Alexandria

Last weekend we spent 3 nights and 4 days in Alexandria. It was a much needed, fabulous break from our normal routine.

Our mode of transportation? Why by train of course! A 2.5 hour train ride. The girls are such great little travelers, they played Uno and colored pictures and looked out the window and ate snacks. Sophie was a little squirmy, but that was to be expected.

This is the view from the balcony of our hotel room overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. 

We first found the Library of Alexandria at night which was when this picture was taken.

 The next day, we went to the Library intending to tour it, but when we went to buy tickets we were informed that children ages 6 and under are not allowed in the Library. Since that is 3 out of our family of 5, we were unable to actually go inside. Very sad for Brian, but we will go back another time and take turns touring it.

We also visited the Fort at Qaitbey which included a boat ride on one of the boats you see in the picture behind the girls and a lot of jumping around on rocks you will see in the picture below. The girls spotted crabs between the rocks, dodged cats and watched the fishermen.

We tried three times to see the Catacombs of Kom ash-Shuqqafa and none of the taxi drivers or the horse and buggy drivers knew where they were. But, the horse and buggy guy who assured us he knew where they were took us to Pompey's Pillar instead. And we were pleasantly pleased with our visit.

There were two Sphinx at the base of the Pillar

We spent quite a bit of time with the horse and buggy, Emily loved riding up front. And at one point the man turned down a side street and reshoed the horse.

One of the things that we noticed was that there were not as many Mosques in Alexandria as there are in our city. Because of this, there were lots of temporary prayer mats along the streets.

Sophie was such a good sport although she spent a lot of time in the baby backpack: halfway through the trip, she invented a new way to play "peek-a-boo" with anyone who would look at her and although I am biased, being her mother and all, it was adorable.

Sophie and I reading Curious George while we wait for the return train.

We wore the girls out during this trip, but we had such a great time. And Brian enjoyed the snuggle time with the baby person during the train ride home.