First lesson of Egypt....you have to pay to go to the bathroom. Thankfully, my parents had been to Egypt last year and had passed on a few tidbits of information to me so we were fully prepared with $1 bills for the potty!
We step out of the airport, it is early in the morning and it is already HOT. Although it is April they had unusually hot weather and it was about 100 degrees....
Second lesson.....WATER....we needed water so badly. I was dehydrated from flying. They gave us one little bottle on the bus, but that was not sufficient and we did not stop for lunch for 5 hours later. When it is that hot, this girl is not a camel, she needs water.
Third lesson, Sunscreen....which I had in my carry-on (thanks to good planning). That sun is brutal and glaring. Thank heavens my bottle was sufficient to cover the group as no one else remembered that we were going to be in Egypt and would need it.
First stop, The Pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinus. We could get right up to them. Climb on one of them, glance inside (although you could see nothing). They were so large, you just wonder--really--how DID they build these? From a distance, looking at all three, the view is just magnificent and honestly that is when I felt the most like I was just dropped into a postcard. The view was surreal to me, almost fake because it was so unlike anything I had ever seen before.
We then proceeded to the Great Sphinx, the head of a pharaoh with a lion's body, which dates from the time of Chephren. It is large, but up close it is not as large as one would have expected it to be.
After an Egyptian lunch we went to the Egyptian Museum which features artifacts from the Pharaonic period. The museum displays a rare collection of 5000 years of art which is considered the largest most precious collection of Egyptian art in the world. Over 250,000 genuine artifacts are presented, including an exhibit dedicated to Tutankhamen (King Tut) collection of treasure, gold and jewelry which was enclosed in his tomb for over 3,500 years before it was discovered in the 1920 when his tomb was excavated. I have to say that the museum was full of many interesting things, but by this time the sleeping on the plane was starting to kick in and I was starting to fade a bit. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable but a bit long winded and I think I might have started to fall asleep standing up until we got to the floor with King Tut's stuff. After seeing his tomb and all his things (minus the few things that are out and about on tour)---OH MY!!! How in the world did it all fit in that tiny little tomb??? Those people were some seriously good packers.
We finished the day by shopping at Khan El Khalili Bazaar, one of the most famous and oldest bazaars in the Middle East. The shopping was more like running through the Bazaar as we had very little time so they hurried us so quickly through the bazaar that it almost made you dizzy. The colors and smells were incredible. Bright colors---smells of saffron and other spices. The bazaar however can be a dangerous place so we had a guard who was supposed to be with us at all times.....well whoops, myself and my girlfriend got separated from the group and were on our own for awhile until the frantic guard came and found us, only we did not know that he was our guard, so when he is leading us to our friends we are a bit freaked out that this man in a suit is trying to lead us through the market.
Egypt was a whirlwind of a day, thus it was a bit of overload at times. My visual impression was that it was very dirty as there was lots of garbage in the streets (that bothers me). I did not interact with the people, so I can't comment on that at all. I'm so glad we got this amazing opportunity to see these things. Historically they are pivotal to humanity and society but it seems that what once was has been lost. The things that those ancient people brought to the world, although they have not been forgotten are perhaps lost on those who reside in Egypt. They see the pyramids everyday, they live along side of them, although I don't know much about Egypt , its politics, the country itself....it is just a feeling I have that the people of Egypt don't remember or appreciate the history of the pyramids or the Sphinx. But, isn't that the way it is? Many of us don't remember or don't appreciate our own country's history and how often do we just walk past historical points of interest and never even visit them, learn about the past, those that brought us to where we are today. We need to remember to past in order to move on and create a better and healthier future for our country and our world.
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