The streets of Cairo were eerily empty this morning – at least that was the case on the major roads the first of two press buses traveled en route to Cairo University about 8:30 a.m. local time, from Heliopolis, a modern swath of greater Cairo. Hundreds upon hundreds of armed Egyptian forces lined the streets, and dozens could be spotted atop tall buildings. This ride can normally take an hour, but this morning it was less than half that _ and that’s with no motorcade, because President Obama was not with us. Similarly, the pool report of President Obama’s drive from the airport, where he landed a little while ago, to his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, describes soldiers lining the sidewalks, some facing walls, while police directed traffic. On the press’ ride in, there were no endless horn-honkings, no abrupt stops, no people walking down the middle of the street, no taxis cramming four or five to a three-lane passage and other norms I've seen since arriving around midnight Tuesday. Just a light flow of cars ahead and behind and a glistening view as we passed over the Nile. Some roads are being closed, local reporters said. Also, many workplaces closed today anticipating the trouble associated with road closures for Obama’s visit. Arriving at Cairo University about 9 a.m., American journalists passed through two security checks, one run by the Egyptians and another by the U.S. The 3,600-seat auditorium (today’s capacity will be a little less than that) has been filling up steadily for hours now.