While I was in the queue to deal with the technical problem - I was stuck behind a Canadian who was buying a data-line (see post below!), Linda struck up a conversation with a woman from Germany.

It turns out that we had run into five people staying at a nearby hotel who were preparing to bicycle from Cairo to Capetown.  If that sounds a bit like a good book title, it is - and a darned good read.  But this group is going on a better organized and assisted version of the trip.

TDA Global Cycling offers this grand bicycle tour departing from the Pyramids Friday morning and arriving in Capetown on May 14th.  Only fifteen of this years participants plan to make the entire journey but about thirty will do part of it.  Check out the TDA website for many more details.

 Our original trans-continental journey and flagship expedition crossing Africa from north to south, covering almost 12,000 km in four months. This will be the 14th edition of the Tour d’Afrique – a test of mind, body, and bicycle. Traveling through 10 countries in all, you will cycle along the Nile past ancient temples, through the Sudanese desert, and up and down the biblical landscapes of Ethiopia’s rugged Simian Mountains. After crossing the Equator in Kenya, you will pedal past legendary Mount Kilimanjaro, to Lake Malawi, Victoria Falls, and along the edges of the magnificent Kalahari and Namib deserts, en route to the finish of your epic journey in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa.

Maybe after Linda gets her second knee replacement in place ...

Will My iPad Work in Egypt - Part 3

(Note regular readers may want to skip this "techie" post.  If terms like LTE, SIM, 3G and 4G don't get your heart pounding, this one's not for you!)

I published a post on this blog five years ago titled, "Will My iPad Work in Egypt?"  It remains one of my "most Googled posts."  But it is time for an update:  Will my iPad Air 2 work in Egypt?  Short answer, "yes."

I made a serious mistake last summer with Linda's iPad 2.  After having problems with a few of her apps, I upgraded the operating system to IOS 8.  This effectively converted her favorite machine into a boat anchor.  Well, that's the old term from the 1970s.  In modern terminology, it "bricked" it.  You probably get the picture.  Even after rounding off the corners of the brick with subsequent upgrades to IOS 8.2 and IOS 9, I could barely stand the cries of anguish - fortunately, Santa Claus brought her a brand new iPad Air 2.

If you are reading this and are confused about the six different generations of the standard sized iPad there is a decent comparison of them here.  The biggest technology difference in the latest model, the "iPad Air 2," is a cellular data connection that comes with a lot of capability and flexibility.  But will it work on Egypt's old 3G networks?  It was time to find out.

We headed down to the local Vodafone store to get a chip for the iPad and another for the USB stick modem on my laptop.


There was only one person working the counter and we were fourth in line.  Remember that you will need your passport with currently valid visa to purchase a new phone line.  This year, I remembered to bring the Apple Sim tool to extract the current Sim.


Note that the Ipad Air 2 uses the smaller "nano" sim rather than the "micro" sim on the old iPad 2.  And, by the way, why hasn't Apple produced a decent slide-out sim carrier instead of this silly paperclip poker that makes it feel like you are destroying the device?

The Vodafone sim slipped right in and I was instantly connected to the network.  I didn't even need to open the "settings" screen.

Nice work by both vendors on that count.

It only took about a half hour to purchase both new lines.  As always, I was glad I wasn't behind me in line.

This technology currently only yields a 3G connection, but Vodafone is expecting to begin LTE service sometime this quarter.  More on that can be found here from the frustrated user's point of view:

The main reason may be that the 3 networks haven’t launched 4G yet is the country’s & users’ ecosystem! most the customers have smart phones that don’t support 4G yet. Of course to a big chunk of the customer base in Egypt smartphones are an expensive piece of technology and can’t really afford to upgrade their mobiles...

And from the vendors' and Egyptian government's optimistic point of view:

Egypt will also begin offering 4G mobile services in the first quarter of 2016 and allow Telecom Egypt, the country's landline monopoly, to become the country's fourth mobile provider, the minister said. ...

O yes, what does data service cost?  18 EGP for the line - about $2.50 and then
25 EGP for 1.5 gigabytes    -  $3.00
60 EGP for 3.5 gigabytes    -  $7.50
100 EGP for 7.0 gigabytes  -  $12.50

Compare to U.S. rates:

 

Linda Puts Security on Alert

Linda and I chose two separate lines for our inspection at the Minneapolis airport. I take a slow and leisurely approach to removing my belt, shoes, pocket contents, laying out my laptop, wallet, and the like. Similarly, I am in no rush to reverse the process.

I was quite surprised when I finished this to not find Linda waiting for me as usual. Then I saw the problem. I had plenty of time to take out the camera and grab a photo while our fellow travelers were repacking.
 
