August 7, 2004
Early this morning we took a walk around Maadi. Although our flat is in one
of the many, many apartment buildings that have replaced the villas of years
ago, there are still many of the villas left. There are busy shopping areas,
but much of Maadi is quiet tree lined residential streets. The police and
military presence is everywhere with stations (i.e., little booths or chairs,
several per block, especially at the speed bumps). We found Nancy's home of
35 years ago - one of the villas that has not been torn down for a block
of apartments. The stagnant canal next to her house was long ago filled in
and is now a tree lined green space. We also found the metro station that
will take us to the university - it's about a twenty minute walk from our
apartment. And there is a nice grocery store about five minutes away, although
since no prices are marked on anything, we are surely being taken advantage
of. Maybe our bargaining skills will improve over time.
A typical street in Maadi.
