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Published: June 27th 2007
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Days like today just don't happen very often!
***Update on Technical Difficulty - it appears that the streaming video service for Travelblog is not functioning properly. With great disappoint, we will return our concentration to text and pictures and do our best to keep caught up - J&G***
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We have talked about long travel days...and they were...but all that is worth it when you have a day like we had today.
Today we had our first encounter with Egyptian antiquity - the Great Pyramids and Sphinx of Giza.
After breakfast, we found an ATM in the hotel that was linked to the Bank of America in the US so we withdrew 2,000 Eygptian Pounds (about $300 USD) and moved on to the lobby where we met our tour guide. Did we mention there is a metal detector and Police carrying AK-47 automatic rifles in our hotel lobby? Well, like the bomb sniffing dogs - better safe than sorry we say!
Our tour guide noted that temperatures were going to be unseasonably high today - 42 C (that's 108 degrees F in the shade, which there isn't much of!).
We were scheduled to
view the Egyptian Muesum first but our guide suggested we head for Giza and the Pyramids before the heat sets in - it was already 90 F. Our Cairo driver pulled up, we jumped in and headed for Giza. Along the way our tour guide told us of the history of the Pharoic Period surrounding Giza. The real story of Cairo is on video as we drove the streets east across the Nile River to Giza. Basically, living in Cairo is a tough life for most people. Mile after mile of apartments that have no windows, no air conditioning and in some cases, no roofs.
Cairo has grown out to the Great Pyramids of Giza and it is astonishing to say the least when you look out of the car to your left and see a gigantic pyramid right there!
We pulled up and our tour guide got the tickets to enter the area. We leaped for the cameras and headed for the first wall to film the pyramids. We equate that moment to the first time you see the Grand Canyon. Minutes go by before you can utter anything intelligible like, "...oh...my...god!".
Our guide and driver
got us through and into the grounds - we think some cash changed hands but they are really some and we are not 100% sure. We headed out to a panoramic spot and took some pictures. Our tour guide negotiated with several camel herders and brought one back to us. He was absolutely great and had a super touch. First, Ginny got on her camel and up she went! No problem whatsoever. She looked smooth and good on her camel the whole time - she just might be Cleopatra reincarnated.
I got up on my camel and off we went on a tour around the Pyramids. This is essentially a surrealistic moment in the life of someone from western society. We are in the Sahara, hotter than blazes at 10am in the morning, no shade and having a great time. Check the video at the top of the blog next to the picture titled "The Arbuckles" for a quick sample of the camel ride.
We then hiked down to the Pyramids where we descended down a long steep corridor about 4 feet high, walked along a standup flat area for about 100 feet then up another 4 foot
high corridor and down a long narrow passageway to an ancient burial chamber. Check out the picture of Ginny titled "Indiana Jane and the Temple of Doom". Again, a most surrealistic moment.
Due to the heat and concern for the "Americans" our tour guide cell phoned our driver who zipped through the road winding around the Pyramids to pick us up and take us down the hill to the Sphinx - earned their tip with that move! Once again, avoiding a large tour group and hiring a personal driver and tour guide is the way to go. While it may sound expensive it is not outragous and in certain economies like China and Egypt very reasonable and affordable. Having someone with you every step of the way reduces anxiety, increases knowledge and information and basically makes the trip the awesome experience you want it to be. The Sphinx is awesome and, again, the pictures will just have to tell the story as it to difficult to frame in a sentence.
We then left the Pyramids and moved on to a nearby shop run by three generations of a family whose items; authentic Egyptian jewelry, art and other items
sent a clear message to John that "this stop was going to hurt - wallet-wise!"...and it did. It was all worth it as Ginny walked away with a smile on her face and very pleased.
Afterwards, we headed to lunch at the Hotel Meridian just outside of Gaza. It was a great buffet, first class with good service. Again, our car was "sniffed" by a guard dog before entering. We then headed back into Cairo to the Egyptian Museum.
The Egyptian Museum contains the most comprehensive inventory of Egyptian antiquities found anywere in the world...they also make you check your camera(s) and verify that fact by screen everyone so we have no pictures which is a HUGE shame as you cannot believe what they have in that museum; real mummies, hundreds of authentic items from King Tut's tomb, and on and on and on.
We then walked to our hotel - really, it was 300 meters, that close. Said good bye to our tour director and headed inside for some air conditioning and a nap.
We awoke, showered and dressed for our Nile River dinner cruise, were picked up in the lobby and delivered to the
Camel ride around the Great Pyramids (1 of 4)
Proof is in the pictures! Awesome animal. The best transportation in the Sahara - you simply would not survive without one. doorstep of the Nile Maxim. Company was great (of course!), dinner was good and the show was awesome. The Nile River cruise was lost on us as too much was happening onboard other than to notice we were moving.
During the show we saw something we had never seen before. Ever hear of a "whirling dervish"? We had but did not know what it really was. It is a dance in which a man spins for over half an hour, like a figure skater on ice, sending huge skirts spinning around, scarfs in the air and ultimately separates the skirt and spins one above his head with him inside.
Hard to explain so click on the stream video loops next to the camel rides. Absolutely amazing!
We got back to the hotel in time to take care of some travel business and get to sleep.
Our schedule has changed somewhat for those of you who had our itinerary in advance. We were on the run today instead of a day on our own. We decided to pull out all the stops and we are on an 8am two hour train ride tomorrow morning north from Cairo
towards the Mediterranean to the city of Alexandria, famous for it's antiquity library and many other things. We will return late tomorrow night only to get up at 5am the next day to head for the airport for a flight south to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.
Wish us good luck and the endurance to enjoy Egypt, a country that has over a 5,000 history yet still lives and breathes with the ups and downs of the Nile River.
Finally, in our ongoing pursuit of person-to-person international conversations we once again discovered that people everywhere get along. We have been helped, and helped others, at every turn. It is people that understand each other, governments on the other hand struggle with that.
We are back late from Alexandria tomorrow night but hopefully will have time to post our adventures.
Hope all is well with everyone. We are doing fine.
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