The final installment to this four part saga will probably
be a bit of a disappointment. It has to
do with Cairo.
Let me just say that before I went to Egypt, I didn’t really
appreciate Jordan. Once in Cairo I COULD
NOT WAIT to get back to Amman. Now
everyone has different experiences in different countries and different towns
but I think that all six of our group will that Cairo was probably one of the
most intense 36 hours of our lives.
We pulled into the train station early in the morning and
took two taxies to our hotel. From there
we checked in and rested up a little bit before heading out to grab some food
and visit some of the sights. We went to
"jeem alif dad…otherwise known as Gad." That was funny when one of my friends said it
because 1. We were all exhausted and 2. The Egyptians pronounce the jeem as a
"gh" sound instead of a "ja" sound. So we headed to
Gad. This place had Egyptian pancakes
which, other than the ancient stuff, was probably the best thing about the
city.
So we ate and then we went to the Cairo Museum. While sitting outfront trying to decide if we
wanted to hire a guide or not one of the boys in our group started yelling at
these two guys that were sitting on a nearby bench. Turns out these two guys had been taking
pictures of me and the other girl without us knowing (this should have been a
sign). We decided to try the museum
without a guide.
Inside the museum was row after row after row after row of
ancient artifacts, most of which didn’t have any information about them at
all. We headed up to the king tut area
and started our journey through what, we don’t really know because there were
no signs posted with information. Part
of me was overwhelmed with excitement but I was also disappointed. This was a place I dreamed of coming my whole
life. Pictures of things I only dreamed
of seeing, I was actually standing face to face with and I had no idea what it
was. I was heartbroken. These are the
crown jewels of the country and they were in boxes with a wooden frame and glass
panels. It truly is a wonder nothing was
stolen during the revolution. I don’t mean to sound critical or like an elitist
but I feel like the preservation and display could have been handled in a much
better way. The artifacts 100% need to
be in Egypt, I just feel like they need better handling and display.
On a positive note I LOOKING AT KING TUTS BURIAL STUFF!!!!
It was amazing! I had seen all these things in pictures before and I was so
amazed to see the things in real life! His coffins, his sarcophagi, his beds,
his statues, his jewelry, his alabaster jars where they kept his mummified
organs and the main attraction, the burial mask. It was all beautiful and so well preserved
considering how old it was. The mask was
100% gold and it was brilliant.
After the museum we left and walked toward Tahrir
Square. We were accompanied by two young
boys with little plastic trumpets. The
walk was about a block and a half and once we arrived at the square we were
immediately surrounded by about 20 small children wanting to know everything
about our lives. Our goal at the square
was to visit the wall with the graffiti related to the revolution but it was on
the opposite side from where we were.
Our trumpeters and our fan club escorted us in a parade all the way
across the circle/square to the graffiti wall.
Once at the wall some guy started pulling the kids away from us. One of the boys in my group decide this man
must have been an undercover police officer.
Upon asking we discovered that he in fact was there to protect the
tourists…him and about three other guys.
This was all a very overwhelming experience so we decided to
go get some food. Dinner was rough
because half the things on the menu wasn’t actually available at the restaurant
we went to. When we finally found food
we wanted and they also had available it took almost an hour for the food to
get to us. We filled out time by talking
about what else but politics. After eating I was full of energy. We headed back toward our hotel and did a
little exploration around the area but because it was the night after Eid the
streets were packed and once again we were feeling a little over whelmed and
decided to just go to bed because we were all so tired.
Our last day in Egypt was an exciting one. We had hired a driver and guide to take us
around to the big spots in Cairo. The
first stop was Memphis. This was where many
of the Pharaohs had the capital of their kingdom. Now it is mostly just an outdoor museum of a bunch of statues
of various Pharaohs. The most impressive
is the Colossus of Rameses II which stands at about 34 feet.
From Memphis we went to Saqqara, famous for its step
pyramids. The step pyramid was built
(according to National Geographics) in 2630 B.C. by Pharaoh Djoser and stands
at 204 feet tall. This was the first
stone structure in the world and at the time of building was the largest structure
in the world. According to our guide
this was the site one of the first representative systems in the world. People would come to the courtyard just next
to the pyramid and tell of the problems in their respective "state" the Pharaoh would then address the situation
as needed.
Our next stop after the step pyramids was in fact the Great
Pyramids of Giza (we went to some papyrus place in between there but it is
hardly worth mentioning). After much debate over taking a camel or not three of
us decided to go by camel and three decided to go by foot. Those of us on camel went in the park a back
way. We were marching along in the
desert, sand dunes on both sides, when all of a sudden we saw one pyramid
peeking from around a sand dune. Pretty
soon we saw all three standing there magnificently in the sand.
We stopped to take pioctures and our guide took some amazing
photos of us. While taking in the three
giants I noticed something off in the distance.
It was the Great Sphinx. I was so excited I could hardly handle it. It was incredible to be standing there
looking at the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx,
things I only dreamed that I would ever be able to do and see. Our guide took us up next to the pyramids and
we climbed on the middle one to take a picture with the rest of our group who
had just met us at the base.
We departed from the pyramids and after much frustration
with our driver and guide we were headed to the airport. There is so much more that I could say but I
think it is best to just reflect on the positive aspects. I want to remember the good things and forget
the bad. All in all the trip was great
and I am so glad that I got to go when I did because the country is rapidly
changing. There is no telling where it
will be in 10-15 years or what of the great ancient places will be left. All I know is that 9 year old Lydia got to
fulfill her dreams of visiting the magical land of Egypt. Everything else is mal ish (Egyptian dilect
for "no problem").
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