In other news, I was just scrolling through my last post at an incredible rate of speed, when I noticed that one can watch the sun set through the photos therein. These are the kinds of things that amuse me. (Simple minds, and all that.)
Anyhoo! Back to Egypt, and let's hope I can remember all the pertinent details as well as I would have, had I written this post in a timely fashion. Jumping right in: the citizens of ancient Thebes viewed the east bank of the Nile, where the sun rose--the Luxor and Karnak areas--as the land of the living, and the west bank, where the sun set, as the land of the dead. Having visited the living and their temples, we were next headed to the necropolises (...necropoli...?) in the Valleys of the Kings and Queens. Truly unfortunately, but by no means a surprise, no cameras were allowed in either location at any point--not even outside, once we'd passed through the ticketing areas and metal detectors, and so you'll have to just deal with another flurry of links, in my attempt to record everything we saw. So, so sorry, but we saw some truly remarkable tombs, and I am absolutely compelled to share them with you as best I can!
First up was the Valley of the Kings, which is quite literally in the middle of nowhere, since the Middle Kingdom pharaohs had learned that building glorious (and obvious) funerary monuments made it just a wee bit easier for thieves to find and to empty their tombs. So, they decided to protect the wealth of their burials by making them as invisible and inaccessible as possible, and basically every king between 1539 and 1075 BC was buried in here. In order to get to the place ourselves, we had to cross the Nile from Luxor; leave behind the beautiful, green valley; and head in to the desert.
The serious desert.
The serious, serious desert. Once we got out of the sugarcane fields, there was nothing but rocks and sand.
This is just outside of the Valley of the Kings proper, where you might notice a naturally-occurring pyramid, instead of anything manmade like at Giza. The Middle Kingdom pharaohs still valued the shape for its ability conduct their souls into the afterlife, but decided to be a little subtler with their building. (Better photo here.)
In the Valley itself, there are tombs everywhere--in fact, over sixty of them, although only a handful are open to the public--but I'd have to say that the pharaohs' methods at least seem as though they should have been effective, as, if I were an ancient grave robber and didn't know the exact location of the Valley, I'd probably never find it. (Although apparently, tomb robbers in olden times were far more clever and persistent than I would be, as even still, most of these tombs were eventually robbed, with the exception of those like Tutankhamun's, which was more-or-less entirely buried and only discovered by accident.) We visited the tombs of Rameses 3, Rameses 9, and the combined tomb of Tausert/Setnakht.*
- Rameses 9: what I remember is a gentle, downward-sloping hallway covered in vividly colored hieroglyphics (ceiling to floor) and images from the Book of the Dead, lots of gods and goddesses, and a small burial chamber at the end. For photos, here's a panorama of the burial chamber and a nice, if illicit (...not mine, though!), shot of the painted walls. It wasn't the most impressive tomb we'd see all day, but holy smokes, what a way to start.
- Rameses 3: a long hallway with intricately painted and carved walls and ceiling, bright colors, ending in an unfinished/unexcavated series of rooms that just keep going into the gloom. Photo of hall leading to unexcavated rooms here and a series of all sorts here.
- Tausert/Setnakt: suuuuper interesting and wholly stunning. Bright colors in a hall leading to a huge, vividly painted burial chamber with a massive gray granite sarcophagus (as in, lying horizontally and taller than me). What makes this one unique is that this tomb was originally built for Tausert, a 19th-Dynasty queen whose tomb ended up being appropriated by Setnakht, the pharaoh following her husband.** Because of this, there are several places where Tausert's decorations have been painted over--but you can still see the outlines of the original art underneath. It was utterly fascinating and probably the second most impressive tomb we saw that day. Several decent photos on this site (...again); I do remember that we saw lots of snakes in this tomb--some painted around entire door frames, some crawling for several meters along floors, and this three-headed guy (who was, I believe, an eater of souls, and appeared several times throughout the day); there was the huge sarcophagus; I stood nose-to-nose with so many Anubis-es and some really colorful vultures; and finally, there was the large and insanely vibrant burial chamber.
I am not terribly ashamed to admit that we skipped the additional entrance fee for King Tut's tomb, as we'd already seen all of the grandeur that came out of it in Cairo. Frankly, there's just not that much left in situ (except for a wall of painted baboons which I am a little sorry that we missed), and even though his mummy is still there because it's too fragile to be moved, we'd seen a bunch of mummies in Cairo already...and so we opted out.
