16.
Wow Alexandria!
14th March
Today is our last day here in Alexandria, but we have a lot of time before we catch our train to Cairo at around 5 pm.
We have definitely decided to go to the Alexandria Library. The icon of this city and the most famous library of Classical antiquity, originally built between 300 and 200 BCE. Its fate, however, became vastly mixed up in stories of greed, plunder and destruction the account of which goes beyond these Egypt Chronicles of mine but I leave you with an article (click to view) I found where you can find our more about the famous (or infamous?) Library :)
Mansoura also highly recommended the Montazah Gardens and the Royal Jewellery Museum which we will be going to for sure.
However, our first morning delight is the hotel’s SPA. It is small but welcoming and we savour the warmth of the Jacuzzi tub, the steam room and the sauna, though we don’t go out into the swimming pool because it is still a bit cilli.
After this, back up in our room, we get ready for breakfast, but not before recording two more of Joana’s Self-Massage videos, which again you will never get to watch. They just served the purpose of breaking through the veil of lack of self-confidence and shaking the inner circuits from unnecessary dust that has settled across the ages of being Human.
By now Joana is under a serious spell of “too good to be true syndrome”. Remember back when I mentioned the “deer with the floodlights in her eyes” effect? A somewhat unexplainable host of fears coming up, seemingly out of nowhere when one is out of one’s comfort zone, in an unknown territory, yet having an absolutely wonderful time?
Well this happens for a very simple reason. When life gets really good, filled with delicious experiences that tingle the senses to open up for more, filled with love and kindness and joy and no worries at all, filled with peace and wisdom and harmony - when life gets fabulous, the heart opens. We let our guard down - those walls we tend to put into place to separate ourselves within.Those walls become transparent, thinner, and whatever has been confined or hidden behind them becomes palpable and there is no way we can avoid feeling whatever is there. This means that the fears, the small Human Self’s limitations and perceptions of lack in all senses, become available to be addressed. After all, they too are an integral part of us whilst being kept locked away and they cannot cease existing somewhere in our unconscious or subconscious without being fully acknowledged, embraced and allowed back Home, into the pool of Presence where our Essence bestows compassion over the whole of us.
Only by allowing these non-acceptable feelings forward, can we take responsibility for having created them at a time somewhere in our past when we felt incapable of dealing with some sort of situation/situations and realising we are no longer that one that felt overwhelmed, helpless, lost, alone, fearful, terrified, incapable, powerless… etc. So these are just children and young girls and boys inside longing for love. No more, no less. And only when we have matured into the adult in charge of our inner world, can these children and young ones come and be taken care of by us, reassured that we will not leave again so they can eventually rest and become unburdened to the point where they finally dissolve and merge into us, no longer separate, no longer needed to remind us of our past incapacities, fears, hatreds and losses.
This is what was happening with Joana and what I remember used to happen with me in the past. I always dreaded great moments, when life feels really good, because I knew that at those times things always turned out to become “bad”, somehow. And this is exactly what happens. When life feels excellent, whatever darkness is lying dormant within us can come forth because we open our hearts and then we can either give in to those dark feelings and identify with them, not knowing what to do and becoming that child or youngster all over again, or we can be thankful that this is coming out of hiding so that we can love it, at long last. Not falling into despair, shame, guilt, anguish, lack of self-worth… such a spiral of emotions these parts carry around with them, such heavy burdens they have held for us until… until we could relieve them of those burdens with a loving smile and say “thank you, thank you so much for what you have done for me.
Because of you I am here now and I can embrace you with no fear of being engulfed by these emotions, for they are no longer present, no longer needed. You are free now. Thank you.”
But Joana kept on getting stuck in these strange emotions, not managing to realize why, and not having anyone to dump it on, because nothing and no one in her present moment was available to get into an argument or to reinforce those emotions in any way, which is what generally happens in family contexts, mainly. Not now. So she kept on running into these stuck and seemingly senseless feelings, not knowing what to do with them, but also incapable of detaching from them enough to not become them.
And I kept on enjoying each experience of this uncharted journey in the lands of Egypt, my heart singing in love with the peace of being Home within, accepting these waves of Joana’s too and very thankful for her company, because despite her feeling extremely strange at times, she kept on saying “yes” and coming along for more beautiful experiences. Maybe after getting back home in Portugal she will be able to digest the whole range of emotions and embrace each of those children within, taking full responsibility for being here on Earth, now, incredibly radiant as she is, loving all of her as she is seeing love all around.
Now I understand why many people insist on staying in permanent “complain, drama, life is so bad” mode. They simply are not at a point where they feel they can face themselves as the adult in charge and take full responsibility for all that has been, is and shall come. And that is perfectly fine.
