Early yesterday morning we hauled our four trunks, one large suitcase and assorted backpacks and purses down the hall to the “Greasy-Grimy Glass Lift” which only fits one person and two bags at a time and out to the street where our driver met us for the ride to the airport. When we reached the airport we were surprised not to find our flight on the screen. When we asked they simply said it had been cancelled and we had been rebooked on tomorrow’s flight. We were dismayed. Two days in Greece minus one day is simply not good. We also felt annoyed.

It was not until an hour or so later, as we sat at the airport Burger King, eating hot apple pie and drinking coffee (good too!) that we saw the CNN report on the Greece strike.  Turns out ALL flights in and out of Greece are cancelled for at least 24 hours.  In fact the government is closed down meaning no customs officials and no historic sights either.  That made our decision easier.  With only time for a day and a half in Greece given the flight change, we decided to skip Greece and head straight to Rome.  SAD – but a good excuse to come back and spend a longer time there once the weather is warm enough for swimming (she writes hopefully.)

We hauled our gear back to the hostel which thankfully still had space for us and headed back out into the city for a relaxed day.  Having already seen the major sights we had no great plans and no schedule to keep.  It might have been our best day in Cairo yet.  The sun came out and we felt warm enough to take our jackets off, Quinn’s breathing had settled a bit, and we discovered the American University bookshop – a GEM! (It is so frustrating not to be able to even read the book titles in the book shops here, everything’s in Arabic!  I found my ultimate Egypt novel, a very special book called the Yacoubian Building and David picked up a great non-fiction read on Egypt called “Inside Egypt” which was originally banned in the country because of it’s content.  We are both learning and enjoying a LOT.  Egypt is under our skin and we want to know more!  Meanwhile Naomi and Quinn blissfully read on the floor for an hour then got to purchase Usborne books on Rome that kept them busy all evening.

After a dinner at K.O.S.H.A.R.Y. (we love the egyptian food called Koshary!) we headed home to snack on our nuts bought off the street, finish our Cairo journals and sleep.  Today we head to Rome.