Item 01: Ralph Ingram Moore letters, 10 February 1907-15 March 1918 - Page 178
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[Page 178]
2.
finest hotels in the world. However it is not used as such now, but has been converted into a Military Hospital, the same as Mena House has. Heliopolis boasts more places of amusement than Cairo itself. There is Luna Park for instance, a replica of the old Stein's Court Manly on a larger scale. Several skating rinks are also scattered about. Electric trains, trams and steam trains connect this fashionable suburb to the City. As the fare is only ½ P.T. (piastre, 1 ¼ d) many of the soldiers camped at Mena, when they go into Cairo, simply change from one tram to another and go straight out to Heliopolis. The past I am speaking of is of course, quite modern, but the old Heliopolis or City of the Sun, carries its history back into the dim ages. The only thing left of this one time glorious City is the Obelisk near the village of Matarich. It is a huge granite block of the same shape as Cleopatra's needle. In fact some of the dragomen call this Obelisk €“ Cleopatra's Needle. The four sides are covered with hieroglyphics. It seems a very early monument to a forgotten race. Fields come right up to within a few yards of its base, but it holds its stately head high, as though it could have nothing whatever to do with recently