Cairo

June 29 2009


We got up early this morning to go see the pyramids before it got too hot. We hired a very nice lady named Somer (Summer) to be our guide for the day. She is only a year older than me and recently married, so we already had a lot in common. We first stopped at the Great Pyramid, and it was great. The pyramid is pretty weathered, but very very large. We also saw the two next to it. We took a lot of pictures because they were very cool. The last thing to see in the area was the Spyhinx. A lot of people think it is much larger than it actually is. I still thought it was pretty big, and incredible to look at. We also saw the room where they mummified the bodies and all the older tombs before they started building huge monuments to bury their kings. We got back to our hotel around noon and set out on foot to find a place to eat. We settled on a sandwich shop called Cilantro. The drinks were good, the food was just okay. It was too hot for me to be interested in doing much else so we hung out in our hotel for the afternoon. Once it cooled down below 100 degrees we set out on foot again to see the Nile in Cairo. I am sure it was once very nice, but now it is a very dirty river. We had dinner at a Pub by the Mariot and walked back to our hotel. The city here is so large, and the sound of car horns is never ending. I like it!

June 30 2009

Today Kris and I slept in, but it actually worked out in our favor. We checked out of the hotel at noon and made our way over to the Egyptian Museum. It was a very hot walk, but I actually enjoyed it. Kris help a guy push his car over part of the bridge too, so he's done his good deed for the day. The museum was really dirty inside, just like the city. There are thousands of ancient artifacts, but the ones that we found interesting were in the room of Tutenkamun (King Tut). His death mask is made of solid gold and incredible. It is interesting to see how much stuff they would put into these tombs!! We were not allowed photos in the museum. We then headed to the Kahn Ali Bazzar. It is the most famous market in Egypt, and for good reason. The street seems to go on forever and there are so many shops! We haggled our way to a fair price on quite a few items. I had fun doing it. Kris just laughed at me spending 40 minutes in a textile store, but I got what I wanted for a good price. Sweaty and tired we have finally found our way back to our hotel to wait for a cab to take us to the airport. We are heading to Kenya for our safari, so we will see you all in two weeks time!!