My first outing in Egypt is a brisk walk to Tahrir Square. From my hotel, a rather fine and reasonably priced former palace recommended by a former Finance Minister of this country, it is a 30-minute walk along the north shore of Zamalek Island and across a bridge. I arrive with some trepidation, given this is the equivalent of marching up to Place de la Concorde in 1794, but (luckily for me) all is calm today!

Cairo, it turns out, is much like Paris. The buildings are the same height, the boulevards are planned in a similar way (downtown Cairo was also laid out around the same time Hausmann was doing his thing), and people mill around in cafes and bars. The traffic is nearly as chaotic. 

A couple of hours in and I'm already giving thanks to divine providence, in the form of Egypt's state airline, for my 48 hours here. EgyptAir (through generous subsidies I presume) was able to offer me JFK to Addis Ababa for $1000. I leave work at 4pm on Friday, and by 11am next day local time, a friendly cab driver is honking his way through Parisian-style traffic for me ("hear that?" beep beep, "Cairo music").