Library travelogue to focus on journey to Egypt
PETERSBURG – Desserts and deserts will come together from 5 to 7 p.m. Feb. 10 in the community room at the Summerfield-Petersburg Branch of the Monroe County Library System, 60 E. Center Road.
David P. Wahr of Petersburg will share photos and stories from his November 2021 trip through the deserts of Egypt. Desserts will be served by the Friends of the Library.
“We will be serving baklava, cookies and a mixed nut snack, along with tea and water,” Cathi Masson, branch technician, said.
Wahr has more than 200 photos and many stories from his nearly two-week Egyptian odyssey.
“It’s basically highlights from my trip to Egypt, which included stops at most of the famous sites, such as the Great Pyramids at Giza, Abu Simbel, Karnak in Luxor, a cruise down the Nile River and more. The whole presentation takes about an hour and a half,” he said.
Wahr also will talk about his experiences in Cairo and rural areas of Egypt. He’ll share his experience of riding a camel.
The excursion was Wahr’s first trip abroad, and it was an unexpected destination.
“Originally, I was going to travel to Greece with some good friends of mine who are avid world-travelers. However, before we could go to Greece, travel was shut down because of COVID. We were offered an additional credit through our travel agency because of the trip cancelation, so we decided to upgrade and go someplace even more exotic,” Wahr said.
He got to experience sites he'd only seen in magazines.
“The trip was an amazing and an eye-opening experience. It's one thing to see these monuments in a book or magazine, but I actually teared up a little when we were at Abu Simbel, a place I recalled reading about in my grandmother's old National Geographic magazines. It was difficult to believe that I was actually there. Plus, we learned about the culture and daily life of the Egyptian people and made friends along the way,” he said.
Wahr has given this presentation once before. A few months ago, he spoke to the River Raisin Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star in Petersburg.
A members of the Summerfield-Petersburg Friends group suggested Wahr for a library program.
“One of the members mentioned this program at one of our meetings and thought it would be interesting to host here,” Masson said.
She said many have shown interest.
“Honestly, you never know how many people are going to attend, but if I were to guess, I would say 25 to 40. We have had lots of patrons asking about it,” Masson said.
A Summerfield High School graduate, Wahr is the director of business operations at Owens Community College. He’s a member of National Association of College Auxiliary Services; Blanchard Lodge 102, Free & Accepted Masons; River Raisin Chapter Order of the Eastern Stars and other Masonic organizations; and Petersburg United Methodist Church.
Also an area actor, he’s a regular performer with Monroe Community Players and has performed with the Toledo Rep.
For more information, call the library at 734-279-1025 or visit www.mymcls.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: David Wahr to share photos, stories from Egypt
