Lost and looking for Luna...

Well, tonight was a bit of an adventure. Correction: misadventure.

Per the request of my mother, I was on a mission to locate a particular hotel in downtown Cairo, a Hotel Luna, as it were. Instead of going back to Zamalek after school, I figured I'd save myself taxi money and just catch a bus from campus straight into downtown.

Apparently, downtown meant something different than what I thought it was. We ended up heading into a part of town I was completely unfamiliar with. When we pulled up to a metro station, I quickly jumped off, hoping I could salvage my bus blunder.

It was my first Metro experience. First off, let me say something good about Cairo's Metro: It is dirt cheap. You pay one pound ($ .20) and you can go anywhere along the line. Now for a criticism: the stop I got on at, Al Zahraa, didn't have any maps...none at all. Instead, I had to really on my natural intuition. I knew I was a lot further south than I wanted to be, so I took the train that I presumed to be heading north.

Success for Jonathan! After moving along the line for awhile, the train pulled into Sadaat Station, which I knew was in Tahrir Square. I got off, and sure, enough, VINDICATION! Tahrir Square! Basically my backyard! The street I was looking for, Talaat Harb, was right there. In fact, I'd eaten pigeon there a few days ago. Eazy-squeazy, lemon-peazy.

I headed up the street, scouring both sides for any sign of this Hotel Luna.I kept on moving, block after block, only interrupted by an Egyptian man who tried to lure me into a perfume store and then buy my shoes. But after walking nearly ten blocks, without locating Luna, I decided to call it a night and head back to the dorm.

I had a pretty good idea where I was, generally speaking. I knew Zamalek was to my west and I wanted to head that way. So I set off. However, when I got to an intersection, I inexplicably turned left, walking more south than west for a good mile or so. After realizing my mistake, I backtracked, gave up (kind of like I'm doing with this post), and hailed a taxi.

Anyway...visuals always work better and I'm dang tired.



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