Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Seven Hours to Lift-Off


I already know I made a mistake by booking a train from Cairo to Aswan—14 hours straight up (south) the length of the Nile Valley—5 hours of it in the dark. I wanted to see the country and the farms, the shepherds and the camels, and was a touch too eager to get out of Cairo. Now I'd miss a big stretch of the landscape while I stared at myself in the window.

But even looking at the ticket I downloaded from Egyptian National Railways today is getting my heart rate up. I haven't been on a train in years and the sense of journey they inspire is exciting all by itself.

(Note to myself: trains in Egypt aren't much like Amtrak.)

I'll be thinking of the practically teen-aged Cleopatra as she cruised up the Nile with a ring through old Julius Caesar's nose, showing off the mighty emperor to her people along the way (and, lest anyone forget, her vast wealth to him). I like to think he was no match for her.



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