A Mighty Wind

The second week of my visit in Alexandria really blew. Literally. We experienced a wind storm like I have never seen. Walking between the hotel and the Library of Alexandria, I was almost blown off my feet several times. The biggest difference between this storm and the storms I have experienced before, is that the wind was continuous and strong for so long.

By itself, the wind made our personal lives interesting, but there were broader implications. Because the wind was so strong, commercial ships outside Alexandria laid anchor further out in the Mediterranean than usual. In fact, they anchored right over the spot where two major communications cables pass, and severed the cables. The internet to Egypt was crippled! While this story made news in the rest of the world, we experienced it directly at the library. Web and email browsing crawled almost to a halt. Thank goodness that the students we were working with had already downloaded the data they needed.

The effects were not just felt in Egypt. The severed cables also connect other parts of the Middle East and India, which also experienced sever disruptions. Who knew a little wind-storm could have such a global effect?

Pyramid Power

Mostly a travelog here. Yesterday, Saturday, was our one-day excursion to the Pyramids of Giza. It was wonderful, impressive and inspiring. After a long bus ride from Alexandria to Giza, we visited the site of the great pyramids and sphinx. We were permitted to enter the great pyramid of Kheops and climb to the large hall in the inside. Let me just say that even though I have seen many television documentaries about the pyramids, so I know what it is like visually, there is still something humbling to be standing in the same hallway built thousands of years ago. The Egyptian students feel a strong respect for their ancestors, which I appreciated.



Afterwards, we entered the museum of the solar boat, sitting next to the great pyramid. The timbers of the boat look maybe 200 years old, not many thousands!



The area is a strange chaotic mix of the encroaching city, which basically comes right to the doorstep of the pyramids; the rustic majesty of the pyramids themselves; and the unfortunate flocks of souvenir hucksters.

At that point, we realized we had lost one of our group, who we eventually abandoned. Eventually we found out that he left the pyramid site and took the train back to Alexandria by himself!

After that, we had a conference dinner with University of Cairo officials, and also members of the Egyptian science ministry. It was a long day, but I'm glad I went.

Shock to the Google System

There is nothing more strange than to visit your friend Google in a foreign country, and find that all the words are squiggly backwards!



Since I am staying in Egypt, Google automatically converts to Arabic mode, which has writing from right-to-left. It's a new experience to be typing on the right hand side of the search box instead of the left.

Walk Like an Alexandrian

I arrived in Egypt on Sunday, and it's already Friday! I'm participating in a workshop to train young African and Middle Eastern students in the techniques of X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy. The workshop is being held at the New Library of Alexandria, which of course has the library and also a planetarium and museum. Alexandria is located at the Mediterranean coast, and the library is right at the coast. The library is shown by night (with moonlight glinting from the reflecting pool.

So far I haven't actually done much sight-seeing since we are focussed on helping the students. I have learned one small strip of Alexandria between the hotel and the Library very well, and nothing else!

The conference hotel describes itself as a "heritage hotel" in its brochure. As far as I can tell, this is a kind way of saying that it has lofty goals of being a high-class establishment, but is slowly falling apart. In my room, both a telephone and lamp are non-working.

We will be visiting the pyramids of Giza tomorrow for a day-long excursion. Hopefully I will find some nice souvenirs. However, I think the nicest souvenir would be to get a library card for the Library of Alexandria.