Pyramids, the Sphinx and many Good Byes
(Cairo)
At the Pyramids
Our last full day on vacation involved us going to the Giza pyramids and the Egyptian museum. We got up fairly early to meet our day guide, “Ola”. She was bubbly & full of tour guide facts & figures. It took us about 40 minutes to navigate through the Cairo traffic and make our way to the Giza plateau. Though it was smoggy, we still got a good view of the 3 pyramids from the observation point. From there we traveled to the base of the second pyramid where we walked around the first (more to see than the 2nd or 3rd pyramids.) The size of these things is about a 9 on the wow factor scale. The blocks are humongous weighing a couple of tons each-these ancient Egyptians had some serious engineering skills. After walking around the base for a bit, I went and saw the Solar boat museum. It’s remarkable to see this boat fully restored and one can only imagine one of these sailing on the Nile some 4000 years ago. From there, I went to the second pyramid with some of the group and made the journey inwards to the burial chamber. It was cramped, hot, hard to breathe, and you had to stoop low as you went down the tunnel. I had my sunglasses on my head and cranked them into the roof of the tunnel-resulting with a 3 inch scrape & lump on my noggin. The burial chamber was unimpressive-only adorned with the inscription left by some dumb Italians who thought they were the first ones there in 4000 years. If there’s nothing in the chamber, then you weren’t there first! Dummies!
From the plateau, we drove a short way to see the Sphinx & funerary temple. Though not as big as one would expect & pretty weathered from history- it was still impressive.
Sphinx & Pyramid
We grabbed some grub on the run & proceeded to the museum. There was a multitude of people there. We had to check our camera as you can’t take photos in the museum. We had to have headsets to hear Ola but mine crapped out after about 10 minutes- it was hard to hear her talk about the mummification process, Hatshepsut, and some other minor things. We went upstairs to the King Tut collection-a nothing Pharaoh made famous by Howard Carters’ find in the 20s. That said it was impressive & I got to lay eyes on the actual gold death mask of the King. After this we walked around the museum & looked at the exhibits. The museum was overall a disappointment-it was a drab, dusty, with not a lot of info on pieces and in desperate need of some love. Apparently, they are building a new, state of the art facility near the pyramids.
From the museum, Jen & I felt brave and caught the Metro back to the hotel. Though it was hard to work out where to go, people were very friendly & helpful. It was packed with all men (except Jen & one other girl) and afterwards we found out that there is an all women carriage on the train (whoops!). We got back with no problems, chilled & said our good byes to the rest of the group who were going to Aswan via train that night. I kind of wish we had gone too- both for the sights and company. We made some good friends there. For supper, Melissa joined us and we went to the Hard Rock Café, which was at the Grand Hyatt on the Nile. It was good food, good company and great entertainment- the staff danced to YMCA. I got my T-shirt and then we walked along the picturesque Nile for a while. It was a lovely night for a stroll. We got back to the hotel, said good-bye to Melissa and packed as we had an early start for our trek back home.
Our trip has come to an end- 4 countries in 16 days. It was a good trip and we saw lots of wonderful things during our journey. Hope to see this part of the world one day again.
