Night Out- Roof Garden

Last Thursday the girls and I went to a cutesy little place in Heliopolis (downtown Cairo) called the Roof Garden. The Roof Garden sits on the roof (duh) of the Karvin Hotel- check out their information here. We had a serious struggle getting a taxi to pick us up in Madinaty because our phone service was so bad. To top if off our cab driver spoke absolutely no English (except "I don't understand English"). It was so difficult that the security guard came over and tried to help us out. He also spoke no English. We formed a posse and wandered into a neighboring yard and showed the address to the family there. In Arabic, they gave directions first to the security guard and then the cab driver- quite the experience!

backyard invasion for directions

Next we spent nearly an hour on the highway trying to get to downtown. The traffic was bad since it was a Thursday night (the beginning of the weekend) but also because the checkpoint was filtering cars through slowly. I did snag a picture (though not completely subtly) of the typical Egyptian car ride! ;)

pickup filled with furniture and a guy randomly on top

We finally arrived at the Karvin Hotel after a couple wrong turns and many phone calls to our Canadian friend who also speaks Arabic. The Roof Garden is known for its Indian food which smelled absolutely heavenly! I refrained having already eaten some gluten free pasta before we left, but it was a nice night out in a lovely atmosphere. The girls and I definitely plan on going back again!

me, Jenna, Tiffany, and Jayde in the tiniest elevator ever!