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Tags: Presidential Travel / Barack Obama / Egypt Travel / Cairo / → All Tags

Obama Takes The Pyramids of Giza Tour, But Skips Camel Ride

After a typical date night escape brought President Obama to New York City earlier this week, we can only imagine that he was all warmed up to play tourist on his Egypt jaunt.

He may be in Dresden today addressing issues of Holocaust denial, before he rounds out this week with a visit to the D-Day beaches of Normandy, Obama made sure to drop by Cairo University to deliver a hotly debated speech. Thankfully he brought his khakis and set aside enough time to day trip out to the Pyramids of Giza and the 600-year-old Sultan Hassan mosque. During a private visit to the Spyhnx, Obama even joked that were he a typical visitor, he'd get on a camel.

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Tags: Worlds-Best-Train-Trips-Map / Train Travel / South Africa Travel / Egypt Travel / → All Tags

World's Greatest Train Travel: Olde Africa, Bathtubs Optional

This week, we're mapping some of the world's greatest train trips.

Desk jockeys may find the route traveled by the Pride of Africa to be prohibitively long, not to mention impractical: The classic Cape to Cairo track may have been an innovation back in the days of "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?"

But on a continent known for being unknowable, the Pride of Africa, making tracks through Zimbabwe and Tanzania aboard the self-described "World's Most Luxurious Train," this route attracts because, even with its airplane attachments, it's the kind of journey no one takes any more.

Between the classic train cars (some dating from the 19-teens) to the built-in balconies, there's only one word for it: audacious. We can't help picturing some kind of adventure along the lines of "Strangers on a Train" meets "The Constant Gardener," or a dry "African Queen," that envelops everyone on board.

Related Stories:
· Cape to Cairo [Rovos Rail]
· Cape to Cairo, Mostly by Train [Bootsnall.com]
· A Bunch of South Africans Who Took the Trip in 2007 [Our Cape to Cairo]
· Transsiberian Is An Ice-Cold Thriller [Jaunted]

[Photo: Old Fogey 1942]

Tags: Egypt Travel / Monuments / → All Tags

Egypt's Pyramid Scheme

Halt all pyramid production! Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities announced on December 25 that it plans to pass a law requiring royalties be paid to the Egyptian government when exact duplications of the country's pyramids or sphinx structures are produced. What prompted the decision? Las Vegas.

According to an AFP report, the director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, made the pyramid law announcement shortly after the Egyptian newspaper Al-Wafd published an article demanding that Las Vegas' Luxor Hotel give its Egyptian namesake a portion of its profits. Their reasoning: 35 million tourists visit Las Vegas each year, and only six million visit Luxor.

What remains unclear is how the Egyptian government will stop shape counterfeiters. Even Luxor's town council leader has his doubts:

We can't forbid people from using the name of Luxor and copying monuments from (the) city, which is the world's richest city for monuments...Tourists going to Las Vegas doesn't affect our city's business.

Related Links:
· Egypt to Copyright Pyramids [AFP, via Google]
· Egypt Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Vibin]