I also understand why it is hard for most people to spend a lot of time with me. My Presence just scares the living daylights out of themselves! Cause it is the parts of themselves that come forth when they open their hearts in my Presence, that they are really afraid of, not me. And that too is perfectly fine. I will keep on being in the Love I Am, enjoying life with joyous grace and profound gratitude and allowing pure consciousness to be my GPS as I navigate the uncharted territory of being whole.
For I too have my challenges of new, all of a non-dramatic nature, but nevertheless challenges of going deep into the discovery of what has so far been unknown to me, as I have until recent years always lived with the tincture of separation to one degree or another. Living from oneness within, is a whole new adventure and one that I celebrate in each breath. I know the courage, the boldness it has taken me to be at this point of my journey, so I compassionately remain at peace, observing each one’s journey with no need to fix it or change it for them. We are all infinitely wise, even when seeming not to know this.
Well, we get the videos done and go down to La Gourmandise for our last yummy breakfast at the Hilton and then pack up and check out, leaving our bags in the luggage room where we will pick them up later on, before heading directly to the station.
Our first adventure is catching the bus to the Montazah Gardens. We have name right but have no idea where to get off… so we end up going to the end of the line! When we realize this, we have a good hearty laugh at ourselves and take a walk back towards the Montazah Gardens. But it is closed so we get to look in only through the gates, admire the beauty from afar and move on, walking along the Corniche (the enormous avenue beside the waterfront, around 10 miles long) until we can catch a bus heading towards the area where the Royal Jewellery Museum supposedly is.
We get off where it seems to be closer but little do we know we will be walking for the next 45 minutes, asking several people and always being mislead because they too have no clue where it is until just by pure instinct we stumble by the exact place we have been looking for. All along we have felt at ease, enjoying the walk, eventually accepting the fact that we might not find the place, but never feeling tired, lost or anxious. Just being where we are for the sake of being there.
We have to leave our personal belongings at the entrance, with the guards, but are allowed to take in our mobile to take photos. We are invited to put some plastic bags over our shoes, so as not to ruin the floors inside and then we enter a truly magnificent palace which we are ever so grateful to Mansoura for having recommended.
So far we have not been searching online for which places we should visit, but rather allowing the people that come our way to recommend them to us. We have done so all along our uncharted, unexpected trip here in Egypt and it has been so much fun to not have plans or not search for anything. To just allow everything to come our way. We are absolutely loving it!
In this palace everything is special and extremely beautiful! Even the kitchen and the bathrooms! Everything! We go from room to room with wows and more wows, admiring each space as an integral work of art, no wall, ceiling or floor left unattended by the artist’s genius. Wow!
This visit fills our cells with gratitude, beauty and magic brimming with YES, life is incredibly generous and we feel we ourselves own this palace, the richness of it, for as we have loved it, it has become ours from within. And so it is with all that we love. Such is the gift of endless abundance when the eyes of our Essence can behold all things, all people, all.
Feeling fulfilled beyond measure, we head towards the Alexandria Library. Once we get there we are a little bit tired. Still we find the energy to go in and admire more art, more beauty, more grand creations of superhuman proportions. Wow becomes the motto of the day.
Eventually it is time to go to the Hotel, which we easily do by bus. We are pros by now! Chuckle chuckle ;)
At the Hotel we grab our bags and call an Uber taxi to take us to the station.
Once we are on the train, not having gotten a first class ticket as advised by Abeer, our dear friend who got us to Siwa and Alexandria in the first place, we find ourselves perfectly comfortable where we are (we wanted to try a different kind of experience beyond the luxury we were in at the Hotel). Well, what do you know? We are even brought food, a lot of food, twice! So our ticket was inclusive of this but we weren’t aware of it so it was a cool surprise to add to all of the other ones experienced today.
The train is pretty fast, up until the moment it comes to a halt. A complete halt which goes on for minutes that turn into 2 hours. Apparently there has been some damage to the line further up ahead, caused by the storm.
Once we are on our way again, there are no more mishaps.
We arrive in Cairo at around midnight and head out towards the taxi quay. On the way loads of young men come and try and lure us to their car, taxi, whatever. But we want to get outside and choose for ourselves.
And you know what? We choose the most shabby looking cab, which seems to be falling apart any minute, so much so that the trunk doesn’t open and the guy has to put the bags up on the roof! And we laugh our heads off because we can! Such a fun experience! We chose him because he wasn’t begging us to take his cab. A simple choice. Though we clearly see the signs of the storm, huge puddles everywhere and some devastation, it is no longer raining. The star studded sky is clear and we are glad to have ridden on the storm rather than in it.
Our driver takes us to our Cleopatra Hotel in Tahrir Square and we thank him. The car was capable, after all.
Phew! We do need a good night’s rest, so it’s a treat to get to our neatly cleaned room where we can each lie on a big bed and fall into the warm lake of sleep.
See you tomorrow!
💙💚💛💜💗
Read the other Chronicles here:
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário