Wednesday May 11th, 9pm.  Internet cut out last nite, so whole message didn't go thru.  In Alexanderia yesterday went down to catacomes-- they were built for same reason as in Rome, to hide Christian religious services and burials from Roman authorities.  Catacomes were discovered in last few decades, so still uncovering new things.  Saw church complex where Holy Family, tradition says, hid there when they had fled to Egypt from Harrod the Great when Jesus a baby. They were here 2 to 5 years.  Churches were built to recognize they're being here.  Went to citidel built by Alexander the Great, huge fort to protect Alexanderia harbor, in pre canon era, great views of Alexanderia, saw new Alexandria library, built in last little bit, ultra modern, built near site of original library which was burnt when Romans burned fleet in harbor, debated whether library burning was an accident or planned????  Three hours drive each way, and a little over four hours there, so long day.  Relaxed today, debated going back to see a lot more than fast overview of the Egyptian Museum and a short cruise on Nile, but it was too expensive, so walked around this area of city, got a blank papyrus page, when I get home will make my self a cartouche, a pharaohs like name plate.  Beautiful ones in silver and gold, with beautiful prices.  So I was given a card detailing the alphabet equivalents in hyroglyphic characters.  I already have my name in Chinese and Mayan, so will add Arabic and hyroglyphic characters.   Gotta pack yet, but flight leaves at 2 PM, so don't have to leave til ten, an hour to airport, and be there the recommended three hour prior to flight.  Before I stop discussing Egypt, I must discuss Cairo traffic.  It is remarkable!  I could never drive here.  First of all are the vehicles. Cars, of course, vans--including 1970's VW vans-trucks with their rear motor 'hood' open, because of the heat, to help keep the motors from overheating, , many, many more modern vans transporting men to and from work mornings and evenings, motor scooters remodeled with a body to hold the scooter driver in the front, and designed for two but often holding three or four people in the back seat, buses, trucks, huge trucks, hand carts loaded like trucks being pushed in the street, donkey carts with truck sized loads--boy do I feel for the poor donkeys, bicycle delivery vehicles with front & back or/both boxes for holding the delivered items, pedestrians, crossing the streets everywhere dodging the vehicles, or walking in between them, or more frequently walking in the streets, even two a breast, because the sidewalks are blocked by restaurant tables and chairs, or items delivered but not yet brought into the store, or blocked by cars on their driveways across the sidewalks, plantings or fences blocking sidewalks forcing walkers to move to the street, designed for various reasons to block the side walk so that their sidewalk store front is cleared from obstructions, or that store or hotel-like this one-looks clear or has a space in front so vehicles can unload passengers or goods to the store or hotel, or just junk, garbage blocking sidewalks, or street center medians, if any,  So most folks walk in the streets. Except for downtown Cairo, roads don't have lane markings, or are supposed to be one lane roads, many have dirt edges which drifts over the pavement, if there is pavement, so obstacles galore!  Then there are the drivers of all the vehicles.  They drive with a vengeance, skirting around one another, to get that one car length advantage, driving three or four abreast in a "two lane" road.  At intersections, mostly without traffic signals, there, vehicles face in every direction, often turning left or right from the wrong lane in front of the other vehicle, and there are those who then drive the wrong way in the street a half block so they can turn into a side street, alley, or store front.  If this last description is confusing then I have accurately described the street and sidewalks of many areas of Cairo.  And the most remarkable, I have not seen or heard any accidents, nor are there vehicles which are driving around with bashed in doors, fenders, front or rear ends.  As I said, the  drivers of Cairo are skilled remarkable drivers.  Now there is one more factor when considering the Cairo street scene, and that is the almost unceasing noise, horns blasting because they are approaching another vehicle, horns sound because they want to pass another vehicle, or they sound off because they don't want the other guy to pass them, horns blast away when the driver slams on his vehicles brakes, horns can jusy toot away when a rare car is alone on the street, and the driver is just delighted with his luck and he merrily bounces along going toot-toot, toot.  There are many other reasons to toot your Horn, but I don't want to bore you.  Then there the horns themselves, a VW bug might have its usual tinny beeb-beeb, or it might sound like like an eighteen wheeler hurling down on you from 100 feet away at 60 miles per hour saying get out of my way, NOW!!!!  The drivers give each other emphatic gestures, and I've seen doors slam and the drivers ready to kill one another with threats and once with fists, at an intersection.  There is garbage everywhere, in the center of the streets, it's endemic along the curbs, at a building site empty cement bags, unused stone & rock & dirt rubble, it's really dramatic when the occasional store, home or hotel cleans the sidewalk, curb, and a swath of road in front of its building, then placing a row of stone, street-cones or lumber so other vehicles aren't parked by their location.  I did note that yesterday's pile of rubbish is gone in the morning from street centers, or large piles of junk where cars are supposed to be parked.  So the city does try, how vigorously I don't know, but the population density is tremendous.  Well in the morning I'm off to Dubai, United Arab Emerites.  On the positive note I must report the people are friendly, helpful, smile, and even without an intention of trying to sell you something engaged me I conversation, for example last night I was asking a couple of folks a directions question who didn't understand me, when a driver passing inches from my side, I was of course forced to walk in the narrow street, and the cars go carefully along avoiding anything on the side of the road, and the pedestrians like me, when he leaned out of his passenger side window and yelled at " two blocks straight, then left, left again; sure enough he was right, there was the busy street I recognized.