Cairo and the Pyramids

---

Hello wonderful students! Ahlan!

I have been in Egypt for about two days now and my days have been very full of adventure! After traveling for about 20 hours, my friend and I arrived late on Saturday night. We were very tired and went right to bed.

Sunday, March 8:

We wanted to go for a walk along the Nile River. After we left our hotel we got lost and ended up wandering through a small neighborhood. People were very kind and said "Welcome to my country!" to us in English. We did find the Nile and we walked along it, but to be honest it was kind of stinky where we walked and there was a lot of trash. It was very sad to see all the garbage.

Next we went to the Egyptian Museum. At this museum you can see mummies, the sarcophagi they were buried in, and many other neat things from the tombs like pottery, statues, and jewelry. Something very interesting was to see the many big statues that were once outside and now are at the museum. It was also cool to see the hieroglyphics and the animal mummies (crocodiles, baboons, cats, raptors).

The most exciting thing about the first day was trying to cross the street. There are no crosswalks and the traffic is VERY crazy. You have to walk right out in front of the cars and quickly cross. It was very scary and also exciting.


Today, Monday, March 9:

Today we went to see the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids at Giza as well as other older pyramids at Dahshur and Saqqara. We also went to Memphis, which was the capital of Ancient Egypt.

At Dahshur, there are three major pyramids- the Black Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid, and the Red Pyramid. You can climb down into the Red Pyramid and we did. The stairs were very, very steep and the ceiling was very low. We had to walk bent over. It was hot, but very exciting.

At Saqqara, we visited tombs that had drawings all over the walls of animals, of Egyptian gods, and of men bringing the things (like food) that the man buried in the tomb would need for the afterlife. Some of the paint was still there AFTER 4,000 years. It was really incredible!

And as for the Pyramids at Giza, it was really spectacular. There were camels everywhere. What was most interesting was the Sphinx, the feline (cat) man. It was smaller than you would think, be very awe-inspiring.

I will write more soon and will try to post pictures! Be good and I hope you are having fun on your Spring Break! Please write back to me!

A hug,
Ms.C.

---