Both Jess and Anna (in addition to many other friends) are enrolled in a class covering the art and architecture of Cairo, which takes students to interesting locales throughout the semester. The first field trip, which was today, included two of Cairo's more notable tourist attractions, the Nileometer and Ibn Tulun mosque. The Nileometer is a measuring column used to predict droughts and floods for the coming year; Ibn Tulun is reputed to be the oldest mosque in Cairo and is the largest in terms of land area. Both of these sights are worth seeing and it was clear to me upon first hearing of the trip that I must attend. To my dismay, sneaking onto the bus was quite easy; I had spent several long minutes devising many ways to avoid detection and was pleased with my cleverness that unfortunately would never be employed.
Regardless of my false cunningness, the trip was amazing. The Nileometer was very interesting (and cavernous), but Ibn Tulun was truly breathtaking. A few of us lagged behind the tour in order to climb to the top of the minaret (a tall slender tower with a balcony from which a muezzin calls Muslims to prayer), and we had the most astounding panoramic view of Cairo. The ascend was slightly unnerving, as the very last few steps were extremely narrow and rail-less, but I'm very pleased I made the climb. After admiring the view, we rushed down (carefully) to catch up with the group and this is when we actually entered the mosque. As we walked in the call to prayer sounded, which I previously posted as a video. The whole experience was quite magical - I highly advise readers to peruse my flickr account for photos.
Future sneaks are certainly in order; despite the ease of tiptoeing onto the trip, I'll continue to admire my guile to rectify AUC's blunders.
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