Currently I’m in Berlin nursing what I hope will be a very mild cold. My throat is sore and my body aches. Therefore, I’m going to take it easy today and tonight. I might hit a bar late tonight depending on how I feel. The hotel that I’m staying in is in very close proximity to the Berlin Wall. It’s only about 3 minutes away. Here are some pics, enjoy!

June 29, 2009 – 7:58am (Germany Time)

As I was on the train from Rome to Munich I met a young girl named Sonia. She was on her way to Venice for work and we talked for a couple of hours in what I’d have to describe as one of the most difficult conversations I’ve ever had. LOL. She spoke very little English so every other sentence I had to break out the Italian-English dictionary for certain words she was saying that didn’t make sense to me and vice versa. We were in a couchette compartment with 4 other people inside as well as a lady that was occupying one of the seats out in the hallway.

As the night progressed and people were starting to fall asleep and a peaceful silence blanketed the train. But not for long though. Two compartments down we heard a lady screaming and whole lot of ruckus. The lady that was sitting in the hallway had this terrified look on her face as she rushed to get into our compartment to escape whatever violence was happening in the other compartment. I then go to investigate what’s going on and I see a guy standing out in the hallway with blood dripping from his face, head and eyes. He was an older guy, maybe in his 60’s. I go up to him to see what happened, then turn to look into the compartment and I see a young guy sitting there with his girlfriend on his lap trying to calm him down. He had a look on his face that he was ready to kill someone. By this time everyone is out of their compartments and people are coming to the old man’s aide. Everyone is talking in Italian so I have no idea what is going on. The only thing that I could imagine was that the old guy was trying to talk to the younger guy’s girlfriend and he got jealous. It didn’t make much sense to me but that’s the only thing I could think of. Later on we find out that the young couple was smoking in the cabin and the older guy asked them not to smoke. I guess the younger guy had a different opinion and decided to attack the man.

When we reached the next train station the police came in and took the attacker off the train after doing an informal investigation. The girl I was talking to also got off because she realized that she was on the wrong train and needed to take a different one. The night after that was pretty non-eventful as people shook off the shock from the brawl and fell back into their slumber. What a night to remember, LOL.

Here is a video I took at the pyramids with one of the scam artists who try to take you for all you have.  This guy took my ticket as soon as I got to the entrance of the pyramids and then claimed he worked for the Egyptian Government and it was his job to show me around.  Afterwords he tried everything in the book from camel rides, horse rides, and eventually inviting me back to his house to smoke marijuana and drink whiskey with him.  I saw right through the guy tho.

June 27, 2009 – 1:14pm (Rome, Italy Time)

Well, I finally made it back to Rome after 3 days in Cairo. Although Cairo was an amazing place I have to say that I’m happy to get out of there. After 3 days of 100+ degree weather with dirt and sand in your eyes, 80+ degrees in Rome feels nice and cool. My skin didn’t seem to mind the heat in Egypt though. Before I left people were telling me that I needed to get some kind of sun screen but I didn’t seem to have a problem. Walking around in the desert was a little uncomfortable but I didn’t burn at all. I went out to the local disco here in Italy last night and it was kind of fun. I just wanted to go out, relax and dance with the beautiful Italian women but honestly, their attitudes aren’t much different than American women when it comes to the club scene. I would actually say that they are even worse. I’ve never been to a club where I was so rejected on the dance floor. I think I must have tried to dance with everyone but only 1 or 2 would actually dance with me. LOL. And I wasn’t trying to get any phone numbers or take anyone home, just wanted to dance. But the girls just wanted to dance with each other or the guy friends they came with. Oh well, that whole idea that European women are so much more open and accepting is out the window, I guess. Well, at least when it comes to me.

This morning I went to the train station and made a reservation to Berlin for tomorrow night. I think I will spend 2 days there and 2 days back in Amsterdam. Then I’ll go to London for the weekend before heading home. On the way from the train station I saw a guy selling sunglasses on the sidewalk so I went up to him to inquire about how much he was charging for them. He then says to me, “One minute please” and assists a young woman that walked up 2 minutes AFTER me. He helps her try on the sunglasses and sells her a pair. After helping her he comes back to me and asks me which ones I want. Very annoyed I said to him, “No thanks. I was here first, but you helped her instead. I don’t want your sunglasses!” I then start walking down the street and he’s running after me saying, “Friend! Buddy! Come back!” When he finally is able to catch me he says, “I charged the woman 10 Euro but I’m only charging you 5 Euro…that is why I told you to wait because I didn’t want her to see how much I was charging you. I charge her 10 Euro because she is white. But I was going to give you the non-tourist price.” LOL. Ahhhhh. I said, “Okay, I see now.” Then he says, “I like people like you because you have the same kind of skin as me (I find out he is from Beirut). You are my friends, my brothers.” Hahahah. I then picked out the sunglasses I wanted and paid the 5 Euro. Thinking back on the whole incident, I do remember him charging the girl 10 Euro so it wasn’t like he was trying to get over on me. All I can say is WOW.