Let's let Linda pick up the story:

Our annual winter escape was going to be my first time with TSA and my new metal knee replacement. I expected that it would be a different experience for me because I'd seen how my mom had to be wanded when she flew with me a couple years ago. We also saw an older priest who needed extra security because as we all know 86 year old Scandinavian women and priests are high security risks.

I don't know the reason but I'm always ok'd for TSA precheck. When I handed over my passport to the first TSA agent she marked my boarding pass with three orange lines and told me to go to a particular line, tell them I'm precheck and then I won't have to remove my shoes. I did as she asked and passed through the detector. Well, of course, it beeped. 2nd TSA agent said I'd have to remove my shoes so I told her that it was my knee that caused the alarm. "Oh, then you will have to have a body check." she said. She told me to stay " right there" and called for a female body checker. 3rd TSA agent guided me to the body check area and asked if I was comfortable being checked in the open or did I want to go behind a screen. I chose the open check so everyone (including Tom) could verify what was going on. She then asked if I was able to stand in one spot for 4 minutes or less. "Four minutes?" I said incredulously. Then I said, "or less". So there I stood on a special mat with my feet (no shoes) on the foot prints which were about 2 feet apart while she did the body check. She told me which part she would be checking and with which part of her hand before the actual touching. For example, around my collar, my torso with the back of her hand, or high up on my thighs (and I do mean high!) I was touched from the top of my head to my feet and no surprise to me, I passed. I don't think the check lasted 4 minutes but I didn't time it. The agent then advised me to say that I have a knee replacement next time and then I will go through the scanner and not need a body check. I tried to find out at what point I'm to indicate my special request but she was quickly on to the next situation.

Next time I'm going to tell everyone from the first agent to the last about my knee. So much for the privilege of TSA precheck.

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.

Visiting William S. Burroughs - I, II and III

The place to be buried in St. Louis has long been Bellefontaine Cemetery.  Naturally, I scheduled a stop there on our way out of town.

Bellefontaine is more of a tourist attraction than I expected.  At the office, there are brochures for self-guided tours of famous folks, beautiful trees and Civil War veterans.

Most people looking for William S. Burroughs are probably looking for the novelist and author of The Naked Lunch.  He has his own modest stone on the family plot.


The monument for his grandfather is a bit more prominent.  It was placed here by grateful employees of American Arithmometer following the company's first sales convention in 1902.  The company name would not be changed to Burroughs Adding Machine Company until three years later.  From the company records:

At a convention of the Sales Agents, Office and Factory forces of the American Arithmometer Company, held at the Planter’s Hotel on December 27th, 1902, it was the unanimous opinion of all present that a suitable memorial should be erected to the memory of

MR. WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS,

the inventor of the Burroughs Adding Machine, as a tribute to his genius as shown in this most wonderful invention, out of which has grown one of the large business institutions of the Country, of which we are justly proud, and by which so many have been benefitted.

We believe the machine he invented will prove to be his most lasting monument, but as evidence of our appreciation we subscribe the amounts set opposite our names for the purpose of erecting a monument over his grave in Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Mo.

I photographed all four sides of the monument:



You may notice some short lifespans on those engravings.  The Burroughs family history is filled with tragedy, never very well documented.  Literary biographer Simon Johnson is hard at work producing what may be the definitive biography of the novelist Burroughs.  You can get a flavor for his effort from an article in the Lowell (Michigan) Ledger at this link. 


We drove the full tour of the cemetery and found the memorial to Capt William Clark of Lewis and Clark to be one of the most notable.  It stands at the very top of the hill, overlooking the Mississippi River.

A Short Visit to East St. Louis

The area around the Gateway Arch is undergoing a major upgrade making the arch itself difficult to visit.  Looking for a good place to take more pictures, I decided to try the east side of the river.  If you are familiar with East St. Louis, you might have some concern with this idea.  If you are not -- well, let's go to Jonathan Kozol, author of Savage Inequalities:

... for a first-time visitor suddenly deposited on its eerily empty streets, East St. Louis might suggest another world.

... It is, according to a teacher at the University of Southern Illinois, "a repository for a nonwhite population that is now regarded as expendable." The Post-Dispatch describes it as "America's Soweto."

But, there must be a great view of the arch.  And, there were signs indicating a riverside casino that might offer a good view from the parking lot.  Of course, I made a wrong turn and ended up driving though several blocks of abandoned properties before getting back to the river's edge.  It was reminiscent of driving through Detroit and Buffalo last year.

We were soon back at the river, a bit downstream from the casino and discovered a wonderful large park with a viewing platform.  This is adjacent to a major Cargill grain facility on the river.


Welcome to Malcom W. Martin Memorial Park, home of the Gateway Geyser.

There was only one group of visitors up on the platform and we soon joined them.  There is a live webcam on the EarthCam network and 24 hours of storage of all visitors.  I handed my camera to a member of the other group that was just leaving and we were fortunate enough to have a very good photographer who captured us with the arch.



