Our first daytime view of Cairo - early morning from our room at the Cairo Mariott Hotel and Casino. The spire is the Cairo Tower, about half a mile away and nearly obscured by smog. As we've come to expect, large foreign cities have bad air pollution caused in most part by a large number of automobiles. Cairo is no different in a country where 80% of the cars fail their smog checks but the certification is obtained anyway by bribing the inspector.