Gunga- Curious George

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In the Curious George movie the man in the yellow hat is an archaeologist. He is on a hunt to bring back to the museum where he works something spectacular so the owner won’t close it and sell the property to a developer. I was astounded to see that the museum pictured in the cartoon movie was a dead ringer for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It was the same bright coral color, has the same dome, and the same entrance. Only the contents differed and, of course, there was no little monkey. The museum was built in 1897 and opened in 1902. It has 107 halls and no air conditioning. I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn’t over 100 degrees and packed with a zillion people. It was like being inside the Tower of Babel listening to the different tour guides yelling to their clients in all sorts of languages.

One could spend months exploring this museum which has treasures from every Egyptian dynasty dating back some 5,000 years. I was most impressed by the sheer size of the place, the number of artifacts and the dates. Can I, who lives in a country where anything over 25 years old is considered an ‘antique’ even begin to understand the significance of gazing at a slate palatte of King Narmer that dates back to 3200BC? I think the one memorable item for me was seeing King Tut’s original gold throne. It was a chair, really, covered in gold with pictures depicting the king and his wife. Quite simple really - maybe that is what may it meaningful to me.

I have so much more to write about but it is very hard to find the time and a place to send stuff. Please forgive me if you get nothing for days and then get 5 or 6 dispatches. I will try to keep them short but still try to give you some sense of the magnificence of Egypt.

Carolyn

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