On our first day in Egypt, shortly after arriving, we did something we would never do when normally visiting a new place….we went to McDonald’s. We don’t even eat McDonald’s very often (or even crave if for that matter) when in the States. But now that we have lived in Nairobi for nearly a year and gotten used to life without fast food, something inside of us came alive when we saw those beautiful, glowing, golden arches. We both ordered a McRoyal (quarter pounder) combo and when asked if we wanted to super size it said, oh you bet we do. After ordering a plastic tray full of greasy, processed, yummy goodness. We sat and devoured said goodness while overlooking the River Nile. A McD’s burger on the Nile, not too shabby. After finishing our burgers we thought to ourselves, surely we haven’t done enough damage to our bodies yet, let’s find something else to eat. So we hired a taxi to take us to the lavishly huge Citystars Center Mall. This place was bigger than big, and you better believe they had 2 Starbucks and a Cinnabon. So we topped off our fattening McDonald’s with a latte (Jamie) and some fresh artery clogging cinnamon buns. At this point reality set in and we decided enough gorging on American goodness, let’s see some Egypt. So we took a falluca ride on the Nile just before sunset. It was nice, relaxing, and romantic. We enjoyed sailing slowly along the same river that we had rafted in Uganda, just a few thousand miles south. It was a very nice way to start our time in Egypt (with the McDonald’s of course). We finished the day by meeting up with some friends for dinner at Chilli’s and by having an espresso (again Jamie) and water (Jess) at a café on the river. Cairo is an energetic city that is full of life, incredible architecture and friendly people. We are looking forward to spending the next few days here.

Next Post: Pyramids, Sphinx, some form of Egyptian food, and Khan Al-Khalili.