On the Road with Brent & Erika

We have made it safely to Egypt and have been in and around the bustling city of Cairo for the past few days. Cairo, being the largest city in Africa at 20 million, is loud, lively and a lot to take in. Honking is a way of life on the road, and crossing streets is quite an endeavor! The people are extremely friendly and very eager to help in any way or start a conversation. We have even had two people so far give us their phone numbers if we ever need anything.

Some of my favorite moments in Cairo have been talking to the people at a cafe or in the streets and also downtown after dark when families are everywhere, even as late as midnight! The heat here is no different from home, but take away air conditioning in all areas including, unfortunately, our hotel room. We kind of stay sweaty and sandy most of the time, but so does everybody else!


Us outside of the Egyptian Museum

On our first full day we visited the Egyptian Museum. We've never seen anything like this place! Entering the museum is like going back in time in more ways than one. It is seemingly untouched for the last 100 years, with labels sometimes written on notebook paper, no air conditioning and display cases dating from the early 20th century. But the treasures inside would blow your mind, particularly King Tut's beautifully perfect, golden funerary mask.

We also took in the grisly sight of the Royal Mummies. We actually saw the real, preserved bodies of the Pharaohs, including the hair, teeth, nails, and brown fragile skin of their faces. We had the crazy thought that we may have seen the face of the same Pharaoh that Moses had spoken to so many years ago.


Our first real Egyptian meal...not really sure what's it's called or exactly what's in it, but it's kind of like Egyptian spaghetti with some added chick peas and fried onions


Al-Azhar Mosque in Islamic Cairo


Interior of peaceful mosque...I had to don a blue head scarf to go in (although in pictures it looked like I had placed a dishrag on my head)


Colorful and friendly man smoking sheesha (flavored tobacco smoked from a water pipe) we met in the market and talked with for awhile...he had strong but funny views on American politics such as, "Obama is black and white" and "McCain is a madman."


Sunset in Cairo over the Nile


Downtown scene at about 11:00 p.m. when the city has cooled down and everyone is out

On our second day, we hired a taxi driver (Muhammed) to drive us around to all the different pyramid sites for the day. We were loving his air conditioned car and speedy driving tactics! First were the iconic pyramids of Giza, a definite life goal of places to visit! They let 150 people go inside the main large pyramid in the morning, and I was excited to be one of them! Going inside the pyramid was an unforgettable experience as we walked duck-like in the cramped, claustrophobic spaces and viewed the perfectly fit together, massive stones up close.


Me and a camel in front of the Great Pyramid of Khufu


Brent struggling through the small, steep incline inside the pyramid

To understand the enormity and perfection of the great pyramid, here is a quote from Cairo: The City Victorious, which Brent is reading right now.

"Imagine the builders' panic when they heard the contract specifications. Stack 2.3 million stone blocks of an average weight of 2.5 tons to a height of 480 feet (which stood as the tallest man made structure for over 4000 years until the Eiffel Tower) upon a 13 acre base whose squareness and levelness must be accurate within a thumb's width."


Us outside of the second, slightly smaller Pyramid of Khafre


We used our rain umbrella as a sun shade, and it helped a lot with the heat!


Guard watching over the Giza plateau


The famous noseless face of the Sphinx

The following older pyramids are located at Saqqara and Dahshur:

This is the Step Pyramid, which is the oldest stone structure in the world, older than Stonehenge or anywhere else.


Man outside of tomb at Saqqara


I have never seen so many palm trees--it was like a forest of them


The Bent Pyramid at Dahshur...they made a geometry error so had to change the angle midway, making it appear bent. All pyramids after this learned the correct angle from this one.


Here is Muhammed outside of the Red Pyramid, also at Dahshur. We were also able to enter this pyramid, and our legs are suffering now because of so much duck-walk in one day!

After returning from the pyramids, we visited Coptic Cairo, where one of the oldest communities of Christians in the world live. Here are a couple of pictures:





An interesting thing to note is how much Cairo loves mannequins in display windows! They literally fill the window left to right and floor to ceiling. We used these angelic, ponderous children as a landmark for our hotel.

We have thoroughly enjoyed what Cairo has to offer and look forward to heading down south next!

--Erika