Cairo and the pyramids

Hello all you patient people! I'm finally in a place where I can spend some quality time with a computer...so let me catch you up on where I've been and what I've been doing! I am going to do this in sections, so it's not so hard to read...and write! :)

After spending a couple of days in Amsterdam, I flew into Cairo on Jan 12 at around 3 in the morning. Evidently at that time of day, I can't read! So I missed my name on the little card (I've decided that is one of the most comforting things on earth...seeing your name written on the airport card!) and wandered around the arrival hall for a while. Since I didn't know where I was staying, finding someone who knew and would take me there was sort of important!

Finally did and got to my hotel around 4am. I was staying at Mena House, directly across form the pyramids at Giza. If I remember right, this is the location of the graduation of the American School in Cairo. Anyway, below is what I looked out at that first morning! Well, sort of...I hope I explained about the dinosaur. Anyway...it was pretty cool!


Here's what it looked like at night!
After sort of relaxing (read SLEEPING) for most of that first day, I met my "group" which turned out to be me with a guide. No, this was not how I had planned to see Egypt. I had planned to go specifically with a group so that I would have others to do things with. I had even mentioned this to the tour operator, but somehow he missed this part. At this point in the trip, I was not happy about this at all. (Later I grew to enjoy it, but we'll get to that!)

My guide's name was Ayman, and he was a great guy. He was expecting his first child, set to be born at the end of our trip, and was so excited about this. His english was excellent, and he was so considerate of me. The first day we went to the pyramids in Giza. I've always thought that the pyramids were all around Cairo, but I was to discover this trip that Cairo only has a 3. The rest are further up the Nile. The Sphinx is also in Giza, so that was my view of Egypt.

In Giza there are 3 pyramids, built around 3500 BC in the 4th dynasty. (Egypt had 30 dynasties, and it would take a better Egyptologist than I to explain that) The first constructed, and the largest was the pyramid of Khufu, then Khephren and Menkaure (Mycerinus). Every temple is composed of 4 parts. There's the valley temple, used for something..but I can't remember what, the mortuary temple, where the body is prepared for burial, the small pyramids of the queens, and the main pyramid, containing the burial chamber. You really can't see all the extra pieces anymore, they only have foundations left, but here's a picture of all three pyramids.

Next to the pyramids, boats have been found which were buried to enable the king to travel to the other side. These are called "Solar Boats", because they were constructed to take the king to join the sun god Ra. Here is a picture of Ayman with the Solar boat of King Khufu. This was found in pieces and reconstructed. You can tell it was not made to be really used...it's not pegged together but held together with ropes.
Camels were everywhere, and here is one offering "taxi" by the pyramid of Khephren
I didn't get pictures of the inside, but imagine a long tunnel about 4.5 feet tall and 4.5 feet wide leading about half way up through the center of the pyramid to a big empty room (all the cool stuff is in the Cairo museum). Then imagine 400 Japanese tourists heading up that ramp as you...claustrophobic you...are headed down. Nope...don't ever have to do that again!

Next to the valley temple was the Sphinx. It was too cool. When it was found, just its head was sticking out of the sand. They have it uncovered now, and to me it is still as amazing as ever.

Well, that was just the first day!

More to come...
Earline