The new Alexandria library

Today we got up at 4:00am to fly from Luxor to Cairo and then take a bus thru the desert to Alexandria with tome to tour the new library- dedicated in 2002. It is so gorgeous - the reading room is huge- the columns look like the ancient ones after papyrus, the skylights like the god horus' eye and the walls like the old library with niches for papyrus rolls. However I decided to blip the outside with the slanted sun disk roof(with the eye shaped windows) and the granite wall that has letters in relief (like all the ancient monuments) of every world language alive or dead. Then the pool in front, and a small bit of the Meditteranean sea. Haven't a clue what that white sculpture is.
Using the Internet with this iPhone is a challenge in this country- and not free. So it's all I can manage to post a few images and I'm sorry I can't make any comments- will catch up a bit next week from home. And fill in the rest of the pix .... :-)
The demonstrations in Cairo were right outside our hotel there. Altho it seems to be considered here a very serious challenge to this government- i don't think it was dangerous for tourists. I will now be very interested i'n the politics of this place- most everyone is poor so it makes us tourists squirm, but on the other hand, Egypt depends heavily on tourism- it's that common dilemma.
Tomorrow we see the roman stuff- positively new in comparison. Sat to cairo - will see about the Internet there....