Cairo food and more

Food in Cairo is "tayib" - good - in fact its great. Street vendors and taxi way are very cheap and yummy. There's two staples kushari and fuul, kushari is a mix of lentils, rice, onions and noodles, with lemon and tomato sauce- its about 2 pounds at tiny little takeout joints and is the kind of food you can live on forever!
Fuul are little deep fried things -like flatter tastier falafuls - again sold by little shops and street vendors they are about 25 peistas (1/4 of a pound !) they are served with flat bread or on there own and with and combination of sauces, babaganush, grilled eggplant etc.
you eat mostly at night when its cool enough to stomach anything, in the day you snack on juice, nuts and bread.
yes the Cairo jazz club was good - we went a little to early (not used to eighteen time yet and still a bit jet lagged. There was no cover charge, so the food and drink are a little expensive (only by Cairo standards ) We went home before it really kicked off which is a pity.

today's adventures went better ! Although they started off a bit out of sorts. I wanted to spend the day in air conditioned comfort, so i thought id go check out the museum of Islamic art. But when we got there it was well " under renovation- " much of Egypt is it seems at the moment ( we couldn't get in and we stuck out in the hot sun - at midday - you certainly know it !
We ran into a bunch of Spanish speaking tourist who were in the same boat but had been wandering lost for an hour! - they were happy to here bear speak Spanish !

So we jumped in a cab and headed to the "citadel" A large group of mosques and museums and gardens etc - much of it was also closed for - renovation but what we saw was extremely beautiful. The mosque of Mohammed Ali a vast Turkish style mosque with huge high ceilings and the most marvelous lighting system . A huge (and I mean HUGE) chandelier hangs from the centre surrounded , no orbited by large circular concentric bands of metal suspending smaller round glass lights (each about as big as your head) . We had a loverly conversation with some young Arabic women - I think they wanted to practice there English - and prefer to speak to woman. They wanted my opinion on Cairo, the mosque everything - I was really nice to talk to them- they were sooo sweet!
The view from the citadel over Cairo is spectacular - today was clear and hot - you could see the giza pyramids !! minarets and domes as far as the eye can see !!!
The smaller mamaluk mosque in the same complex was more interesting architecturally- large arched like an echer sketch painted in bands , the top had very stepped geometric lines, we got some great photos. The citadel has lots of buildings , old traditional houses formal gardens......
everything you can ask for. It seemed like it was a real visit spot even for Egyptians it was full of family's having picnic's , kid running around It felt like a Sunday picnic ! I guess it is the day off (Friday is the holy day - also family time.
We ended the day but walking down from our hotel (after a shower to de dust) and walking down elbustan street , picking up some fuul and mango juice (yum) ! and eating it in the gardens at the end of the road watching tea local kids play soccer ! - very relaxed we ambled back to the hostel via the shay (tea) house, shopping for stuff stocking up on pastries,nuts and drinks for tomorrows long train ride.

Pretty hot though and the only time to go is in the day !