Our Egyptian Holiday

Well, by posting this blog entry we obviously made it to Egypt and back safe and sound. While I was extremely nervous about going to a country that is so unbelievably foreign to us (even more so than England was), the tour company we hired to guide us made us feel safe and comfortable during our entire trip.

I am loving the in-flight televisions... ;o)

We arrived in Cairo around 12:30 a.m. on Friday and were met by our tour leader and driver. He assisted us through customs etc. at the airport and then we headed to our hotel which was about 30 minutes away. On the drive, we noticed there were tons (literally I do mean tons) of people hanging out on one of the bridges in Cairo either just visiting or fishing. I thought that Cairo was just a happening place where no one really slept (which did seem to be true) -- when in reality I found out later in the trip that there are so many people out during the night hours because it is so hot in Cairo and they don't have air conditioned houses so they bring their families out at night to attempt to stay cool and keep themselves occupied by visiting or fishing.

View of the pyramids from our hotel

Cairo has about 22 million people living in and around the city limits. Very busy to say the least. When we visit most locations around the country, we normally rent a car to drive ourselves around -- and boy oh boy oh boy were we glad that we didn't decide to do that here. I thought it was difficult to learn the "rules of the road" in England ... well in Egypt, they really don't have any rules of the road and it seemed that anything goes -- and I do mean anything. In England, when you are behind someone and flash your lights at them, you are simply being nice and telling them that you will allow them to come into the lane in front of you ... we quickly learned that in Egypt when you flash your lights at someone you are basically telling them that they had best move out of the way as you are coming through. Car horns are used way more frequently then I have ever seen; lines on the road don't mean anything as people were driving all over the place; and crosswalks don't mean diddly as people are darting in and out of between cars throughout every street. I continued to hope and pray that we didn't hit anyone because of their stupidity jumping in front of our van. The easiest way to explain the streets in Egypt is basically like playing a very advanced version of Frogger where the cars are driving very fast and the people are jumping back and forth trying to not get hit. ;o)

I took this photo hoping to show that lanes don't mean anything; however this doesn't even really do it justice.


Love this photo of a camel being transported... ;o)

We were picked up at 8 a.m. on Friday morning (with only about 4 hours of sleep) by our tour leader, driver, and Egyptologist. The first visit was to the Giza Plateau and the Pyramids and the Sphinx. We had seen many pictures of these; however seeing them in person was a totally different experience. Breathtaking and phenomenal all rolled into one. I had absolutely no idea how big the pyramids were until we stood at the base of them. Amazing!!! It was also in this area where we took a camel ride. While I don't like heights (at all!) I figured that riding a camel in Egypt would be a once in lifetime chance for us -- so we all did it. The tour leader made arrangements with one the people to pay for our family's camel ride and our leader also told me in the beginning that I should pay no more than $2 or $3 for a tip per ride. Thankfully I left my backpack with our leader while we rode the camels as the man leading our camels took us to the top of the plateau and stopped the camels saying "you are going to me a good tip, right?!". He looked at both Mike and me and we both said that we would but our money was back with our guide. Again, thank heavens we didn't have any on us as I believe he would have made us pay him a big chunk of change to get off the camels. He took us back to the area and let us off the camels (whew!) and I quickly gave him around $6 so we could then leave. He wasn't really happy that that was all I was giving him -- but at that point in time I was just happy that we were all off of the camels and back on solid ground.





The pyramids really are much taller than they appear in pics


You can see the entrance to the tomb at the bottom right side of this picture (the small black areas).













After visiting the Pyramids and the Sphinx we headed to the Papyrus Institute where we were shown how the ancient Egyptians used to make paper. I know it doesn't sound that interesting -- but I will be the first to admit that it actually was. We then visited Memphis where we saw the statue of King Ramses II and the Alabaster Sphinx. After seeing Memphis, we stopped at a Carpet School. (I know what you are thinking ... and trust me, that is exactly what I was thinking too as we pulled into the parking lot.) We were shown how the children from the area make the various types of carpets/rugs after their day at school. Brett, Kendall & Kameron all enjoyed helping tie on a piece or two of string to the carpet during their "training experience". Following the explanation, we were taken upstairs to their shop so they could show us all of their fabulous work (the carpets were really beautiful); however, of course a purchase had to be made before we could leave the store. Our final stop for the day was Saqqara where we saw the funerary complex of King Djoser (the founder of the third dynasty) which also included his famous step pyramid. We were able to go back to the hotel for about 1.5 hours before we headed off to see the Sound & Laser Light Show at the Giza Plateau. It was an interesting show that led us through the history of the Sphinx and the Pyramids.

