Oct. 2-9, 2008 El Gouna/Cairo

We're back in Cyprus. I joined Dale on his last week of duty in El Gouna, then on to Cairo for a couple more days. Our hotel in El Gouna was called the Arena Hotel. It was an all inclusive - sort of Club Med Egyptian style. The food was simple but good - with one outstanding night of peppersteak. We had a fabulous Lebanese dinner at the marina one night too with the crews from both airplanes. Saturday night was belly dancers and a whirling dirvish at our hotel, and Sunday evening we watched a movie in a circular outdoor theatre. The temperature was perfect and you could see the stars and feel the breeze on our cheeks. It was delightful.
In Cairo we stayed at the City Stars Intercontinental Hotel. This is a very luxurious hotel attached to a very large mall. Luckily Dale had a couple of meetings to attend with the crew, so I had a few hours to shop. Everything is very different there, so really I window shopped. But it was fun and interesting. I also got a very good start on my Book Club's selection of "Three Cups of Tea". Definitely a book I would recommend.
The highlight of our trip was dinner at MJ and Neil's. We had such a lovely evening - sharing thoughts of the day, and photos from their trip to Ethiopia and our trip to Wales. It is always a delight to catch up with MJ and Neil - it really makes the trip worthwhile.
We were also very lucky to get to see David and Jacqueline and catch up on their bike adventures in Tuscany. By the end of the evening, I couldn't decide where to go next! A picture really is worth a thousand words.
So here we are back in Cyprus and revelling in the lovely temperature and sunshine. It is about 27C with a light breeze. It is now about time for a nap after a fabulous lunch with friends in our village, so we will sign off and keep you posted about my Mom and Dad's visit next week.
Love,
Laurel