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Published: February 27th 2008
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The First Sphinx
I think this one is older than the one at Giza. It's also smaller. But it was the first sphinx I saw and I liked it. We met Susan and her roommate Nicky at breakfast, at the Grand Pyramids hotel. They are both very nice and I can tell this group is going to be fun-loving. We feel pretty lucky to have chosen to go on this tour.
On our first full day with the Peregrine tour, we are going to Memphis and Sakkara.
For me, Memphis was unimpressive. It's like an outdoor museum, but none of the items are in-situ. The city is completely gone. So it is more like the idea of Memphis, and various artifacts from it are on display, roped off, with signs. And plenty of police presence to protect them. Everyone here wanted their picture taken, and then you had to tip them with a US dollar or more. Egyptian pounds were not sufficient. I know that Alli spent her time getting gorgeous portrait shots of these folks. Well, for me and Scott, we ended up behind an obelisk posing with 3 guards holding machine guns. Way to start off the vacation feeling safe! *grin*
Saqqara was packed with tourists. I didn't expect that, as it's not as popular as Giza. The Stepped Pyramid is pretty cool though, and
it has almost a ghostly, mysterious feeling. It's different than the Giza pyramids, in retrospect. We did not get to see the whole complex in the time we had, and the only downside of a tour is not being able to really explore. It would have been fun to hire horses to ride to some of the more distant pyramids, or to explore more of the tombs. We did see the inside of one mastaba tomb, with really interesting wall carvings.
Well, you can tell this is a well-established tour destination because everything is roped off and guarded. There is a lot of trash around too - plastic bags like tumbleweed in the desert. And plenty of homeless puppies, many very adorable. Now, it is cool because from here you can see many other pyramids in the western desert.
We had to go to a carpet store AND a papyrus store. Two factory stores in one day. At the carpet store, my parents bought a silk "magic carpet". It is magic because it looks different depending on how you look at it. I admit, it's beautiful. But I'm just as happy with the oriental rugs I inherited years
Horses
These horses can take you to the other pyramid fields, like Dahshur. ago from my mom, stains and all. With the expense of these, I'd be afraid to have them in my house.
For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Andrea with the group. It is in a suburb high above Cairo. We met Lorna, Big Mo's wife. She is an American girl who met him on tour. She was already working in the Middle East with the Kurds. She is really interesting and I could see us being friends if I lived in Cairo. I also talked to Will a bit, the Canadian. We talked about Arabic numerals and I promised to make him a chart. We also discussed why we picked Peregrine. I admire that he went on this trip alone. I hate travelling alone. But in a group tour, it must not be as difficult.
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