Statue of King Ramses II


The Alabaster Sphinx


Brett at "Carpet School"


Kendall & Kameron at "Carpet School"


King Djoser's famous Step Pyramid

Saturday morning we woke up before dawn and headed to the airport for our 1 hour EgyptAir flight to Luxor. We landed and were picked up by our Egyptologist and driver. We were quite amazed at the difference between Luxor and Cairo. Cairo has 22 million people while Luxor has about 145,000; Cairo is basically all brown because of the desert while Luxor is quite green and luscious because it is situated right along the Nile River; and last but not least, Cairo was about 100 degrees each day we were there while Luxor hit about 110+ on the one day were were there (HOT, HOT, HOT -- I know I complain about England being cool and rainy quite a bit, but at this point in time, I was ready to get back to cooler weather). The first stop for the day was the Colossi of Memnon (which are the remains of the Amunhotep III Temple). Next we headed to the Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Beautiful sight situated behind the mountain of the Valley of the Kings. It was beginning to get hot, very hot, so we stopped for a drink at the sight's refreshment tent before leaving and found Mountain Dew ... Mike was in heaven! ;o) Following our little refreshment we went to the Valley of the Kings. In the Valley of the Kings, there are 62 kings/pharoahs that have tombs there (King Tutankhamon was #62). We walked around the Valley and went into three tombs (although we didn't pay any extra to go into King Tut's tomb as there really isn't anything different from any of the other tombs -- and all of the items that he had in the tomb with him are now in the Egyptian Museum that we were planning to visit on Sunday). It was extremely awesome to see all of the drawings and the colors that have remained sharp and beautiful for over 3,000 years ... but after about 1 hour in the Valley, we were definitely ready to leave as it was at least 110 degrees (which felt like 1,000 degrees!). We enjoyed eating lunch at a restaurant on the Nile River and then headed to an Alabaster shop where we were shown how they create bowls, figurines, vases, etc. out of alabaster. Following that explanation and demonstration and then us having to buy something from the shop, we headed to Karnak Temple. Karnak is a series of temples built in different ages. It starts by the Avenue of Ram-Headed Sphinxes, then the Unfinished Pylon, the Hypostyle Hall iwth its 134 gigantic columns, and then the Temple of Amun adorned with lotus and papyrus designs. Phenomenal statues, designs, and hieroglyphics. Since we had to be at the airport by 5:30 p.m., we then made one last quick stop at the Luxor Temple which has a beautiful courtyard and humongous granite statues of Ramses II. Needless to say, after a extremely hot day in Luxor, we were anxious to get on an airconditioned plane to head back to Cairo.

Colossi of Memnon


Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut


King Tut's tomb in the Valley of the Kings


Valley of the Kings


Brett helping carve out a vase at the Alabaster Shop


Kami had to give it a try, too...


And last but not least, Kendall helped also...


Karnak Temple


Luxor Temple

On our last day in Egypt, we headed to the Egyptian Antiquities Museum where we were able to get up close and personal with a ton of Egyptian artifacts from different periods of time. Besides seeing the mummies, I think our favorite part (or at least mine) was seeing all of the items that were found in King Tut's tomb. (I was thinking it would be a great last morning in Cairo being in a nice air-conditioned museum. Silly me ... I was as wrong as wrong could be ... it was a great morning but the museum was not air-conditioned and it was hotter inside the building than it was outside.) Following the museum, we headed to lunch and then to Old Cairo. In Old Cairo we visited the Hanging Church which was built on the remains of the Babylon Fortress (and is literally held up by one pillar!). The next stop in Old Cairo was the Aby-Serge Church which was built in the basilica style above the cave where the Holy Family took refuge for approximately six months. (Beautiful but unfortunately we couldn't take any photos on the inside -- just the outside.) And then the final stop in Old Cairo was the Ben Ezra Synagogue which is the Mosque of Amr Ibn Aass. Before doing to our very last stop for the day, we went to a place called Royal Perfume where they told us how they make perfumes -- and then, of course, we had to make another purchase before leaving their shop. Great city -- but are you catching the hint about them thinking that people who live in any type of Western civilization are rich?!?!?! The last stop with our guide was the Saladin Citadel. This was built in 1167 AD and houses important monuments including the Alabaster Mosque of Mohamed Ali Pasha (not the boxer like I was originally thinking ;o) ) and Al Gawhara Palace. Again, another beautiful sight. We were able to go back to the hotel for an hour or so before we went on a Nile Dinner Cruise. We enjoyed dinner while listening to Arabic music, and watching belly dancing and a folkloric show.

View from the Hanging Church


Outside of the Aby-Serge Church


Saladin Citadel

All in all while this was quite a whirlwind of a holiday, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us that we are extremely glad we did; however we are very glad to be back in England (in the nice cool weather ... I'm sure that feeling of being in cool weather will only last me a few days and then I will be ready for more sunshine). ;o) We will have pictures and memories that will last us a lifetime.