Greetings from not-Cairo

Okay, so I'm not there yet. But things are falling into place--tuition, plane ticket, housing...all starting to come together. So we'll call this an introduction. First of all, the title. Yeah, it's a little goofy. Let me explain. Dr. Strangelove is a nickname I have acquired for my occasional cynicism regarding the situation in the Middle East. You can all thank Art for this one. As for the subtitle, I hope my colleagues at Baylor will recognize where I shamelessly appropriated it from. Bonus points to whoever figures it out.

Now, onto business. I made a deal with my little sister when we were matched through Big Brothers Big Sisters in February that when I got ready to go to Egypt, she could make me a list of all of the places she thought I ought to visit and I would then be bound to go see and take pictures of all of them. So here is the list. It is now everyone's job to make sure that I make it to all of these. The accountability starts now.

• Cleopatra's Beach, Marsa Matruh--Served as the port for Antony and Cleopatra. That didn't end so well for them.
• Montazah Palace--The gardens are the real draw here.
• The Greco-Roman Museum in Alexadria--History from the founding of the city to the Arab conquests.
• Battlefield memorials at el-Alamein--Site of a watershed battle during the North Africa campaign during World War II.
• St. Anthony's Monastery--The oldest Coptic monastery in Egypt.
• The Crusader Castle on Pharaoh's Island--Maybe by the end of this trip, I'll actually be able to spell "pharoah" correctly without the benefit of spell check.
• Ras Mohammed National Park--Egypt's first marine national park, off the southern tip of the Sinai.
• Ain Musa--"The Springs of Moses," where God commanded Moses to throw a branch into a spring to yield fresh water for the Israelites escaping Pharoah.
• Abu Simbel--Built to honor Ramses II.
• Kitchner's Island, Aswan--Known for its lush botanical gardens.
• Lake Nasser--The largest man-made lake in the world, it was created by the building of the High Dam.
• King Tut's Tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Thebes--Does this one really need much explanation?
• The Sacred Lake at Karnak--Priests purified themselves before entering the Temple of Amun.
• Luxor Museum--Collection of artifacts from ancient Egypt including statues and funerary goods.
• Luxor Temple--Prime example of Pharaonic architecture.
• Mummification Museum, Luxor--Kind of self-explanatory, no?
• Giza--The Sphinx and the Pyramids.
• Fayoum--Egypt's largest oasis.
• Siwa--Egypt's most secluded oasis town. Hey, Kaitlynn--how do you propose I get there?
• The Egyptian Museum, Cairo--This might be an all day project.
• Bibliotheca Alexandria, Alexandria--The famed library of Alexandria. Or what's left of it, anyhow.
• Temple of Kom Ombo--Massive Greco-Roman temple. Hey, did you know there is a crocodile god?
• Badr's Museum, Farafra--Features a local artist's sculptures of oasis life.

Give me a couple of days and I'll add my list of places I hope to visit.