I do, however, want to stress here that we spent the entire time in each tomb wandering around with our mouths agape. Pictures cannot capture the colors and the detail, nor can my words or my memory, so you'll just have to click on the links and try to imagine being surrounded by this imagery, far underneath the middle of the starkest and most barren landscape you've ever seen. It's pretty mind-boggling stuff.
Next, we drove quite literally around the corner (back out of the Valley of the Kings, onto the highway, and then a right turn) into the Valley of the Queens, in use between 1292 and 1075 BC. Similar setting, although the last of the tombs we saw there was by far the most spectacular. I could have spent all day in there.
- The first tomb we saw was that of Queen Tyti (or Titi), which was relatively small (we had to hunch over to walk through it); somewhat colorful, although it's not in the best possible shape; and had a granite sarcophagus in the burial chamber. (Decent little slideshow here; a few more/slightly better shots here.)
- Next was Khaemwaset, an honored son of Rameses III, and whose tomb reflects that status. Sheesh. This thing was so colorful and well-preserved, with some really remarkable detail. Could maybe have been painted in the last century or so, I kid you not. There are some nice detail shots here (the people painted in blue were associated with holiness or religion, FYI...I had to ask); a tomb overview here; and quite a lengthy slideshow here. (It's really unfortunate the lighting is so yellow in those photos. The quality and range of color in there was astounding.)
- Last, most impressive, and most unpronounceable, was Amenherkhepshef, who was the son of Tyti and Rameses III and died young, probably around age 15. (In the tomb, he's portrayed as quite diminutive and really youthful-looking; I'm pretty sure he's the little guy in the first photo here.) And for reals, holy...freaking...cow. Those walls could have been painted last week, folks, they were so bright and detailed and unparalleled (in our brief and limited experience). Some of the figures on the walls were depicted as wearing pieces of transparent clothing, and you could see texture in the transparent cloth. The detail in the clothing--for example, red stripes on a yellow hat--was entirely pristine, and so fresh-looking that I was having visions of the painter still sitting there. A few nice detail shots here; an unnecessarily long and terribly yellow slideshow here (although I was having fun scrolling through it...!); a good sense of the tomb layout here; and a feel for how vivid the colors are here.***
Ahem...I think you can tell which one I liked the best. At any rate! We were then off to see one of the things highest on my list (after Karnak and Luxor, of course): the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, which is located within a larger complex called Deir el-Bahri, and is also very near to the Valleys. Dear, intriguing Hatshepsut! Since I haven't given you the run-down yet, Hatshepsut is a truly fascinating figure to me because she was both a female pharaoh (rare enough!), and a very successful pharaoh at that. Initially, she came to the throne in 1478/9 BC as co-regent with her young stepson Thutmose III...and shortly thereafter assumed the title of Pharaoh for herself. In order to improve the legitimacy of her reign, she often had herself depicted in art as partially, or even entirely, male, in traditional pharaonic attire, and propagated her own "divine birth" myth. She was a great builder--on par with Rameses II and Amenhotep III, whose names pop up nearly everywhere in Thebes--and had a relatively peaceful reign, as she focused on the restoration and expansion of trade routes, rather than on conquest and war. The most famous example of this policy was a highly successful trading mission to the mysterious land of Punt (probably somewhere along the Horn of Africa), the exotic bounty from which is depicted all over the walls at Deir el-Bahri. Hatshepsut died of natural causes in about 1458 BC.
Obviously, I find her fascinating, and it was quite exciting to visit her largest and most famous monument. You may have seen photos of Deir el-Bahri before:
Don't kid yourself, this thing is grand.
Near the foot of the temple, the remnants of a tree from the Punt expedition. (Whoa.)
Anubis (yay!) and a table of offerings. (Anubis was associated with mummification and the afterlife, and so an appropriate image for a mortuary temple.)
Hathor (the goddess of beauty, motherhood, fertility, health, life, joy, the stars, and lots of other things) on a column. Hathor columns were quite, quite popular.
Columns of male-ish Hatshepsut with the flail, crook, and mummified/wrapped lower legs of Osiris (again, attempting to ensure her legitimacy) on the first terrace.
Three levels of color, out there in their super bright and sunshine-y desert. No idea how this survives.