June 26, 2009 – 12:50pm (Egyptian Time)
I have missed my flight out of Cairo to Italy. I thought that my flight was leaving at 12pm but realized at the last minute it was 11am. I showed up at the airport at 10:15am and the guy told me that I could not get the flight because I had to be there an hour in advance. So after being given the run around, being told to go from place to place, and hassled by the locals trying to sell cab rides or even get paid for giving me information, I had to buy a different ticket for a flight that leaves at 5pm. The ticket cost me $335.00. This trip is truly breaking me financially.

I spent the night in downtown Cairo and stayed at the Ramses Hilton Hotel. It’s a pretty nice hotel, although it doesn’t have the charm of the Mena House Oberoi. I went to the Egyptian Museum and was able to see all the ancient artifacts. I saw things like the royal mummies, King Tut’s mask, statues, and sarcophaguses . I was able to get a few shots of the perimeter but they don’t allow anyone to take pictures inside. Walking through the museum gave me a feeling that I was bearing witness to the departure of a great civilization, a civilization mimicked countless times by the civilizations of today. The Egyptians were a strong, proud and prosperous people of many different shades. From light tan to pitch black I get the sense that they lived together in harmony. Much like Egypt today, aside from the poverty and opportunism, there is a feeling that people here of different colors and religions are one. In conversation with so many different Egyptians I was told that they felt that I was a part of them because we shared the same skin. Lots of them were even more hospitable to me even after they discovered that I was not Egyptian. The bellman at the hotel made sure I got a good price for my cab ride to the airport because he said “you have a face like mine…an Egyptian face”. And during the cab ride the cab driver sung many praises of his love for people of color and how he felt we were all united. This definitely inspired me because I get tired of seeing different cultures always fighting amongst each other…especially minorities in America. I think that we need to stop trying to pinpoint our differences and focus more on realizing our similarities. And not just minorities, I think this is the responsibility of ALL people in the world. Once we do that, the world will be a much better place.

Also, I’d like to add that there is much love for Obama here in Egypt. Everywhere I go when I tell them I am American they respond with OBAMA! LOL. In the words of the cab driver I was riding with, “Obama good, Bush bad!!”

June 24, 2009 – 5:16pm (Egyptian Time)

I just got back to my room from seeing the great Pyramids. How should I describe this place? First and foremost I think that before you die it is definitely a sight to behold. The sheer magnificence of them and the fact that it took thousands of men countless hours to build should hold you in awe. There is the great Pyramid of Giza and the other one beside it (sorry, I forgot the name of it) as well as smaller pyramids behind it and burial grounds. I say again, you MUST see them, touch them, and experience one of the great wonders of the world!

