St. George from start to finish

Friday was a public holiday, so after breakfast, my colleague K and I headed out to explore Addis a little bit. Our first stop was St. George Cathedral, so we took a minibus taxi up to Arat Kilo and asked around for directions. By chance, we ran into Esa, a new trainee at the water technology center, so he walked with us and chatted on our way up to the gates of the cathedral. We bid Esa adieu and ventured through the crowd to see the 100 year old place of worship dedicated to Ethiopia's patron saint. Less a place for sightseers, we didn't intrude on those rejoicing for too long, but took pleasure in seeing small groups of people crowded around a man beating a drum and leading them in song. Other churchgoers headed through the doors of the octagonal building to worship indoors, but we decided to forgo entrance ourselves since we were wearing casual clothes and sporting our cameras.
After we left St. George Cathedral, we went up to Shiromeda to try and find a hiking train, but to no real avail. We did do quite a bit of walking around though and saw another church, but this one hidden back behind a little shantytown. A few local kids gathered behind us and began asking for birr, but an onlooking adult scolded them and told them to scatter, which they did immediately. In Ethiopia, beggars are generally unobtrusive, and if they get too adamant, nearby locals will often intercede by calling them off. The country, despite its poverty, keeps a firm grip on its pride.
K and I got back to Bole Road and headed over to Elephant Walk cafe (previously visited here) for lunch. We ordered fried rice with perch fish, but the waitress came back a minute later and told us that it was no longer available. I ended up getting the chicken sandwich again and K ordered plain fried rice, and we ordered a couple of St. George beers as well. Ah yes, the patron beer brewed locally in Addis Ababa.