A falcon-headed sphinx, which reminded me of Sam the Eagle.****
And finally, the Queen herself, but in one of her manly forms. You really have to look at this up close to see how much detail there is. Sadly, it's one of the very few full and unmolested remaining images of Hatshepsut, as her stepson Thumose III decided late in life that he didn't approve of her reign and had most of her images and inscriptions defaced, and most of her statues and monuments destroyed or appropriated into other structures. (We were told that this image was left alone because it represents her soul.)
One last look back. Even the rocks are spectacular.
On our way from Hatshepsut's temple back towards Luxor, another view of the natural pyramid, plus rows upon rows of holes in the rocks--there were nobles' tombs everywhere.
Village homes built over nobles' tombs. Not sure whether these are occupied, as the Council of Antiquities has been trying for actual decades to relocate people from here, both for the historical value of the land and for their own safety.
We rounded out the day with a quick stop at the Colossi of Memnon, the largest remaining pieces from the massive mortuary temple of Amenhotep III (built in the 14th century BC). Excavation has been ongoing here since 1998. You can sorta see either Amenhotep's mother or wife to the right (your left) of his leg on the leftmost statue.
In the late afternoon, we decided to take a walk through the local market on our way to visiting the Luxor Museum, which is supposed to be spectacular. Another lesson learned: if someone tells you something's closed, go find out for yourself. We were informed by a carriage driver that the market was closed--assuming, of course, that we'd take his word for it and then take a ride with him somewhere else--but I can assure you, it was not, and we had a lovely time strolling through both the tourist and non-tourist parts of the market, eating some terrific local pastries and looking at stalls packed with everything from antique metal decorative plates to cheesy souvenirs to fruits and veggies (so many bananas, oranges, mangoes, peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes!) to crates of live pigeons to miscellaneous bits of butchered meats (including hooves, heads, and lots of tripe) to clothing to pastries and breads to everything else imaginable in an outdoor city market. The streets were wide and paved through the tourist portion, but then narrowed dramatically and turned to dirt in the locals' market. Scooters and tiny trucks came through honking, just barely fitting between stalls and forcing everyone to move out of the way--although somehow everyone else was much more elegant at that than I. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable, although I managed to get this shot of a side alleyway full of hanging garlands of silk flowers:
I thought it was really pretty and couldn't pass it up.
Then, over to the Luxor Museum, before which we were told by yet another carriage driver that it, too, was closed (see: previous lessons, wherein we learned that you can't rely at all on the times posted on museum websites in Egypt). This guy turned out to be correct, and then proceeded to harass us for the next half-hour, as we sat and tried to watch boats and birds on the Nile, to take a ride with him, and would not, absolutely not, take no for an answer. Or leave us alone. And then roped in his sailboat buddy to do the same. It got quite unpleasant--no fists were thrown, but it's really unusual to see Mike get genuinely angry--but then we managed to extricate ourselves and made our way back to our British Colonial hotel in time to do the bourgeoisie thing and watch the sun set on the Nile from the terrace, with some outrageously expensive gin-and-tonics in hand.***** (Which, that after the scene with the carriage driver, were way more than welcome.)
On an only marginally related note--gotta change the subject back to more pleasant matters somehow!--please excuse this truly terrible picture (taken with my phone, which isn't great when there's light, but is borderline nonfunctional in the dark) taken from the terrace, from which we could see the bluffs across the river and Hatshepsut's temple lit up in the night.
It was amazing.
Frankly, I was still very upset, and didn't want to leave the hotel again, but Mike convinced me to head out for street food near the train station (the happening area of town) for dinner, and it turned out to be a wise, wise decision, as we ended up eating several ridiculously tasty things that would have been an absolute shame to miss, and meeting some very lovely people. First came a chopped chicken-pepper-tomato sandwich, cooked by a rather surprised man on a grill on the sidewalk (I don't think he got many tourist requests, especially since the menu was entirely in Arabic, and I'm sure he overcharged us a little, which seems to be quite a common occurrence there, but was relatively inoffensive here)⌘; the best kofta we had on the trip, from a very pleasant and efficient man with a massive charcoal grill strapped to the back of his truck, who assembled our stuffed pita sandwiches with veggies, onions, sauce, and salad in about 10 seconds; and--my absolute favorite--falafel and spicy ful sandwiches (with pickled veggies and super hot green peppers) from the largest and busiest stand on the street. They had at least five people working on frying up the falafel in a massive iron pot of oil and stirring a two-foot-high pot of ful (yesss!) over these ginormous and terrifying flames; selling (and refilling huge plates of) various pickles and pickled mixtures by the giant bagful; and generally doing an incredibly bustling trade with a line that was always at least eight people long. The very kind man taking orders had us sit down at the small tables behind the stand, where we could watch them with their lightning-fast cooking and assembly of everything, then gave us our amazing sandwiches and sides, and tried to refuse our money when we went to pay. He was so hospitable and gracious--he was obviously quite honored to have us there, but really, the honor and utter enjoyment of the food (as well as of the experience) was all ours, and we did our best to tell him so. (We did pay, but only after quite a number of protestations.)
