Cairo.....getting there!

 Hey from Le Caire as the French are wont to say...the flight obviously was long...but other than doing my penence in airports waiting for flights it was uneventful...
Air France is pretty good they serve free booze as soon as you're in the air and you can actually order food from a limited
menu...my last meal was canard...imagine duck as airplane food!!!
One minor issue....I got off the Air France plane in Paris for a short layover before I boarded another Air France plane for Cairo so I'm came down the stairs in the same airport about a half hour after getting off the plane...and there was a bank of security gates to go through so I mentioned to one of the security guys that I just got of an Air France plane and obviously hand't been out of the
airport...so there really was no need for me to pass through security gates again...."I don't understand you" he said...okay I went over to the woman who seemed to be charge...and explained my situation again she was very sympathetic..."It dosen't matter" she said "you have to go through"!
Okay again well I tried...so off comes my shoes.... belt ...money belt...my watch ...everything out of my pockets..my jacket
before I go through I mention to anyone who might listen that the security gate is definatley going to go off because I have a metal pin in my knee..."oui oiu..just go".
I go in and the secuirty gate goes off......"mon dieu" consternation all around....a guy passes a wand all over me and it cherps at my knee....I say "I have a metal pin in my knee" no matter....he calls over a big guy with rubber gloves and does a full search....no bomb...thank God I left it at home this trip...I'm allowed to go through....and do the one legged stork dance with all the other passengers who are trying to put on shoes standing up....you'd think they would get wise and have chairs and tables on the other side so you get dressed again with a little dignity....but they obviously don't need the business!
So we land...my school teacher friend Kim has thoughfully phoned up the local Thomas Cook Travel office and paid for an agent to meet me as soon as I get off the plane....as well as a driver to take me to her apartment...for which he has explicit directions.
Things are going swimmingly....the guy is standing at the arrival gate with a sign with my name on it....good...he introduces himself says his name is Ahkmed..."do you have your passport"? Yes Ahkmed I just happened to bring it along...."do you have a visa"? Yes I do....we go right over to immigration stamp stamp stamp....I'm out...grab my bag which has miraculously made it from Toronto to Cairo with out going "walk about".....``Ahkmed the Great`` at this point loads my bag on a cart...I say I have to stop at duty free.

Note: booze is hard to get in Egypt...especially liqour of any kind.

Kim has told me the rules are that you are allowed to bring four bottles of spirits and you can get it all at duty free at Cairo airport  ....my man Ahki says "meeshi" (no problem in Arabic).....Kim wants three bottles of Grey Goose vodka and I can get a bottle of Scotch for myself....well that's nice of her!
But while I was cooling my heels in Paris and I bought two forty pounders of Absolute vodka and stuck them in my bag....so when I got to duty free in Cairo I didn't mention that........ and got the four bottles that Kim ordered.....okay that went well...let's see what happens at customs....so "Ahkemd the Magnificent" and I approach the customs barriers...the agents don't even want to acknowledge my existence....."Ahkmed the all Knowing" and I want walk out of the airport...I'm through...the whole thing has taken about 15 minutes....unbelievable!!!!
There's a young Egyptian fellow standing there with a sign with my name on it....Ahkmed knows him...he says "this Ahkmed your driver" shut up!..... his name is Ahkmed too????
"Yes yes " he says "it is common " well any friend of "Ahkmed the Infallible" is a friend of mine...I give Ahkmed four U-S dollars baksheesh (bribe...tip) and "Akmed the Intrepid" driver loads my bag into his car and off we go into the Cairo night...

More later...