A Cairo City View – the Pyramids and the Nile are my Neighbors

November, 2020. Yes, a Room With a View. I live in 10th floor “penthouse’ (top floor of apt. building) in the southern Cairo neighborhood of Maadi — Maadi a highly desirable neighborhood. I have three penthouse balconies, one balcony for each bedroom and a balcony for the living room. Each balcony faces west and basically have a different part of the Maadi panorama. The Nile river is front and center from each of the three balconies. Most photos were taken with my IPhone 6. A few photgraphs were taken with my IPad Pro. From my balcony, here is the general view looking to the right side of the Nile, looking north towards downtown Cairo:

Or panning to the left of the leafy suburban view, squint to see the famous Giza pyramids of Emperor Khufu (Cheops) and his successor Emperors. Which view do you prefer:

**Ah,prefer morning with the sun rising up from urban Maadi; behind you; or**

…. **evening with the sun setting over the NIle and skirting the Giza Pyramids?**

Moving the view more to the left, here is the balcony view looking straight ahead, straight at the Nile river. What’s with the flags on this long boat?:

Or try this felucca (small sail boat) plying the Nile:

Or look to the far left and focus on the horizon. See the famous Step Pyramid of Emperor Djoser in Saqquara (located in nearby Giza, a separate companion city adjacent to Cairo, and all part of the gigantic Cairo metro area):

Plus the obligatory sunset shots over the Nile:

This is an **unedited** photo – no adjusting, no filtering, no magnifying, no nothing

Let’s turn the camera inward and walk away from the balcony into the apartment. The bottom picture is the outside facade of my building. The outside looks run-down, from a combination of neglect with a little pollution grime and corrosion thrown into the mix. However, the indoor public spaces, elevator; plus the outdoor walkways and gardens — all was in great shape. For the price, this was a spiffy place to live AND it was a two minute walk to the beginning of the commercial retail district. This downtown shopping section is Road 9: it is the famous, local shopping and schmoozing corridor: Road 9 is also the place-to-see-and-be-seen but it is not luxury corridor or upscale shopping by American standards. Let me put it to you this way, I fit right into the Road 9 scene.

**L: Living room with all my tribal textiles, and balcony entrance in background. R: spare bedroom, a little under furnished, with balcony doors on left**

My apartment is on the top floor, left with the white insert (clean) look on left balcony. The balcony looks directly out over the Nile river.

While the Nile is my neighbor, I have real friends who live elsewhere in my neighborhood. Below are my real friends who live nearby. You know who your real friends are. These are the people who smile when you knock on their door in the middle of the night; and ask to borrow a cup of bourbon:

A bawab is a concierge, superintendent and errand boy all rolled up into one. The Bawab gets a small monthly payment from each tenant and extra money for extra work. He is also a snoop and a spy (in a good way, unless you cross him). The bawab acts like a deputized member of the Morals Police. Egypt has very strict rules about who and what can happen, even in the privacy of your own apartment. For example, any late night visits by the wrong gender or ANY signs of hanky panky of ANY kind will bring down the Bawab and the Neighborhood Morals Committee. They may do anything from mild remonstrations, up to shouting in your face, shaking fists, spitting up spittle, and it can escalate to issuing scary threats. Trust me, this happens. And on rare occasions — worse happens. Just in case: The Moral Police is not concerned if anyone is quietly drinking alcohol, especially non-Muslim foreigners. Booze in my apartment? No problem!

My neighboring friends are far **left** (trying on my goofy Peruvian hat) and **above**. The guy below is the **bawab**, in my building. The **bawab** is a unique Egyptian institution and everyone has stories.

Above: My **bawab** trying on a brand new shirt I gave him. My **bawab** and I got along fine – except for those memorable run-ins (see left column). But honestly, the **bawab’s** “work uniform” is a lot less spiffy than this picture would suggest.

Last, and surely the least. Here is a photo of a high-cost, high status restaurant located on “upscale”Road 9, in the downtown area of this section of Maadi:

McDonalds is a many splendored thing: the cockroach of fast food chains, the poster child of rampant corporate consumerism, the purveyor of poison, and a greed machine that eats and spits out its workers.

For example, if you wanted to impress a first date, you might splurge and take her to McDonalds. That will show you really have a crush on this girl and the news of your date will make the rounds at your private high school or secondary technical college. Hard to believe and hard to swallow. I am talking about the food again.

I voted long distance in the 2020 Presidential elections! Nice. Good luck tomorrow, Election Day USA! I will be heading up to Alexandria to get away from it all.