Finally, we finished out the evening with our first and only glass of sugarcane juice, which had been recommended numerous times during our trip--and which entirely lived up to its reputation. It was sweet, of course, but also tasted very green and fresh and utterly unique--but even more impressive, perhaps, was how it was made. The guy inside the tiny little juice shop pulled a two-meter length of cane from a bundle, then turned on this gigantic stainless steel machine (which took up most of the room he was standing in, and actually dimmed the lights while the motor spun up!) and fed the whole cane into these ridiculously unsafe grinders set into a hole on the front...and out came the unfiltered and untouched juice at the bottom of the machine, right into our rootbeer-style mug. It was quite something, and a really nice way to end our final night in Luxor.
The next morning, we stuffed ourselves at the truly remarkable breakfast buffet for one final time and bid it a fond, fond goodbye, then headed to the airport for our flight back to Cairo. During our short wait at the Luxor airport, we received a message from Swiss that an Islamist protest had been planned the next day for Tahrir Square, and so we should give ourselves a few extra hours to get from downtown out to the airport for our flight home. Instead, we exchanged a flurry of emails with the lovely people at our travel company, and they agreed that it was probably a good idea for us to stay closer to the airport, then changed our hotel reservations. Which meant, tragically, that there wasn't enough time to make it from the airport back into town and to the Egyptian Museum--foiled again!--but that we could, in fact, make it in time to revisit Khan al-Khalili, and so that is what we did. And thank goodness, too: our first experience there had been entirely underwhelming, and so it was excellent to go back and see most of the vendors open; to explore in some of the strange little shops tucked away in the back alleys and corners; for Mike, to snag some more street food; and, for me, to poke around some of the grand architecture in the area. (Brace yourselves for a plethora of photos of ancient mosques, people. Yessssss.) After an hour in a cab, we were back at the market again.
I may have taken a photo or 200 along Bein al-Qasreen, which means "between the palaces," and is a row of ancient madrassas-mosques-mausoleums to the west of Khan al-Khalili. At the point furthest south is the rather spectacular mosque/madrasa/mausoleum of Ashraf Barsbay, a sultan during the late Mamluk period, whose mosque was built in 1425 AD.
It's at times like these that I miss my wide-angle lens, people. Slightly north from the Barsbay mosque was this stunner, the mosque of Al-Mutahhar, whose construction only dates to 1744.
Continuing north, across the street, the mausoleum of As-Saleh Ayyub, 1243-1250 AD.
Which was immediately across the street from the gorgeous madrassa/mausoleum of Qalawun, dating to 1279.
Which is immediately next door to the madrassa/mausoleum of Al-Nassir Mohammed, 1295-1303
Al-Nassir and the end of Qalawun from another angle.
Ridiculous detailing on one of the minarets of Al-Nassir. (Nope, I couldn't get enough of those towers. Or the entrances.)
Dome and minaret on the madrassa/mausoleum of Barquq, 1384-86 AD, which is attached to Al-Nassir. (Yep: all of these amazing buildings are in a row. It was almost too much for my little architecture-enthusiast brain to handle.)
Across the street was there was this (comparatively) little gem--the mosque of al Aqmar, from 1125 (!).
Looking back south down Al-Muizz din Allah street, where all the mosque/madrassa/mausoleums are.
On the next street over (Al Gamaliyya, for interested parties), there's the khanqa (a Sufi spiritual retreat) of Baybars al Jashankir, from 1308-ish AD...
...just a block away from the madrasa/mausoleum of Qarasunqur (1300AD). (I took these photos while Mike waited in line for what turned out to be a deep-fried chicken liver pita sandwich. Bits of the liver were tasty and crunchy, and bits were most certainly not. I can't say it was my favorite, but I completely understand his need to wait in this particular line, as the smell was divine.)