I picked up the Earthcam pictures back at our hotel.  And that other fellow sitting on the bench?  That's Malcom.

A Visit to St. Louis - Part II - An Historic Neighborhood.

Besides seeing the modern city of St. Louis on our recent trip, I wanted to explore a bit of the remaining old St. Louis related to William S. Burroughs and his adding machine.  The area of my interest was located within plate 19 of the Compton and Dry Pictorial St. Louis.  Fortunately, an enterprising blogger has identified all remaining buildings from the Compton and Dry drawings and posted the results at Bygone St. Louis.  The anonymous author identifies only two buildings from this drawing that are still standing.

The area of my interest is near the corner of Broadway and Bates. (Bates was renamed Dickson many years ago.)


There is a lot of history associated with this area.  This is a picture from the National Park Service showing the area along the riverfront cleared in 1942 to build the Gateway Arch.  (The arch was not completed until 1965 - but that's another story.)  The arrow points to Broadway and Bates.


Here is the scene as depicted on Compton and Dry's plate 19.


The three-story building indicated by the red arrow was the Hotel Noble back in 1875.  Only the first floor remains today.  Across Broadway from the Noble was Joseph Murphy's Wagon Factory where, reportedly, 200,000 "Murphy Wagons" were built to supply the Santa Fe Trail trade.  Across Bates from the Noble, Joseph Boyer built his small machine shop.

It was in Boyer's shop that two significant inventions were nurtured to life.  Boyer invented the pneumatic hammer which would drive countless rivets in the early twentieth century and in a small second-floor room, William S. Burroughs created the first practical printing adding machine.  When Burroughs stopped by the Boyer shop about 1883 and asked if he could hire a room and a man for his project, Boyer didn't have a man available - but he did have a talented boy - Al Doughty, who had attended the Bates elementary school across the street (blue arrow.) Doughty would retire from the presidency of Burroughs Adding Machine Company some 60+ years later.

Most of the buildings in this neighborhood disappeared about 1895 as the railroads built freight terminal facilities in the area.  A part of the block to the south became The Wedge automotive service station.  That enterprise was held up in 1950 by Sonny Liston who subsequently was imprisoned for the armed robbery and there learned the useful art of boxing.

The Hotel Noble serves only as a landmark in this story, but I took a picture to anchor us to Plate 19.  And Linda got a nice picture of one of the railway freight terminals from 1895.  As she says, "We certainly visit some unusual parts of cities because of your research."

A Visit to St. Louis - Part I

November seemed like a nice time of year for a drive to the south.  St Louis, the city with the arch, is only about six hundred miles from the Twin Cities but we have seldom passed through the area.  We headed out for a long weekend about November 7th.

St. Louis is known for the Gateway Arch and there may not be a hotel room in the area that doesn't include some view of the arch.  Here are two.

I took several pictures of the arch myself.  This one is my favorite.

My personal interest in St. Louis arises from the fact that William S. Burroughs developed his adding machine here in the years 1880-1898.  As I have researched the St. Louis of the late nineteenth century, nothing has impressed me as much as the collection of pictorial maps drawn and published by  Compton and Dry in 1875.  There were over 100 pages of detailed drawings such as this example of plate 19.

The Missouri History Museum has assembled a large exhibit built around these drawings.  It is open through February 14, 2016 and is well worth a long drive to see.
 

The museum has assembled the Compton and Dry plates into a single composite image hanging just inside the exhibit entrance.  Whether you might have an interest in St. Louis, history or photography, I think you'll find the image "awesome" in contemporary parlance.

Other parts of the exhibit illustrate many facets of St. Louis life in 1875 from wages to school buildings.

If the Compton and Dry plates are of interest to you, they are all available free from the Library of Congress website in stunning detail.

The Swedish History Museum in Swedesburg, Iowa

Cruising down highway 218 in the southeast corner of Iowa, you could be forgiven for not noticing the blue and yellow sign just south of 140th street.



We had probably gone a half-mile beyond the sign before we decided to loop around and come back to see what it was all about.

The museum was open, there were a couple of cars parked outside and there was the familiar Dala horse standing watch on the corner.



Inside there was an interesting story of the numerous Swedish settlers who had come to this section of Iowa.

There is a small general store, a cobblers shop and a large number of artifacts from the 1870-1900 era.  They have the only Huckster Wagon that I have ever seen.




This little museum must be well-known in Sweden.  They have a map where Swedish visitors have placed a pin marking their own towns at home.


Whether you are Swedish or just Minnesotan, this makes for an interesting stop.  Our only disappointment was that there was no Herring to be had along with the friendly cup of Swedish coffee. - but there is a shipment on the way.