Alexandria

After two nights in Cairo, we were back on the road to Alexandria. The highlights of Alexandria for me were the Biblioteca Alexandrina and the roof-top bar at the Four Seasons which was one block away from our hotel. (The Greco-Roman Museum was closed.)

First, the Biblioteca Alexandrina. This new institution is basing itself on the ancient library in Alexandria, often dubbed at the birthplace of Western academia. (I highly encourage you to check out their website, I couldn’t possibly cover all of their research centers and support. Their Eternal Egypt site is awsome.) The architecture was well-thought out. There was text from every language on the outside.

The inside was filled with natural indirect light.

They have a children’s library (which is pretty rare in Egypt), a manuscript collection, an internet archive (first one outside of the US), a couple of museums, a Planetarium and this really cool interactive program. They have nine (!!) projectors synched with each other to create one huge panoramic screen. With a pretty cool remote, you can navigate though a computer system on Egypt – past and present. For example, you can pull up a panoramic view of the Temple of Ramses II, with various links on the Aswan Dam, the history of Ramses II, how it was constructed, etc. (Being a group of teachers, we all wanted one in our classroom!)

While we did some sightseeing in Alexandria, the second highlight for me was the Four Seasons. Their bar, Blue, was outside over looking the Mediterranean; a perfect spot to watch the sun set.

Especially when drinking a Strawberry Tequila Mojito:

Maybe the seven-week mark was harder than I imaged, but I really loved hanging out in this bar, and I had some company. (Ok, I will admit that is me on the far right, looking the other way. I honestly didn’t think I was in the shot, and I was watching the sun set.)

My friend Kathy got this shot from the bar – amazing!