Great Pyramids...Stinking Camels

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Of course we couldn’t come to Egypt without taking a camel ride. We had lots of fun but we have to admit camels are not the best smelling creatures. The groaning, gurgling noises they produce make you wonder, if you could understand what they were saying it would be something like…Oh boy another heavy tourist riding me through the 100 degree desert !


As you approach the pyramids their sheer size is surprising. The hot sun was beaming down as we walked up to the base of the giant pyramid . It’s hard to imagine how the workers were able to accomplish such a feat. The large area with the 3 pyramids and the sphinx is an overwhelming sight. We visited the museum at the base of one of the pyramids which holds the Solar Boat. A 4000 year old wooden boat believed to have been buried there for the pharaoh to sail into the afterlife. There must not be any termites in Egypt!


We visited Sakkara where we saw the Step Pyramid it was the first pyramid built in Egypt. At Sakkara in we were able to take the long descent into the tomb of King Titi. After backing down the entry shaft we had to crouch while walking through a tunnel into the burial chamber. A little dark and scary so you couldn’t help but think of the curse of the mummy. Yes… we all made it out alive.


While in Cairo we visited the Egyptian Museum which holds the amazing collection of the treasures found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb. King Tut’s tomb was spectacular containing over a ton of gold. The large 103 year old building is full of statues and antiquities found throughout Egypt.

Another interesting thing happened while we were in Cairo. We met a family from Scotland that are also taking an around the world trip. This was the first time either of our families ran into another family as crazy. We had a wonderful time chatting with them. Their trip is even longer than ours (12 months) and they are more adventurous including countries like India. All that with three kids...WOW!

As we left our tour group we felt sad to say our goodbyes. We plan to stop in and have tea with Shirlie and Peter, some of our new friends when we get to the UK. "a" enjoyed meeting Brent (also 16) from Austrailia. They hope to stay in touch by email. Mick, Brent's dad and "A" enjoyed talking about air conditioning and such. Karen and Ziv (also from Austraila) had just finished up a tour of Europe and were very helpful with sharing advice about great spots to visit. Abdu our guide was so much fun (loved to joke around with the kids) and full of wonderful information.

Tomorrow we leave Egypt for Europe. Our first stop is Switzerland.

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