In the calm before the storm: Retired Judge William Giovan toured the sites of ancient Egypt just days before the country erupted in revolution

By John Minnis Legal News Retired Wayne County Circuit Chief Judge William Giovan, now a partner at Charfoos Giovan and Birach, was just 48 hours short of being a participant in Egyptian history rather than a tourist. Giovan, who traveled with Royal Oak attorney John Monnich and wife Jean, returned from Egypt on Jan. 23, just two days before the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 erupted. "There was really no sign of trouble while we were there," Giovan said upon his return. "I must have been a calming influence while I was there." Giovan and the Monniches left Detroit on Jan. 11. Their tour began in Luxor, where they traveled down the Nile and ended in Cairo. "The last day was a free day," Giovan said, "so I went to the Egyptian Museum, just a few yards from Tahrir (Liberation) Square where all this took place." Giovan said he had a chance to go to Egypt in 1975 on an American Judges Association trip that also included Rome and Israel. The Egypt leg of the trip was canceled due to unrest at that time. "Ever since then I wanted to go," he said. While Giovan did not notice signs of trouble during his 11 days in Egypt, he did hear remarks about how poor the general population was. He recalls a tour guide saying that his wife, a doctor who taught at the university, made less than he did as a guide. While the Tunisian revolution and the ousting of the country's president occurred while Giovan and the Monniches were in Egypt, it did not occur to them that the unrest would spill over. "Evidently things were happening in the background, as we would learn later," Giovan said. "Things were happening on the Internet, which we wouldn't have seen." Giovan, who hasn't had the opportunity to travel as much in recent years, was overwhelmed with the experience. "The sights were even more impressive than I imagined ... the pyramids, the temples," he said. "It is really hard to appreciate." The sights, of which Giovan took many outstanding photographs with his Pentax Optio 300, an early model pocket digital camera, included Luxor Temple, Giza and The Pyramids area, the Sphinx, Karnak Temples, The Colossi of Memnon, The Valley of the Kings, Old Cairo and the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, just across the Midan El Tahrir from where the revolution began. "The art is in the eye of the photographer," Giovan said of his photos, only partially joking. "Photography used to be an avid hobby of mine. I won a number of trophies years ago. This trip showed me what you can do with even a simple digital camera." Published: Tue, Mar 1, 2011

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