The (Suzanne Mubarak) Children's Museum

The formerly known Suzanne Mubarak Children's Museum in Heliopolis is a hidden gem for all parents and visitors to Egypt. Tucked away on a busy residential stretch in Heliopolis, you can never imagine the amazing gardens that lay beyond the colorful entrance gates.

The fees are very reasonable, for 40 LE you get to have a "tour of the Nile" (a walk through a fake safari along the length of a model Nile, a visit to the museum (one floor only per visit -- don't bother asking why), an activity for your kid (painting Nefertiti on papyrus), and an enjoyable stay in the gardens which have one of the best and safest children's playgrounds I've seen in Cairo and even feature a butterfly museum (seasonal).

It is clean, highly under crowded (one of the few places - truly undiscovered so far by the masses), and I'd rate the interactivity and exhibits of the museum itself as better than the ROM in Toronto.

The first floor has Ancient Egypt and this is just awesome. It includes large rubber Sphinxes that kids can assemble like a puzzle, wall drawings, an X-ray scanner of a mummy and a replica of King Tut's tomb. Next floor up is agriculture, then the desert and the sea, and the top astronomy (top two floors are reserved for schools but with a bit of convincing we got to see the desert/sea floor minus use of some of the electrical gadgets).

Awesome, not to be missed by any family coming to Cairo.

Fusion Fanoos

This Ramadan Fanoos a time treasured tradition. Here is Disney's the Little Mermaid (singing a few registers lower than usual).

Venous

Lovely bakery in Korba on Baghdad street. Great selection of pastries for great prices. My favorites are the date cookies covered in sesame seeds and the cheese croissants. I have no idea why the name is spelt like this, it is something I'd expect to read in a hospital (venous: as in related to veins), I assume the intention was something different... Maybe a misspelling of Venus?? Goddess of love, because you will love their food??? No idea. Either way their baking is better than their spelling which is what really counts. :-)

Orange Juice

I've spoken elsewhere about juices in Egypt but orange juice deserves its own post. The local oranges here are fabulous almost year-round. They squeeze into fresh juice so fabulously and make a superb way to start your day.

Music everywhere

Romantic, lovely, heartbreaking, heart-throbbing, music videos in all cafes, people singing on the bus, playing ringtones from their phones, humming to themselves...

Korba

Korba is a burst of excitement. Great cafes and shopping. Beautiful and elegant architectural style (almost reminds me of Jaipur the "pink city" of Rajasthan). With the proximity of the presidential palace it has also been transformed and back again into a small war zone of barbed wire and barricades and rows of gunmen to a return to the usual cacophony of daily sights and sounds of life in Cairo

Zooba

Egyptian traditional foods with a twist. Top trained certified chefs, funky decor, amazing taste, fresh ingredients. Serving kosherie, hawawshi, foul, tameya, beet and lentil salads, soups, fresh juice drinks, aish baladi coated bright green (spinach) and red (beet juice). Amaaaaazing. Give a hug to the manager Chef Zuzu who is one of the talents behind this establishment and who runs the rest of the staff like a close knit family. (Located in Zamalek)