The Last Surviving Ancient Wonder

  Cairo, Egypt
Monday, May 7, 2007

I still have trouble believing that we're actually here sometimes, but this morning we headed out to see the legendary Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx.  Even after all of the photos we've seen of them in encyclopedias and books growing up, nothing really prepares for your first glimpse of them, rising out of the smog of the city and towering over everthing else.  Up close, they are just MASSIVE, and you can see why it took 100, 000 slaves and workers up to thirty years to build one.

Like Father Like Son

We got to go inside the second pyramid, down a long, narrow passageway, bent over double, along a stuffy corridor and up another passageway into the burial chamber, located directly under the apex of the tomb.  It was a much smaller room than I would have guessed, unbearably hot, and containing only the stone coffin and graffiti on the wall with the name of the Italian explorer who discovered the tomb in 1818.  As amazing as they are from the outside, it seemed such a waste of lives and labour for this one tiny room, even if it was for a pharoah.  Back outside, in the blazing heat, we dodged the many Egyptians trying to sell us replicas of the pyramids, headscarves, scarabs, bookmarks, postcards, and camel rides, and walked around the largest pyramid.

After lots of photo taking, Gabrielle and some of the other Imaginative Travellers managed to catch the wrath of the not so official tourist police (apparently anyone who can make anything resembling an I.D. card and carry a whistle can be tourist police) for climbing on the pyramids. After much whistling and some emphatic gesticulating the girls managed to escape unharmed.

Next stop was a distant view point for some excellent photo ops, and then the Sphinx with some very spectacular close ups. It is just so amazing to see these monuments in the flesh (our flesh... their stone) after reading about them throughout the years. We visited a Papyrus making shop and had a demonstration of how they weave the tough fibres into parchment, which they have been doing for 3000 years (not at the same shop though). After a quick stop for Falafel lunch, we split off from the group and headed back to the hotel while they hit the Egyptian Museum, due to sickness.

The Sphinx and the Pyramid

Half of the group seems to have fallen very ill after our trek up Mt. Sinai. Probably a mixture of long days on the road and the early morning plus climb was enough to tip us over the edge and send half of the group into some extreme sickness. The dodgy Egyptian food can't have helped I'm sure. Dan was fairly incapacitated, but managed to make it out to the Pyramids and the Sphinx. Mostly catching the view from the bus, not wanting to stray from the safety of the bathroom, he did managed some short excursions and brief photo taking before running back for a vomiting session.

Balancing Act

We take the overnight train to Aswan tonight, so fingers crossed for a speedy recovery. Until then, some R& R in our swanky, if somewhat 'Faulty Towers' Hotel in Cairo.

All our best from Egypt

Dan and Gabrielle