Egypt (11/3)

Another place I didn't ever figure I would be - I went to Egypt! We landed in Port Said, drove into Cairo, and met up with the ship in Alexandria. I had no idea how big Cairo was - I think our guide said there are 20 million people! That's insane. Of all the places we went though, this was the only place I didn't necessarily think "I have to come back here someday." Oh well.

View coming into the port.
It's still such a pretty view over the water - and much more serene.
When I think of Egypt I think desert - I don't think about palm trees.
The most prominent thing, just about everywhere you turned there was a church of some sort.
And the little places that the farmers live in.
One of many mosques.
The Cairo Tower or was it Tower of Cairo. One of the tallest points in Cairo and, again, I am sure there is more significance to that than I remember - like why it was built.
So green and pretty. You can't really see from here, but they will build buildings and not finish them, but still live in them. Once you finish a building you have to pay taxes which are about 42%.
Traffic in Cairo makes DC traffic look like a walk in the park. You can see there are lines on the road, but you can also see they don't mean anything. This was just on one side of the bus and I think there was one or more two on the other side as well. Traffic lights are just for decoration - not even a suggestion. I have never been so happy to be a passenger. Motorcycles would just randomly weave in and out, whether there was really a space available for them or not.

Our first stop in Cairo was the Cairo Museum. This is apparently the third museum. I think the first one was burned and the second fell into the river. They are working on a fourth. We weren't allowed to take pictures in there, so we have post cards.

The Narmer Palette
The Triad of Mycerinus
Ivory Statue of Cheops (he's credited with building the pyramids and this is the only thing we have to show who he is)
King Djoser (2668 - 2649 BC)
Prince Ra-Hotep and his wife Nofert (about 2600 BC)
King Chephren (2558 - 2532 BC)
Ka-aper, Sheikh el-Balad (elder of the village - check out the eyes!) (2491 BC)
The Seated Scribe (2470 BC)
Statue of Montuhotep Nebhepetre (2061-2010 BC)
Double statue of Amenemhat III as a Nile God (1842 - 1798)
Head of Queen Hatshepsut (1473 - 1458 BC)
Pharoah Akhnanten (1350 - 1333 BC)
Tutankhamun's outer gold coffin (1347 - 1337 BC)
Gold mask of Tutankhamun
Throne of Tutankhamun
Pectoral with winged scarab
Pectoral of the sky goddess Nut
Shawabty of Tutankhamun with the Red Crown
First view of the pyramids! And I had no idea there are 167 pyramids in Egypt.

We got to eat out lunch in a five star hotel!

I don't know what the name of the hotel was, but check out the lobby!
Pyramids of Giza.
You can see up at the top how they used to be completely smooth. I have no idea how anyone would figure out how to do that, but, once again that is so not how my mind works.
A closer view of that.
I really was there! It's still so hard to wrap my mind around.
That would be Mom riding off into the desert on the camel - I had absolutely no desire to get on top of one of them. They absolutely reeked.
Beth was also brave.
As did Donald.
At some point in time, Mom was even feeling brave enough to wave to us.
Getting down was not the easiest point of the ride.
Then it was to see the Sphinx. Whoever built that, made it out of one piece of stone.
I will probably never have a view like that again.
These little kids were playing soccer in a divide in the middle of streets. I'm not sure if it's brave, stupid, or much more realistically, just a fact of life.

We ended our time in Egypt by learning how to make papyrus paper. And we all had the chance to buy the real deal instead of just what was being sold on the streets - which was most likely made from banana leafs.

Back to the ship for a couple of days at sea.