Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Our flight back to Addis was at 11am so we had a relaxing breakfast at the Kempinski in Djibouti, and then took a taxi to the airport. Instead of the $35 per person shuttle, we just took the golf cart to the main entrance where they hailed us a taxi.

The taxi driver had some cool tunes cranked and he was singing along as we drove. It was local artists from Djibouti and Sudan, and was sort of a reggae / hip hop mix.

We had to go through immigration in Addis. We had multiple-entry visas so all our paperwork was in order, but it's not the standard 30-day single-entry visa that most tourists get, so there was more scrutiny at the border but no problems. Also I don't think the border agent knew how to handle multiple-entry visas and had to ask for help from another agent.

The Addis Regency was very organized and the airport shuttle guy was waiting as we exited the terminal. It was the same driver as when we arrived from Mekele, and so he recognized us which made it even easier.

We thought about trying to get to a site that afternoon, but it would have been rushed so just had lunch at the hotel and planned out the remaining couple days we had in Addis, most importantly which restaurants we wanted to try out.

Top on our list for dinner was Ristorante Castelli, a italian restaurant that's an institution in Addis. It was Saturday night and we couldn't get a reservation, but decided to just show up and see if we could get a table.

The road from our hotel to the piazza near the restaurant was torn up for construction. However, here there's no safety boundary for construction sites and so people just walk in between trucks loading and backhoes digging up rocks. We gave them a wide a berth as we could and came through okay, except for Heather's black shoes which were now dusty.

We found the place with a little help from locals, it was still 10 minutes before it opened for dinner so we wandered around the shops and stalls around the square.

At 7pm there was already a few people arriving and waiting in line, so we joined them. We didn't need to worry, as we were able to get a table for two with no problems. As is common in the higher-end restaurants in Addis, there was a security check before entering.

The food and service was really good at Ristorante Castelli. We started with thinly-sliced chacuterie, split a home-made pasta with truffle sauce, and then a secondi each, and finished with dessert. They actually served the courses at the appropriate times, and had decent wines from Italy. It was a nice change after all the excursion food of the past few weeks.

We walked home without much hassle, which was nice. There were lots of people on the street and it felt very safe.

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Over the next day and a half. there were two museums and a church on our list of things to see in Addis, plus shopping for souvenirs, and the restaurants / coffee shops we wanted to try. Most places close for lunch between noon and 2pm so we planned our touristing before lunch.

First we visited St George Cathedral & Museum, the 2nd most important church in Ethiopia after St Mary of Zion in Axum. We had heard the orthodox prayers overnight from Saturday dusk through to Sunday morning, broadcast from loudspeakers. Our hotel was conveniently located within walking distance of the sites, which also meant it was within hearing distance. The prayers were just finishing as we arrived. We saw the on-site museum (interesting, but a bit over-priced), and walked around the exterior of the church.

We then walked over to see Lucy at the National Museum. Lucy is the name given to the skeleton 3.2 million years old and an early ancestor of humans. It was a pretty cool museum, with other less-famous but scientifically important fossils of early human ancestors. There were a lot of tour groups filing in-and-out to see Lucy. The museum entrance was a bargain at only 20 Birr (about $1).

We had lunch next door at the Lucy Restaurant, which caters to the tour groups, but is not bad of a restaurant.

It was then a 20 minute walk to the St George Interior Decoration & Art Gallery, one of the better galleries for souvenirs, beside the Sheraton hotel. There were a few wedding parties having their pictures taken outside the Sheraton -- it's a popular place for wedding pics (just on the outside -- staying at the Sheraton is out of the price range for most weddings). Unfortunately the Art Gallery is closed on Sundays. Along the way we saw a cathedral and dropped in for a visit -- it cost 100 Birr each plus a tip to the priest, but it was a nice cathedral -- nicer than the church we saw yesterday.

We walked over to Tomoca, a famous coffee shop in Addis. Along the way we encountered the sorriest excuse for pickpocketers I've seen. They were so obvious they might as well have introduced themselves as pickpocketers. We keep anything of value well hidden away so there wasn't a concern, but it was funny to see how bad they were.

Tomoca was great. It is a popular stop for tourists and while we were sipping our macchiatos several groups came and went. We bought some packages of coffeee beans to take home as well.

We walked home all hopped up on caffeine, and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. For dinner we made reservations at La Mandoline, a French restaurant rated highly on tripadvisor. It was across town (near the airport) and so we arranged for a taxi to take us there, wait a couple hours, and then drive us home (for about $25 total). Dinner was okay, not quite as good as Castelli's. We did try a local wine, from Rift Valley, which was really good.

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On our last day in Addis we walked over to the Ethnological Museum, which was very highly rated by the guide books. It was difficult to find. It's inside the university grounds but there's no signage to indicate where it is. Even after buying our tickets we still weren't sure that we were at the right museum. It was only when we saw the stuffed lion at the top of the stairs (which matched the description in the LP) that we figured we were at right place.

The Ethnological Museum is okay, but not as good as we expected based on the guide books. We wouldn't have missed much if we weren't able to visit.

There were a couple souvenir shops we wanted to get to before noon, so we took taxis. We bought a ceramic guinea fowl at the Art Gallery, which is a motif seen throughout Ethiopia. We had no bargaining power at Gallery 21 as we got out of our taxi with the large Art Gallery bag in hand, I'm sure as recognizable as a baby blue Tiffany's jewellery bag on Bloor West. They had some larger wood pieces, but we already had some large stuff to try to bring home so just bought a coffee pot (which we'd seen used in the coffee ceremonies throughout Ethiopia).

We had lunch back at Ristorante Castelli, which was really good. Finished with our last coffee in Ethiopia, and then headed home to pack up and shower and get ready for our 10:40pm flight home. We had booked the hotel room for the half day which was worth it. Packed all of our fragile souvenirs in the carry-on suitcase we had brought from home just for this purpose; we also had a large mask as carry-on.

Took the hotel shuttle to the airport. The security at the airport entrance gave us a hassle about the salt pearls we had picked up in Djibouti, but after some discussion let us go. We checked in and got our boarding passes. Had a pizza in the departure lounge which was loaded with cheese and very heavy. Should've just got a couple Snickers bars instead.

Got through the gate security with all of our carry-on. The final hurdle was whether the airline agents would allow us through with our bulky mask and carry-on -- we were near the front of the plane and boarding last, and concerned that the other passengers would fill up the overhead bins. However we got through, and actually had a bin to ourselves, so our souvenirs were safe. It was a direct flight to Toronto (stopping off in Rome for refueling while we stayed on-board). We were on the plane for over 17 hours, which is the longest we've been on a single flight.

We arrived in Toronto around 7:30am on Tuesday. There was a loud gasp throughout the airplane when the co-pilot announced the ground temperature at -21C.

Pearson remains one of the worst airports for getting through -- it's terrible. First it took the ground crew about 10 minutes to line up the passenger ramp with the door of the airplane. We could see them driving back and forth trying to get the right alignment. Immigration was somewhat improved, but I think it's because it was just our flight that was going through at the time. It then took over an hour for the bags to get to the carousel. In total it took over 90 minutes from landing to get through everything.

It was 9am and we were hungry and figured it was better to grab breakfast and get past rush hour before heading home. So we did the Canadian thing and found Tim Hortons (although we both had tea instead of a double-double).

There was an accident on the Gardiner which closed all lanes so it took a bit longer than normal to get home, but eventually we did. Finally we were home after five weeks, a great vacation with amazing sites.