Still thinkin' bout that Whiskey Soda

December 30, 1953

We have just left the shores of Tripoli and a gorgeous sunrise.  We had to stop here and in Bergase to refuel on our way from Cairo to Algiers.  We left Cairo about 2100 and will be in Algiers about 1100.

I was sort of disappointed in Cairo after Luxor.  Luxor was so primitive and picturesque and Cairo is a big city – back to civilization again.

We got into Cairo around noon Monday.  After lunch we went sightseeing.  There were loads of soldiers everywhere.  In fact there were loads of people everywhere.  One thing we did see that we hadn’t seen before was the children riding astride one of their mother’s shoulders.  We are still seeing Westinghouse, Esso and Shell signs everywhere.

Woman carrying a child on her shoulders in Cairo - although it's hard to see!

On our way to the Mosque we passed one of the palaces where Shepherd’s hotel used to be, Opera House Square – the railway station which is tremendous, etc.  The Mosque was built by Sultan Hassan and is 650 years old.  The stones were taken from the pyramids.  He had the builder’s hands cut off when he had finished so he couldn’t duplicate it.  We had to put the slippers on again and they were the biggest yet.  They looked like Donald Duck shoes.

Mother at the Mosque of Omah in those Donald Duck slippers

Across the street is the Citadel which used to be the capital of Cairo.  It was built in 1748 A.D.  During the last reign of the last family it was a fortress.  The stones for this were also taken from the pyramids.  There was a mosque here too, and it was all lighted for us.  Mohamed Alli built this mosque.

The Citadel

Lights at the mosque at the Citadel

On the way to the bazaars we drove through the tombs of the Caliphs – rulers of Egypt.  It is still used as a cemetery.  All of the tombs are built on top of the ground right on the street.  You know the Moslems don’t care how they live during this lifetime.  It’s how they live after death that counts.

That night we went for a short sail on the Nile and then to an Egyptian night club – Shahrazad – where we saw the “belly dancers”.  They were really something.  We also had to shake hands with Samian’s sister.  Samian is the belly dancer that married Shepherd King.  Right now she is in Luxor busy with Robert Taylor – making the movie “Valley of Kings” that is.  [Ha ha!  Mother made a funny.]

Then yesterday morning we started out bright and early.  We went to the Egyptian museum where they have all of the treasures taken from the different tombs that we saw in Luxor.  To me it is almost unbelievable that all of those things were made so long ago and are still here.  In the jewel room there are things from the first dynasty – 4000 B.C. – up to the time of the Romans from all over Egypt.  As I said it is almost unbelievable.

After we left the museum, we went up to the Mena House.  From here we rode the camels to the pyramids.  My camel’s name was Whiskey Soda, and my driver was very nice.   He looked after me and didn’t beg for tips.  That was the roughest ride I have ever had.  Besides I think all of the camels must have had a big dose of laxative before we left.  We got off at the Sphinx.  When the camel knelt down, I almost fell off.  Right beside the Sphinx is the Temple of the Sphinx, which was built with huge pieces of granite and alabaster.  This was a burial ground too.  We went inside and as the saying goes, it was “dark as Egypt”.  This was built in 3800 B.C.

The head of Whiskey Soda, Mother's camel

Mother on her camel

The Sphinx is tremendous.  It was cut out of natural rock in 2800 B.C.  It has the head of a woman which denotes beauty, the face of a man for intelligence, and the body of a lion for strength.  It has been covered by sand twice.

The Sphinx

Then we rode the camels again to the first pyramid which is the largest – King Cheop’s pyramid.  It was built in 3733 B.C.  There are 9 pyramids altogether, and they are all tombs.

Cheop’s pyramid

We climbed up King Cheop’s pyramid.  Very narrow passage wall and we had to bend over all the way up.  We climbed about half way up which is about 150 feet to the king’s chamber.  Only the King and Queen were buried in the pyramids.  Cheop’s had the workmen killed every 6 months so they wouldn’t give away the secret.

The tour group in front of the Cheops Pyramid

We also went to the bazaars which are the largest in the Middle East.  It was just like a rat race.  I have never seen as many people and every one was trying to sell you something.

We stayed at the Heliopolis Palace which is tremendous (by the 60’s the hotel was abandoned; however in the 80’s it was renovated and became the headquarters of the Hosni Mubarak administration).  It has a dome too and is right lush.

Hotel Heliopolis

Oh yes!  We ate lunch at the Mena House (still there)after the camel ride.  They had a Christmas tree suspended from the ceiling.

Mena House

I looked all over Cairo for men holding hands like Mac said they did.  I finally saw two of the guards in the museum holding hands.  [I can picture Mother with her mouth wide open looking at them too!]

