First day in Egypt

So I started out this morning feeling like Indiana Jones due to my dirty, dusty boots which was unfortunately not the result of archaeology. The Indy feeling didnt last long, when I had 2 heartattacks because I couldnt find my epipen, and then couldnt find my health insurance card (they were too well packed).

Two things about Zurich airport which I didnt know when I lived there:
1) the post office in the train station attached to the airport has a photocopier. 20 Rappen for B&W, 1CHF for colour
2) the chemist in the train station does not have a good selection of travel size toiletries, so buy them before you get there, because the duty free shopping area only has the travel size expensive-perfume type stuff.

Coming in to land in Cairo was cool! When we came out of the clouds there were green fields below, then all of a sudden, as if there is a dividing line, the green ends, and there in nothing but sand. As we flew lower, the amount of work visible in the sand was amazing. Tracks laid out for roads went for miles & miles. My guidebook talked about how Egyptians are constantly working to reclaim the land from the desert and it was so accurate. The work going on is truly impressive.

Cairo airport Terminal 3 is very impressive. You could be mistaken for thinking it was Zurich! I was expecting chaos as per the description in my guidebook but it was calm, quiet and had western style toilets!
Tourist visas have to be bought from the bank foreign exchange counters in the arrivals hall before customs, which was a bit confusing, but passing through immigration was very quick and painless.

The drive to the hotel was not as crazy as expected, but it is Sunday so the traffic was lighter than normal. OMG there are Ladas everywhere here! (I developed a bit of a Lada obsession after visiting Moldova a couple of years ago). Lots of police and military types on the street here too, it seemed like on every corner after leaving the airport. Mostly they seemed to be directing traffic or telling people to move on and not park here.
I thought my driver understood me well enough until I asked him whether traffic was usually this heavy or if it was rushhour - and his answer was 'yes'. But to be fair, I was having difficulty understanding him as well, but he did his best to point out the sights to me on the way to the hotel and told me that there are two Nile rivers flowing through Cairo, a little and a large one (but maybe I understood him as well as he understood me??!!)