We got to sleep in!

We got to sleep in for the first time this morning! It was awesome. I went to breakfast at 10am and ate everything in sight. Perhaps I’m biased but Marriott really knows how to do breakfast. This buffet in particular was incredibly. It put my hotel’s buffet to shame! (I work at a Marriott in Cedar Rapids)

The view from our room's balcony

We were suppose to go to Cairo University today but Professor Hamad found out that all government institutions are closed today so that employees and students can vote. So instead, we visited the mosques in Old Cairo.

Mosques

We saw a few mosques today and they were beautiful. Islam seems as if it is an entirely different world than Christianity when visiting them but I know that is not true. It is strange to think that although the practices and forms of worship are so different, there are many similarities between the religions. 

Sadat’s Burial Place

After we saw the mosques, we visiting the site where former President Sadat is buried. Sadat became president in 1971 after President Nasser. Sadat is technically the 3^rd president of Egypt. The first president, however, lasted only a few months. The first republic of Egypt only had four presidents and only three are important- Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak. Nasser, for the most part, was very well liked by the Egyptian people. Sadat, however, was not as well liked (think of him as President Bush in the United States). Early in his presidency, Sadat visited the United States and became obsessed with the American way of life. He tried to create this same culture in Egypt. This created a few very rich people and many poor people. He imprisoned a large number of Islamists under the use of emergency law because they were contrary to the culture he was trying to create.

Sadat was assassinated on October 6^th by a group of young army officers. Many people had begun to see his as an unjust ruler and a sell out to the United States. After this, Mubarak became president. 

Sadat's burial place