Sadly, as we had dinner plans (ok, not so so sadly), we were in a bit of a rush and didn't stop to go into any of these places. And this, friends, I genuinely do regret: some of them are supposed to be absolutely magnificently splendid inside, and so if I ever go back to Cairo, we're definitely visiting the Egyptian Museum again, plus ponying up the "foreigner price" to go into some of these incredible buildings. Instead, though, we haggled over some fezzes for my Dad and brothers-in-law, had a quick glass of mint tea back out on the (I think nameless) square at the entrance to the market, and listened to the call to prayer... the perfect end to Khan al-Khalili.
But not, however, the end of our adventures in Cairo! After another hour-long taxi ride (during which the traffic was relatively manageable, but the checkpoint to get back into the airport complex and to our hotel entirely ridiculous), we were met by our new friend Yehia, Mike's main (and nearly constant) contact for planning this entire trip, and a Cairo native who'd (oddly enough!) spent some time in New Mexico during high school. He felt bad that we were exiled out by the airport, and had wanted to meet up with us anyway, so he came and picked us up and took us to dinner... which turned out to be his favorite local and street foods.⌘⌘ Yes, please. We started at a street grill with pitas filled with grilled spicy sausages (called sogoa) and then had hawashi, which Yehia called "the Egyptian hamburger"--really tasty spiced beef sandwiched in between grilled-to-utter-crispiness pita halves. (In my opinion, one of the more surprisingly tasty things we ate on this trip! Who knew that super thin, crispy pita would work so well on hamburger? The Egyptians, that's who!) We ate at a sidewalk table, surrounded by cats and kittens of all sizes chowing down on whatever crumbs happened to hit the ground.
Next up was dessert ("I hope you don't mind if we go out of order," Yehia says) at an Egyptian drive-through, which I'm pretty sure you have to be local to recognize. We pulled up to the curb at a rather nondescript street corner, a man came out to our car, some Arabic conversation was had, and then the man brought us three absolutely immense paper cups of scoops of plain ice cream (sweet, but not vanilla-flavored) over rice pudding, topped with whipped cream and candied nuts. Holy smokes, was that good! (Ice cream and rice pudding? Get out.) I think that may have been the only time in my life where I didn't finish my dessert, because no matter how incredibly delicious it was (and it was), the portions were just too enormous. So Yehia set our cups on top of the car (as one apparently does), and the man came back and took them away. On to the next!
Our last stop was a bit of a drive, and we actually got to see some Cairo highways that weren't completely clogged with traffic, and that's how we learned that there's really no speed limit, and that the lanes are still irrelevant, even at high speeds and with minimal traffic. Surreally enough, we passed a row of big-box stores and massive parking lots that could have been in the suburbs of any city in America, except that most of their billboards and some store signs were in Arabic. We ended up at Ta'taa, which is set in a rather flashy strip mall and is known for its seafood. It is a brightly lit, orange-boothed, multi-floor restaurant that felt like it should be somewhere in the US serving mediocre burgers and fries. We started with some pickled veggies and the only baba ganoush I've ever liked, and then we found out why we'd really come: thinly-sliced, battered-and-fried liver and little popcorn-chicken-sized chunks of battered, fried brains. Yup, we ate brains. And while I can't say that the brains were my favorite thing ever--the texture was a bit wonky for me--the liver was quite good.
Brains atop liver.
With Yehia at Ta'taa.
We also tried some caviar, which in this instance turned out to be fish eggs about the size of my pinky finger served in a tagine with bell pepper. Also not my favorite, but to be fair, far tastier than I had anticipated. Aside from eating foods I'd never have even considered putting in my mouth a few years ago, though, what stood out for me was the absolutely impeccable and gracious service that we received, in a setting that is how I imagine a two-story Steak 'n Shake might look (albeit much, much cleaner and better lit). For an American, it was rather incongruous, but really, really nice.
After dinner, we bid Yehia a fond, fond farewell as he dropped us back off at our airport hotel, and the next day, catching our flight back to Zürich turned out to be entirely uneventful. (Although that day was not so uneventful for everyone. Poor, unsettled Egypt.) Two weeks later we went home for Christmas, where I got ridiculously sick and did my best to ruin everyone's holiday, although they were all pretty good sports about it (...thanks, family!). New Year's Eve was a laid-back and lovely evening with a few friends who were willing to tromp around through the snow and ice to get here (and I must beg their forgiveness for being so absent-minded: I was still under the weather and forgot the tischbombs! worst hostess ever!), and we were able to watch both the fireworks at the lake and the ones that people were shooting off all over the city from our rooftop. And that, friends, brings us more-or-less to the present date, wherein I am still trying to kick my stupid cough, and actually enjoying not having any adventures planned for the near future.
