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| Painting done on papyrus paper |
Today, we went out with our tour guide for the first day and he took us to the Egyptian Museum and Coptic Cairo. Coptic Cairo is where Christianity can be found most. There is also a large Roman Catholic graveyard here along with several churches. Our guide he showed us two Christian and one Jewish. On our way back, we stopped by all the small shops along the slim alley ways that date back centuries. We walked into one and found these paintings that were hand painted on papyrus paper. Papyrus paper is what they used to write ancient scrolls on before they started just writing on the walls. So Miranda saw this and fell in love with it, as did I, seeing I had already bought a smaller one earlier. In Egypt you quickly learn, minus the department stores, there is no set price only a starting price. From there you haggle what you wish to purchase, whether it be a taxi drive, fruit on the street, earrings, and many many other things. With this piece of art we wanted to buy the vendor was asking 130LE which is about $22. When he said this, Miranda and I looked at him funny and he immediately lowered the price to 120LE. Being in Egypt this when the "Name your price game" comes in handy. I looked at him and said "80LE" he looked at me and said "90LE" we went back and forth and then said, "fine 80." He was rolling this up for us and I gave him 80LE and walked out with my first official haggle item. So I paid only $13 for a hand painted papyrus painting, rather than the original quote of $22! It is such a beautiful piece! It was an interesting experience to haggle something besides a cab. Especially since I don't have to very often. There is usually a set price on the taxi's or a meter. This was a very cool experience for me and there will be many more to come this week when we visit The Market.
Today, we went out with our tour guide for the first day and he took us to the Egyptian Museum and Coptic Cairo. Coptic Cairo is where Christianity can be found most. There is also a large Roman Catholic graveyard here along with several churches. Our guide he showed us two Christian and one Jewish. On our way back, we stopped by all the small shops along the slim alley ways that date back centuries. We walked into one and found these paintings that were hand painted on papyrus paper. Papyrus paper is what they used to write ancient scrolls on before they started just writing on the walls. So Miranda saw this and fell in love with it, as did I, seeing I had already bought a smaller one earlier. In Egypt you quickly learn, minus the department stores, there is no set price only a starting price. From there you haggle what you wish to purchase, whether it be a taxi drive, fruit on the street, earrings, and many many other things. With this piece of art we wanted to buy the vendor was asking 130LE which is about $22. When he said this, Miranda and I looked at him funny and he immediately lowered the price to 120LE. Being in Egypt this when the "Name your price game" comes in handy. I looked at him and said "80LE" he looked at me and said "90LE" we went back and forth and then said, "fine 80." He was rolling this up for us and I gave him 80LE and walked out with my first official haggle item. So I paid only $13 for a hand painted papyrus painting, rather than the original quote of $22! It is such a beautiful piece! It was an interesting experience to haggle something besides a cab. Especially since I don't have to very often. There is usually a set price on the taxi's or a meter. This was a very cool experience for me and there will be many more to come this week when we visit The Market.
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