         When I took my last trip to Europe, we took a day trip to Tangier in Morocco.  One of the things I was excited about was the camels.  In my mind, I had this picture of Paul and me riding camels, just like Mother had, even though it would have been in a different North African country.  During our tour, we stopped along the beach outside Tangier where there were camels for rent.  You actually would see little groups of camels and their owners all along the beach, so this is obviously one of those "must do" tourist attractions.  All the camels were sitting on the beach with their legs tucked up underneath them.  This made it easy to get on the camel before it stood up and you went on your merry little way.

          So as we considered doing this, I had some flashbacks to a couple of horse outings.  One was when I was in college and I went with some friends one night to a stable outside of Athens.  We all got horses and some "cowboys" took us out for a moonlight ride.  In my mind, I could see myself riding on my horse in that picture from Gregg Allman's album "Laid Back".  He's riding with his then wife and it just always struck me as a romantic picture.  In any case, I was riding alone and my horse was quite the pokey ride, unfortunately.  What I remember most was poor Stan Dorsey's horse trying to ditch him and running off.  I'm sure Stan was scared to death, but it still makes me laugh to remember it.  I was the last person back to the stable since my horse could not be made to hurry up.

           The last time I tried riding a horse was with my ex-husband.  We were in the mountains in NC and had decided riding would be a fun afternoon outing.  For me, it turned out to be a nightmare.  Not only did I have a frisky horse, but I had visions of that horse riding off the side of a mountain with me on it (yes, we were riding on mountain trails).  As I recall, the guide had to take hold of the horse and help me down the trail.  I was panicking and near tears.  Not my finest moment.

           So thinking about that made me rethink the idea of emulating my mother on a camel.  But Paul and Allen rode like Lawrence of Arabia!

Paul and Allen on camels

          And looking at camels reminds me of an old family story.  Referred to in the Moore family lore as "The Night the Moose Got In".  John, Paul and George were on a trip to Isle Royale, off the coast of Michigan in Lake Superior.  And here's the tale, as Paul recounted it:

We arrived at the camp site between Lake Siskiwit and 'the Pond' a little later than we wanted. As darkness approached we searched for a suitable camp site. I found a beautiful opening in the woods to pitch the tents. We made camp and prepared a stack of wood in the classic chimney style but decided not to light the fire since we were near a couple of other camps. We cooked the fish we caught that day for dinner, and commenced drinking apple cider and rum (the usual evening activity) with a single mini-lantern hanging from a rope.

Once it was pitch dark, I heard a soft grunt in the woods. The rest of the crew quickly dismissed this as my imagination. After another hot toddy, we all heard the grunting...and the woods began snapping and thrashing just behind the tents. I had a flashback to finding the tent site and now I knew why the opening was so nicely manicured - we had camped in the middle of a moose highway! We shined our flashlights but were unable to see anything (moose are black!). After the moose ignored our demands to go away, we implemented Plan B (find a tree to hide behind). I should mention that we camped on a bluff and the moose had us pinned against the drop off. Later, John admitted that he had contemplated jumping off the bluff into the Pond.

The following few minutes are a bit hazy and each of us remembers them clearly but quite distinctly. I remembered the Forest Ranger telling us to hide behind a tree and let the moose charge past then work your way from tree to tree until you're out of his way. You see, moose cannot see very well so they sniff you. If you don't smell like one of their harem, they assume you are another bull after their cows - and charge you trying to stomp you into the ground.

I quickly found a suitable tree, but then John turned around and said "find your own tree". I turned around and delivered the message to George. It turns out we had all three chosen the same tree to hide behind. I noticed George was still being very careful not to spill his drink while madly dashing about in the dark. I decided not to offer advice and instead spend my time trying to find safety. I wound up behind a beautiful triple-trunk tree that I could shinny up if necessary.

Eventually the moose quit smashing the woods near us and ran off down the hill knocking over the tent in the next site. He jumped in the canal and swam across then continued demonstrating his displeasure at our camping in his bedroom.

After the moose swam across the pond...we returned to the candle lantern and just as we got comfortable again the candle went out...at the exact same moment a wolf howled from across the lake!

We tried to sleep but I kept thinking about how we were laying down in his spot, and how much George's snoring sounded like a moose. I dreamed of climbing the triple-trunk tree several times.

The next morning it looked like someone had driven a truck through the woods. Trees were snapped off about 3 feet off the ground and the underbrush behind our tents was stomped flat. I found my triple-trunk tree as we relived the evening, and saw that it would have been disaster for me to have tried to climb the dead tree. The tops had already broken off and I might have gotten one good shinny before the dead triple-trunk tree deposited me at the feet of the moose.

Moose are like camels, right?  LOL