A very happy, if somewhat belated, New Year to you, dear friends: here's hoping for a year full of laughter, adventure, and good food for you all.
*Know what's fun about Pharaoh names? And really, pretty much all Arabic/Egyptian/Nubian words in general? The English transliteration can be spelled in just about any way that makes rough phonetic sense, and in the case of names specifically, sometimes there is more than one version. In which case, the second (and/or third, fourth, etc....) version is just different enough to make one question whether it's the same name at all! And that makes for fun, fun times with researching everything to make sure we're all talking about the same person. For example, Tausert also appears as Tawosret, Twosret, and Tausret, and Khaemweset could also be spelled as Khamwese (or really, with any combination of the A's and E's in there, and with or without the T). And don't even get me started on Amenhotep. Woo.
**Interestingly, I found conflicting information as to whether Tausert actually ruled as pharaoh herself for a while, either as regent for her ailing son, or as pharaoh after his death. Or maybe not at all, and she tried to assume the throne, but was unsuccessful. Either way, Setnakht came next, and his son, Rameses III, took Tausert's tomb for his father. (And then used his father's intended tomb for himself, all of which was unprecedented and remains unexplained.)
***Also, on a note that doesn't fit anywhere else, really: throughout all our tombs and temples, we saw the winged solar disc both carved into stone and painted over doorways. As I'm absolutely (and inexplicably) taken with the feathered wings, I looked into some photos for you. I didn't read the attached article, but this guy's got some good photos of things similar to what we saw just about everywhere.
****You are all weirdos.
*****As one does when one is a wealthy Westerner on vacation in an exotic, but impoverished, foreign land, and needs to escape the rabble. (How very, very Victorian of us.) The whole scene really made me feel like a terrible person--I want to help everyone, but I can't! I just don't have the means to take a ride with every single carriage and on every single sailboat!--and so I felt horribly, horribly guilty not only for the argument, but also for refusing to take a ride with the guy, as well as for being able to escape to our little wealthy-tourists-safe-from-the-problems-of-the-world enclave. And now you know yet another reason (...overwhelming guilt!) for my flogging the charities and fair-trade stores so much. Shop fair-trade, people, and donate as much as you can to charity.
⌘Another lesson: in Egypt, when you're purchasing something, unless it's in someplace with fixed prices, like a grocery store or restaurant with printed menus, always haggle, and try to know the relative value of what you're purchasing. Otherwise, you will be getting genuinely ripped off; in one place, it was actually by a factor of 100 (!) that someone tried to overcharge us. Sometimes the haggling might not be worth it, though, like in the case of our sandwich, where I think he overcharged us by about 3 Egyptian pounds--less than 30 cents. Ooh, and another lesson, on top of that: if nothing else, learn the printed symbols for Arabic numerals before you go to any Arabic-speaking country. It's ridiculously helpful.
⌘⌘In retrospect, when Yehia asked how strong our stomachs were, I perhaps should have seen that as a sign to exercise a bit of caution in what I ate that evening. I'd already been having some irritating, but still manageable, stomach issues for several days, but how can you say no to an opportunity to go eat street food with a gregarious and friendly and generally awesome local? You can't. Or at least, I can't. Whether it was what we ate or how much we ate, I'll never know...I just know that I was viciously, viciously punished for it for about a week after we got home. Thankfully, however, it waited until after we arrived home to make its attack, and on the up side, I lost a few pounds, so, yay...? (For someone who loves food as much as I do, it's absolutely wretched that my stupid, angry, hypersensitive stomach gets to call most of the shots. I am not one of those people who can eat whatever they want, whenever they want it, and this has caused no shortage of stress and plenty of missed opportunities on many occasions. Yes, I know this is probably too much information for most of you, but it was part of my Egypt experience and I'm trying to get down as much of that in writing as possible. So there.)⌘⌘⌘
⌘⌘⌘Look who just figured out how to make text superscript by adding just the tiniest bit of HTML code? YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT. I am now unstoppable and will henceforth be unbearable in my use of superscript. But hey, I don't have to use rows upon rows of stars to make footnotes anymore! Now I can use rows upon rows of whatever I want! Look out, world.
