BACK IN CAIRO, BUT NOT FOR LONG!

My journal continues: In Cairo, we were met by the rather 'atrocious' man from the travel agency. . . He introduced me to the train conductor, John. I couldn't really believe that John was the conductor -- he was tall, young, and very good-looking (and clean looking). Having become accustomed to the kindly old men who are usually train conductors in the Boston area, I withheld my trust until future proof, which came soon enough.

Our trip from Cairo to Luxor: We boarded the train and went directly to the dining car, where we took some lovely pictures (after the train had started) of the sun going down behind the palm trees and the pyramids, and began talking to Fuad in French -- also clean-looking and nice, who evidently had been a tour guide. He got us bread, and more bread (at our request . . . we were envisioning days of starvation ahead). We ordered a dinner of pea soup, macaroni casserole, meat pate, mixed vegetable salad, and watermelon WITH seeds (there was a standing joke in Lebanon about watermelon without seeds, but can't remember what it was.)

We sat for a long time over dinner, and the two young men (who it turns out actually WERE the conductors) sent us some beer, we toasted back and forth across the room, and then went to our room. They came by to talk, and we went to their room for Greek wine (John was a Greek Egyptian). The bed had been made but they turned the bed into chairs again. The Greek wine, by the way, was made in Egypt. Nicolas joined us. They grabbed more dinner for us, and some pears; they began to feel the wine so we left. (According to Gail, we had some time leaving, too, though I can't remember.)

Marash Girl (on left) & Gail (on right), Jiita, Lebanon, August 1964, just before traveling to Egypt