At least, in Alexandria I immediately found a used book store and an Indian buffet right next to the hotel, so I’m now more reconciled to the place.

The Indian buffet here doesn’t deserve to shine our local buffet’s shoes, of course. The tamarind sauce and the butter chicken look drab. The vindaloo is bland. The vindaloo! Bland! The only meat is chicken, and it’s dry. Back home we have veal and goat and always a fish option, cooked amazingly well. Here, there is nothing by way of seafood. And instead of eggs or fish pakora, they serve onion pakora. Bleh.

There is no masala tea included. No pappadam. Instead of the tea, you can order something called Indian coffee, whatever that is. All the food options are the same shade of brown. But even all this is better than no Indian place at all.

I’m now off to the bookstore. As if to mock my love of museums, there is a “surfboard store and museum” nearby.

The conference in DC is do badly placed that instead of DC I have to stay in some sorry-ass place called Alexandria, which Google says is only good for shopping and eating at fancy foodie places. Neither of which I want to do. I wanted to go to museums and eat at Mari Vanna, which, it turns out, is too far away from this useless place.

Has anybody heard anything good about Alexandria?