America's Best Hot Chocolate
Today’s hot chocolate has come a long way from little packages with gritty marshmallows. From sipping chocolate flavored with secret Caribbean spices to house-roasted cocoa beans and celebrity truffle shops, America’s best hot chocolate has gone gourmet.
I can't wait to try Xoco, Rick Bayless' new restaurant where they serve hot chocolate with a Mexican influence.
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Thanks to everyone who has stuck around through thick and thin, and whom we now call friends and to those who wish to be friends. We could not have pulled this off with out you! Thanks for all of your kind words and support and hope we have another great year.
Merry Christmas from Cairo Everyone!!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely in love with this city! If anyone is thinking of a trip to Egypt and is worried about safety, don't - it's very safe, and people are extremely friendly and welcoming.
Spent the day touring around the city and now resting for the evening in the hotel as we have a very busy day tomorrow.
Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday. Christmas is celebrated here (there's a huge Christian population in Cairo) but it's celebrated on the 24th for the Christians and on January 7th for the Coptics.
More later.
Yea Thor! Sounds amazing! Can't wait to hear more about Egypt.
ReplyDeleteThor gave me permission to post this email:
ReplyDeleteJust a quick note to let everyone know that we made it!
Our flight was absolutely brutal. The LAX to London leg was only delayed about an hour, and we made that up with a tail wind, but the flight leaving Heathrow to Paris was delayed about an hour and a half as well. With the size of the airport, and the terminal change, which in London requires a ride on the tube to get from Terminal 1 to terminal 4, gave us just enough time for a quick lunch. Our flight to Paris was fairly uneventful, but there was heavy snow in both Paris and London so of course our flight was again delayed. We were put on the airplane via a bus ride out to the tarmac and then proceeded to sit on the plane on the runway for 4 hours. The temperature on the airplane kept going from warm to freezing - no fun. We arrived in Cairo at close to 3:00am local time at which point our luggage was apparently lost with most everyone elses on our flight. Apparently the snow in Europe has flights so screwed up that most of the luggage that made it on to our flight was backed up luggage from previous flights that had been delayed earlier in the week. We didn't actually make it to our hotel and into our rooms until 5:00am, making our total door to door travel time 29 hours.
A couple of quick first impressions before I sign off. We're staying at the Ramses Hilton and I upgraded the room that was offered on the tour so in terms of comfort and amenities you would never know we left the states. Although I always love to experience local life in the places we visit I have learned the hard way that when it comes to where we stay, it's best for me, because of my sleep issues, to bite the bullet and pay a little extra for a decent hotel. Although we do miss out on more culturally authentic lodging, I not only get good nights sleep in these kinds of hotels so have more energy to explore, but a more modern hotel will always have internet provided so we don't have to spend extra time searching out internet cafes to send you all my updates.
Our hotel is literally right on The Nile across the street from the Cairo Museum. Because I slept so late today, we haven't really done too much today. Our day so far has amounted to a trip to the mall across the street to buy a couple of shirts, some underwear, and some socks. Hopefully our luggage will show up soon, otherwise it looks like we'll be buying a new wardrobe in Egypt. Luckily we're in the land of Egyptian Cotton so that might not necessarily be such a bad thing! Egyptians so far are a very warm and open people. As I've said on previous trips I think you can get a good idea of what locals are like by how easily and warmly they smile. A smile here is met with an even bigger smile in return.
It would appear from the maps that we're close to central Cairo and MAN what a massive city, officially there are over 10 million residents, but unofficially, and probably far more realistic, that number is closer to 20 million. Traffic is absolutely insane, right outside our window, along the Nile, we can see many thoroughfares and they are crammed full of cars, lanes are just a suggestion and with the window to our room open, all you can hear are car horns! The city is practically throbbing!
Tim is taking a nap at the moment, and Call to Prayer just went off so I'm going to head out to the balcony so I can get my fill of this beautiful sound!
More later.
John & Tim
@Thor,
ReplyDeleteTotally different ain't it. Enjoy!
Too many western tourists overpay for "stuff". Shop keepers in tourists area are in cohorts with govt. officials to "rob" tourist. Stuff is really cheap when you convert it in U$Ds and buy where locals shop. All expat Indians buy maximum they can in the local markets. Western corps. have found out our tricks.
The Globe and Mail had post several weeks ago. "Don't get the rug pulled over your eyes in Morocco". When I read this article I thought of you. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/dont-get-the-rug-pulled-over-your-eyes-in-morocco/article1842312/
"The souks whose 'blood suppy' comes from the tourist wallet....no doubt scanning for prey".
Ofcourse, you'll need a guide there, but be careful.
ICan
I hope everybody got what they asked for for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteMy son gave me a USB-2 coffee warmer.
My notebook's battery life went from 37 minutes down to 11.
But my coffee's warm. Not hot, but warm.
My Christmas cards which I mailed on the 4th of December have not yet made it to their destinations in the US.
Bah humbug.
Actually, one of the groups that used to work for me was responsible for the development of USB-2. We coordinated the development of the USB OHCI controller chip, developed an OHCI compliant driver and gave it to Microsoft (who threw it away and developed their own non-compliant driver) and developed a power management filter driver. Anyway, one of the guys came up with the idea of a gooseneck light to plug into USB so notebook users could type in the dark.
ReplyDeleteWe all thought he was nuts.
http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-33120-FlyLight-Notebook-Light/dp/B00022VBAE
Sigh.
Nordic Quack
ReplyDeleteSweden's bizarre tradition of watching Donald Duck cartoons on Christmas Eve.
Kalle Anka, for short, has been airing without commercial interruption at the same time on Sweden's main public-television channel, TV1, on Christmas Eve (when Swedes traditionally celebrate the holiday) since 1959. The show consists of Jiminy Cricket presenting about a dozen Disney cartoons from the '30s, '40s, '50s, and '60s, only a couple of which have anything to do with Christmas.
@dss:
ReplyDeleteI'm having a little Windows 7 problem creating my post for Wednesday. I'll be leaving in the morining, and when I try to log in with my travel coputer, I get an error message about Javascript and cookies. When I get to theother end I'll try to figure it out, but if I can't then I'll have to pass on a post this week. Sorry.
If I don't get to post, Rock's still in the up up and away crowd.
ReplyDelete@Rock,
ReplyDeleteNo problem. Just let me know if you can't make it work and I'll post something.
@dss,
ReplyDeleteThose hot chocolates on a cold winter day. Beats the chai anyday,
Rick Byless - best Mexican street food show on PBS.
Have you been to his Chicago resto?
ICan
@I Can,
ReplyDeleteHave not been to the new one Xoco, but have been to Frontera many times and Topolobambo a few times. Love his food.
Go Bears!
Cambridge university refuses to censor student's thesis on chip-and-PIN vulnerabilities
ReplyDelete