Later at the king's palatial, lavishly decorated farm, the two leaders held a bilateral meeting. They spoke for several hours--indeed the meeting went well over it's allocated time.

 

 

Obama landed in Cairo this morning and was met by Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmad Aboul Gheit. He worked on his speech through the early morning flight from Riyadh.

 

The president was soon whisked away to Qubba Palace to meet with President Hosni Mubarak. At the palace, a 21-horse escort let the president's motorcade up the drive. A military band played both national anthems upon Obama's arrival. 

 

Obama appeared on the palace's balcony for the anthem.

 

 

This is the view that the president saw.

 

 

After a private one-on-one meeting that ran for more than 20 minutes, Obama and Mubarak held a bilateral meeting. One of our Egyptian handlers remarked how melancholy President Mubarak appeared. He recently suffered the tragic loss of his 12-year-old grandson. He had canceled his May trip to the United States as a result.

 

 

Outside the bilateral, Secretary of State Clinton chatted it up with Egyptian dignataries. That woman knows how to work a room.

 

Following the official meetings, Obama and Clinton toured the Sultan Hassan Mosque. This mosque, constructed in 1256, is one of the largest in the Islamic world. It was originally intended as a religious school for the four Sunni sects in Cairo. These days it is one of the most actively attended mosques in the city. Note that neither Obama nor Clinton are wearing shoes. Clinton listened attentively to the guide, while the president gazed around at the stunning woodwork and carving, peppering the guide with questions about history and the mosque's construction. At one point, Obama teased NBC's Chuck Todd for paying too much attention to his BlackBerry in such stunning surroundings.

 

Can everyone step back for a minute, rewind to April or May 2008 and ask yourselves: Did you ever expect to see a photo like this one in mid-2009?

 

And then of course, there was the speech. I was sitting in an orchestra pit, so my view was a little strange, but that is what it looked like.

 

Obama's biggest applause line was this: "I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum." He closed the stirring and wide-ranging speech with the following words: "The Holy Qur'an tells us, 'O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another.' The Talmud tells us: 'The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace.' The Holy Bible tells us, 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.' The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God’s vision. Now, that must be our work here on Earth. Thank you. And may God’s peace be upon you."  

 

After a quick helicopter ride over Cairo, the casually dressed president arrived at the Pyramids of Giza for a tour. He's pictured above with senior advisers Valerie Jarrett, David Axelrod, Robert Gibbs and Rahm Emmanuel. Obama was clearly awed by this wonder of the world, spending over an hour and a half there. I couldn't hear much of what the president said, but I did hear him say "This thing's huge" while he signaled for his body man, Reggie Love, to come over and check it out. Later he joked that he'd heard no evidence that aliens had been involved in the construction of the pyramids.

 

After touring the first pyramid, the presidential party was met by local Egyptians with camels and Arabian horses. Aides Reggie Love (above), Rahm Emmanuel and Valerie Jarrett all decided to try camel riding, with Love challenging Emmanuel to a race (the camels did not co-operate with the race plan). The president watched with amusement, telling the press pool, "I just want you guys to know, if you weren't here, I'd get on a camel. I don't want to give you guys the satisfaction." Next the president toured a tomb were he saw a hieroglyph of a man with a round face and big ears. "Hey, that looks like me," the president apparently said. (This info was relayed to me by the wonderful Athena Jones of NBC, as there wasn't space in the tomb for all of us.) "Look at those ears!" he joked. An aide jumped in to say that Obama looked more like King Tut.

 

Toward the end of the tour, Obama visited the Solar Boat, a 43-meter wooden vessel that was uncovered in 1954 and later reassembled. He then went to the Sphinx, but my pictures from there didn't work out so great. So this brings me to the end of our photo tour. Obama called the pyramids and sphinx "awe-inspiring" and "beautiful". The final word should go to him. "Best OTR so far! Five Guys [Burgers] was good. This is better," he said enthusiastically before adding. "I guess we've got to get back to work."