of things seen from the air

Thoughts while taxiing up the Cairo runway after landing…

Nothing beats personal in-flight maps plus a window seat. Here’s what I saw tonight…

1. Tirana, Albania (been there on the ground, October ’06). Wild taxi ride from Ohrid, Macedonia.

2. Larissa, Greece, with all the roads leading to it. (Meno.)

3. The Acropolis itself.

4. Zamalek, including my block of Brazil Street (though my building wasn’t quite visible). Didn’t need a map to notice all of that, of course. When you live on a distinctively shaped island, it’s not hard to pick it out from the air.

Somewhat surprisingly, after all these years living in Cairo and flying into and out of it, I have only once had an excellent view of the Pyramids. You need a lucky combination of the right route and right seat to make that happen.