June 18th: Mosquitoes and a Fire-- Part 1

The Royal Princess arrived in Port Said, Egypt about noon, after sailing all night from Alexandria.

We slept in late as we were quite worn out by yesterday's 3-and-a-half hour ride from Alexandria to Cairo where we visited the Egypt Museum, a mosque, and, of course, the pyramids and sphinx.

After lunch, we disembarked, right into the midst of a crowd of mosquitoes (what we call those Egyptians with little booths or who, on foot, try to get you to buy their "ancient" stuff). These guys were every bit as persistent as their brethren at the pyramids, but this time we also had to deal with carriage rides and taxis. You've got to admire their drive, but sheesh, these guys don't accept the word "no." Then, there was the security check.

Quite hot as well, and after a few blocks, Mom and I decided to turn back to the ship.

Relaxed and wrote in my journal, and saw the movie Frost/Nixon, which I had wanted to do when it first came out in the theaters, but hadn't.

The ship departed after dinner, and I was on the stateroom balcony videotaping the many ships waiting to enter the Suez Canal (Port Said is the northern terminus of the canal). About 8:10 PM, I saw and taped a lot of black smoke coming out of the smokestack (at least I presume the stack, as it was above us and out of sight. I hadn't seen black smoke at all during the voyage so knew something was afoot.

What Was That Song Celine Dion Sand on the "Titanic" Movie? --RoadDog