Now for the bad part… Walking up to the pyramids is an exercise in vigilance. There are people all along the way that call out to you as if you are carrion and they are hungry vultures. They are offering camel rides, horse rides, souvenirs, etc. And trust me, they can be very aggressive. The price to get in is 60 Egyptian Pounds for adults ($10.71 USD) and 30 Egyptian Pounds for students ($5.36 USD). After paying for my ticket I went inside and there was a guy that asked me for my ticket and said that he worked for the Egyptian Government. He said that it was his job to show me around. Of course, I didn’t believe him but he showed me some kind of document that looked legit so I went around with him as he was telling me the story of ancient Egypt. I still didn’t trust the guy though. We walked around to the different sites. He tried to get me onto the camels, horses, into the tombs, etc… but I refused to go anywhere with this guy but outside on the perimeter. After many attempts (he even offered me to his house to smoke hash and drink with him) he gave up. He asked me for a tip and I gave him about 20 Egyptian Pounds ($3.57 USD) for trying and I was on my way checking things out alone. There are Egyptian Tourist Police everywhere so I decided to get a picture with them. They even had me climb up on the stones which are not allowed so they could take pictures of me. After the pictures even they asked for tips. LOL. After walking off I was approached by a young boy on a camel who asked me to take his picture. I took his picture and he asked if he could see it. I showed it to him and then he offered to take mine. Now, normally I wouldn’t have given him my camera but since we were out in the open and there were lots of people there I figured what the hell. He lowers the camel and says he is going to take a picture of me while it is sitting down. For the record, I am an advocate of animal rights so I was not going to ride this camel. I think it’s terrible the way they treat these animals and force them to carry around people in the hot desert sun. You can tell just from looking at them that they are abused daily. But I figured what was the harm in just sitting on the camel while it was sitting down. In the back of my mind I’m thinking if this guy gestures for this camel to stand up while I’m sitting on it I’m going to jump right off. So I get on the camel and sure enough he says “UP” and the camel starts to rise. I jump off just in the knick of time, run up to the guy and snatch my camera from him. I walked off pissed as hell with a sore arm and a bruised groin. After shaking it off I walk around taking more pictures and a guy comes up to me and gives me something. He says that it’s free of charge. I say okay and take it and walk away. He then starts offering more stuff and asks for money. I throw him a 20 Egyptian Pound just so he can leave me alone and he tries to take 30. By then I’m PISSED. I look the guy straight in the eye and say NO almost at the top of my lungs. He then leaves me alone…

I think that it’s absolutely pitiful that one of the greatest wonders of the world has been reduced to a real life spam box. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, imagine the internet was real life and everywhere you went you were confronted by people making you offers right in front of your face. Selling you things and offering you things free with a catch. Get the picture? I think if the great pharaohs were alive today this would not be happening. The tourist police are just as crooked. I’m sure they won’t let you get hurt physically but when it comes to people aggressively hassling you for their merchandise or services, they pretty much turn a blind eye. The Egyptian government should do something about this. Better yet, people should complain to the government that this be stopped. I’m actually thinking about writing a letter to them. But until then, if you go there learn from my mistakes. If they are going to be aggressive with you, be aggressive right back. It doesn’t pay to be nice at the pyramids!

It’s funny but everywhere I go people are thinking that I’m Egyptian.  From my understanding there are 2 different kinds of Egyptians…ones with lighter skin and ones with darker skin.  I went into a local souvenir shop and the shopkeeper said when he first looked at me he thought I was Egyptian.  Apparantly there is a great brotherhood between the lighter and darker skinned ones here.  Another shopkeeper at the Papyrus Museum told me that he considers people with dark skin as good luck.  I dunno if that was just his way to sell me stuff or not, LOL.  Also, they all love Obama here and claim to have a great admiration for America.  I’m quite enjoying my time here and the people are nice and helpful once you seperate the ones that are just trying to sell you whatever they can and the ones that truly mean it.  I was told that it’s not good to get a tour guide for the pyramids, but to just walk up to the government offices by the pyramid and you can book a horse or camel ride to the pyramids from there.  I will go and do that later as my hotel is only a 5 minute walk from the pyramids.

June 24, 2009 – 10:11am (Cairo, Egypt Time)

I arrived in Cairo last night after a 3 hour flight from Rome. There was a guy from the Hotel that I’m staying at standing there to meet me and he helped me with my bags as well as arranged for a Mercedes Benz to take me from the airport to the hotel. The airport was very well air conditioned and there were lots of people, some with those surgical masks on. I guess they are paranoid about the swine flu. The security at the airport is very tight. I had to show my passport to 4 different people just to get out of the airport. The drive from the airport was CRAZY. It was one of the craziest car trips I’ve ever been on in my life. The cars are scattered across the road like ants, just avoiding each other. Traffic lights are non-existent and people cross the road when and wherever they can. It’s like a real life version of the game Frogger. Seriously. But the city of Cairo is beautiful. A lot of people think that it’s a dump but to me there is a kind of beauty in a city that is raw and gritty. You have slums intermingled with beautiful mosques in the backdrop. I also so KFC’s, McDonalds, and other various American influences. After arriving at my hotel I checked into my room, had a shower, a drink at the bar and went to bed. This morning I awoke to a majestic view of the great pyramid of Giza towering over my balcony. I have posted pics of the hotel above. Today I will finally get to go to the pyramids, one of my life long dreams.

Here is a video that I made from inside the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Here is a video I did on the Costa Smeralda yesterday when the weather was somewhat decent.  Click on the HD button on the bottom right side of the video to see it in full definition.

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