Shoulder in sling I went to Tahrir Square yesterday where New York Times correspondent Jennifer Conlin was giving a guided tour.http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/travel/25tahrir.html?pagewanted=1&sq=egypt%20tourism&st=cse&scp=1&adxnnlx=1298822425-Q0y/EvRC144iZOex56oCDg With me were Aart Blijdorp from The Netherlands and Julia Griffin and her boyfriend Joel Anthony from Canada.
"Hi!," said Jennifer, cheerfully.
"Hi Jennifer!"
Jennifer said when she was last here in October "it was still hard to ignore the broken glass and cigarette butts underneath my feet, and the tired, worn faces of the young Egyptians standing near me."
"Ughh, Jennifer were you wearing sandals or pumps?," asked Julia.
Jennifer said now the scene "could not have been more different." Kasr el Nil bridge was now "spotless" she said.
"Look at spotless Kasr el Nil bridge!," we all said at once.
Jennifer slid "[her] hand along the shiny hunter-green and silver railings, marveling that even the curbs had received new coats of black-and-white paint to prevent illegal parking--courtesy of the protesters."
"No illegal parking! No illegal parking! Thank you protesters!"
Jennifer said "Rick Zeolla, the general manager of the Cairo Marriott, where Christiane Amanpour...stayed" had said, 'Right now Egypt is like having a fast pass at Disney.'"
"Christiane Amanpour!"
"Disney!"
"Cairo Marriott!"
"And not unlike Berlin, where visitors can see many of the relics surrounding the fall of the wall in the city's museums, plans are already under way in Cairo to do the same with the revolution's memorabilia," said Jennifer.
"The Berlin Wall! The Arab Wall of Authoritarianism! Jennifer, can I see the relics of the Arab Wall of Authoritarianism, where are they?," I asked, wincing.
"Tahrir means "liberation'" in Arabic, explained Jennifer. "The square was named Tahrir when the Egyptians were liberated from the British in 1919."
"Bad old British!"
"1919?! Is that when the American agent Hosni Mubarak unliberated the Egyptians, Jennifer?"
Jennifer explained that "Sultan Fuad I" took over from the British.
"Was he a Democrat or Republican, Jennifer?"
"What's a Sultan, Jennifer?"
"It's like a king."
"Oh."
"Was he a British king, Jennifer?"
"Who liberated the Egyptian people from Sultan Fuad I, Jennifer?" Jennifer explained that the son of Sultan Fuad I, Farouk, succeeded him.
"Was Farouk a Democrat or Republican, Jennifer?"
Jennifer said Farouk was a king too.
"Oh."
"Was he a British king?"
"Who liberated the Egyptian people from King Farouk, Jennifer?" "Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1952," replied Jennifer.
"My oh my, the Egyptian people have had a lot of liberations, huh Jennifer?"
Jennifer explained that Gamal Abdel Nasser was not a king.
"Yea, Gamal Abdel Nasser! Yea, Gamal Abdel Nasser!"
"Was Gamal Abdel Nasser a Democrat or Republican, Jennifer?"
Jennifer explained that Gamal Abdel Nasser died in 1970.
"Ohhh."
"Who took over for Gamal Abdel Nasser, Jennifer?"
"Anwar Sadat," replied Jennifer. "He signed a peace treaty with Israel and won a Nobel Peace Prize!," she said.
"Yea, Anwar Sadat! Yea, Anwar Sadat!"
"It is amazing what has happened here," said Aart.
"Jennifer! Jennifer!," I broke in. "Can you show us the spot in Tahrir Square where President Sadat was assassinated by Egyptian soldiers?"
