Perfect Day (?)

No, not the song by what's his name. Anyway, I suppose it hasn't actually been a 'perfect' day, really! But all that we set out to accomplish; we did, so it's been an 'OK Day'.Well, not quite as we had planned, it would be fair to say. The boxes were supposed to be shifted by one of our neighbours and his two sons, in one of those little three wheeled motor bike trucks, which didn't turn up. He eventually stopped an empty service bus, and persuaded the driver to take them as a 'private' for 20 quid. But, somehow (?), that meant me going with the 'bus and one son to the hotel and sorting out the hotel porters etc. It was OK though, the job got done!

All four of our friends arrived safely, which has to be a big plus point. The other lot; we had arranged to collect from the airport and see them into their hotel on the 'Side of the Dead'. It's the first time they've stayed on that side, and we wanted to make sure that they were OK. On the way to the airport, we saw our first benzine queue. In the first pic, you can see how long the queue is as the garage is also in the picture, in the right of the windscreen.

I snapped this last one as we drove past the filling station, sorry about the sun!

Freda is sitting here saying "That's dreadful!" but it's all I've got to show you some of the confusion at the pumps; the two vehicles in the foreground have entered the forecourt from the wrong end, in an attempt to jump the queue. Something tells me there'll be tears before bedtime!

Never mind, our driver (Uncle Naggar) had plenty of fuel to get us there and back. When we got over to the West Bank, we found even worse congestion around the filling station near the checkpoint, it was horrendous! Even though Uncle Naggar hails from the West Bank; he didn't know the Mesala Hotel and I had to direct him, luckily for us it's very easy to find, lol. 

We met WitchHazel at the Mesala Hotel, which is just to the south of the ferry landing, and sat on the roof there while our friends checked in etc. It's a nice roof, with what must be the best view of the East Bank available.
I took several photos, but only two came out OK:

This next one is just a zoom-in shot of the Old Winter Palace, because I like it!

 We sat gassing for absolutely ages, until it became clear that we were going to have to dine at this new (untried) place. In fairness, WitchHazel knows the people there, so while it was new to us, at least we had a good recommendation! I've got to say that the meals Freda and I had (Shish Tawook) were easily the best Egyptian meals we've had on the West Bank, really lovely! Our friends said the same, and they've had many more West Bank meals than us two. So that's a new eatery to add to my list. (With views to die for!)

I'll have to get around to my other favourites as well, so that I can take some pics of the food and do some little reviews for you all. I'm sure that you've noticed a lack of food pictures on this post? Well, I cannot tell a lie (without crossing my fingers, that is) I was too interested in getting stuck into it............again! Sorry.

Just to finish off; Freda is complaining that she feels unwell because she's eaten far too much, all the places we usually frequent know that we always share one meal between us. (Us being so svelte.)