First Addis Saturday

The front of the hotel

Zewedu picked us up at the ERC at 9 and drove us to the Addis Regency Hotel on the other side of Addis.  Quite a change for us!

pointing the way from the main street

My room

The bathroom.  

We had some coffee in the restaurant there and then headed down the street to see the St George's Cathedral and museum.  We had a guide take us through.  We learned that the religion encompasses both the old and new testament.  The Ethiopians believe the ark of the covenant with the ten commandments is in their country!   We saw some beautiful handwritten prayer books.  Some of the prayers and readings are sung and the words have small symbols similar to the torah.

outside the cathedral

The museum

Queen of Sheba! 

religious artifacts--drum (one side
represents old testament, other the new),
staff (Moses and Jesus), cistern.(sp),
a musical sound represents the crucifixion

After lunch we went to see Lucy at the National Museum by taxi.  Our driver took us, then waited and brought us back to the hotel.  Very nice man, Selman, whose son has had 4 open heart surgeries in Italy.  Here are some more photos including the giant tortoises on the grounds and the area around the National Museum.  

Lucy

A very nice painting in the museum 

The painter of the painting up above!  

Big Turtles!

Our driver waited to take us back to the hotel.  Then we took two more crazy taxi rides to a Chinese restaurant by the Ghion Hotel near the central stadium.  There is a major band concert tonight and thousands of other cars and people right where we were going.  The driving in the dark through those crowds and cars in a little cab with no seat belts and a driver who is in a hurry is just wild and it's hard to imagine there aren't many accidents every day.

All in all, another memorable day in Addis.