The Oriental classes that I was skipping on Tuesday included ones taught by Momo Kadous, Farida Fahmy, Olfat (whose class was special for beginners), Mahmoud Reda, Yousry Sherif, Nermine Azzazy, and Soraya. The folkloric classes were Freiz (Saidi), Mahsoub (Ghawazee), and El Hosseiny (Semsemiya). Preparing
for the Adventure  Our
first task was to procure a ride to the museum. I inquired at
the Misr Travel agency office which is
inside the lobby of the Mena House hotel. We
had a difficulty at first - the person I spoke to at the agency
had never heard of the Gayer Anderson museum. We had to wait for
her colleague to get off the phone so she could ask her about it. It
seemed to take forever, but eventually the colleague wrapped up
her phone call. A rapid conversation in Arabic ensued, and then
the woman helping us gave me an accusing look and told me I should
have asked to be taken to a particular mosque. I was confused. I
wanted to see the museum, not a mosque. It turns out the museum
is next door to the mosque, as part of the same complex. I hadn't
remembered that from my 1999 visit.
Misr Travel
told me they could arrange for me to have a driver for 3 hours
who would take us anywhere we wanted to go over the course
of this time period. He would take us to the museum, wait
for us to explore it, and then take us anywhere else we wanted
to go with whatever time we had left after that. The
price for this? Only $25 While I was at it, I asked Misr Travel if they could tell me whether Lucy would be dancing at the Parisiana that night. They recommended that I ask our driver to take us to the restaurant on our way back to the hotel after the museum and ask there ourselves. All three
of us had opted to dress in the quasi-Muslim garb that
The
Gayer Anderson Museum The women's quarters include a gallery of the type that women used to sit in to enjoy entertainment brought in for the men - a gallery where the women could sit and watch without themselves being seen. Many of the windows to the outdoors are covered with lattice shutters that allow women to look at the world outside or allow fresh breezes to circulate without allowing the outside world to gaze upon them.
The fellow who took us under his wing turned out to be great. In truth, I liked him better than the guide we had chartered in 1999. His ability to speak English, although not polished, was certainly good enough to communicate what we wanted to know about the place. And his knowledge of the art in the museum appeared to be superior to that of the guide I brought with me in 1999. I was happy to give him a nice tip at the end of our tour.
Back when
Englishman Gayer Anderson owned the place, he populated it
with beautiful furniture and works of art from In most cases, the art appears in practical places. For example, it may be painted on the top of a wooden chest, or on the doors of a wooden dresser. There are also the intricately carved shutters on the windows, both interior and exterior. This is definitely a different approach from today's Western culture of viewing "art" as paintings or sculptures that take up space on the wall or floor without a practical use.
Looking out in another direction, we could see nearby apartment buildings with satellite dishes for television reception on their roofs. It's interesting to consider the contrast of old with new - a fortress built around the year 1100 visible in one direction, with 21st century satellite dishes in another. Returning
to the Hotel If time permitted,
I also wanted to stop by a grocery store to pick up a supply
of bottled water. I was tired of paying 10 Egyptian pounds
($1.60 in So we thanked our guide, tipped him generously, and found our driver Yehiya. He was waiting for us precisely where he had promised to be. En route, Yehiya found
a nice little neighborhood grocery store for us, and helped
us communicate what we wanted. I bought two six-packs of liter-and-a-half
sized water. Each individual bottle cost 1 1/2 Egyptian pounds,
about 25 cents We also found
a suitable little pharmacy. Inside, my companion found Intetrix, and I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my
favorite brands of contact lens wetting solution. I had been
nervous about the fact that the bottle of solution I had brought
from the Yehiya also
brought us as promised to the Parisiana. He asked one of the
men outside it a question in Arabic, and that man went inside
to find someone else. When another man came out, Yehiya asked him in Arabic whether Lucy would indeed be dancing
that night, and we were assured she would be. Yehiya also
learned for us that the show would begin at midnight, but Lucy
herself wouldn't perform until around 2:00 a.m. We were told
that the admission fee would be 180 Egyptian pounds (about
$30 We had been pleased with Yehiya chauffering us through the day's adventures, so we asked him whether he would be available to take us to the Parisiana that night and return us to the hotel in the morning when the show was over. He brightened up and said he'd be happy to. We asked him what he would charge, and he said we could discuss it when it was over. I tried to press him to negotiate the price in advance, but he smiled and evaded the question, insisting we would settle up when it was over. Okay. We returned to our rooms for a bit of rest and relaxation, to prepare our bodies for the all-nighter. And because I have so many pictures to share from the Parisiana, I'll continue that story in a separate article! If you are planning a trip to Cairo yourself and you would like to hire Yehiya to drive you around, feel free to drop me a private e-mail message and I'll send you his phone number. He took good care of us and I would cheerfully recommend him. More coming! Have
a comment? Send
us a letter! Ready
for more? 7-21-04 Leila,
An American Dancer in Cairo by Catherine Barros, 7-17-04 Dancing
in North Beach by Sausan |
The
Gilded Serpent presents...
Our
driver, 
The
entrance fee for the museum is quite modest - 16 Egyptian pounds,
which is a bit less than $3.00 
The
architecture alone makes this museum worth visiting for those
of us who wish to gain a better understanding of Arab culture
and the environment in which Middle Eastern music and dance
were once performed. But there's more. It serves as a showcase
for beautiful art from throughout the Muslim world.
The
museum is several stories tall, and it offers some interesting
views of Cairo from the upper floors. As this photo shows,
looking out in one direction we could see the Citadel and the
Mohammed Ali mosque. (They appear in the upper left corner
of the photo, perched on the highest point in Cairo.)
