We went through the border which took a really long time and then drove through the Sinai Peninsula into Cairo. Cairo is a huge city. I think they said that the population is around 30 million. It is the largest city in Africa. The residential buildings were tall and made of brick and concrete. They weren’t painted or anything. The city was smoggy as well but you could faintly see the pyramids in the distance which was really cool. The hotel was called the Oasis and it was set up kind of like bungalows. When we got settled in pretty much everyone went swimming. Dinner was good because it was the end of Ramadan. That night we went to the pyramids and watched a light show. It was a little cheesy but the lasers were cool.
9.19 This day was awesome!
Great Pyramid – We had to head out very early to get in line for tickets to be able to enter the Great Pyramid of Giza. For some reason people don’t think that cutting is bad and kept cutting our group. Some of us blocked people so by the time it was our turn to get tickets, they had run out. We were going to maybe just have to go to the second largest pyramid which I would have been fine with but I think some of the teachers gave up their tickets or something because when I got on my bus they had one for me. The Pyramids are gigantic I couldn’t believe it and joked about them being made by aliens. Anyways we were allowed to go inside through this narrow shaft into the main burial chamber. It had been emptied thousands of years before by grave robbers but you could still see how large the coffin was and the cool paintings on the walls. Inside we sang “If You Could Hie to Kolob” which was really cool because it echoed so much. I took a lot of pictures on the pyramid but unfortunately we weren’t allowed to go up top.
Sphinx – This was really cool to see in person. It is all part of the Giza pyramid complex but we went to it separately. There are a lot of different sphinxes around Egypt but this one is the largest. There were a lot of merchants selling things and I got totally shafted on this copper pyramid paperweight I bought. I got it for $20 and when I went to another place I saw I could have gotten it for $5. I was a ruthless buyer after that and got some really great deals on other things.
Memphis – Memphis was the main capital of Egypt for most of its history. There was a museum-like structure there which was really cool. There was this giant statue of Ramses II there and another, smaller, Sphinx. They also had this giant ship on display. The ancient Egyptians buried it with one of the Pharaohs to ensure his safe passage. It was fully constructed and hanging up in a special room to preserve the wood now that it had been dug up.
Saqquara – This was the site of the precursors to the pyramids called “step pyramids” or “mastabas.” The one we went to belonged to the Pharoah Zoser.
After this we went to a papyrus “factory” where various hieroglyphics had been copied onto home-made papyrus. One of the interesting parts of this place was that they had copies of the Joseph Smith papyri from the Book of Abraham on display. We then went back to the hotel, packed enough stuff for a few days into carry-on bags, and took a night flight to the city of Luxor. We arrived and stayed in this really nice Sheraton complete with a rain function in the showers and toilets with bidets :)
That statue was huge! The picture of the people around the periphery showed the enormity of it! Such great shots and information!
ReplyDeleteHey it looks like the Luxor!! Especially the light shows. but better, because its the real deal. That's sad you got a bad deal-- but good job for bargaining like in Mexico!
ReplyDelete