Egypt Post Day 1

This might be a lengthy post and I apologize in advance, but there is so much to talk about it is going to take a while.
p.s. In retrospect I am going to split the post up into multiple small posts.

By now you all know that we decided to go to Egypt pretty much last minute. Because of that I did not do as much research as I normally do when going to a new country. I pretty much knew exactly what you would think. Pyramids, Cairo, Cleopatra and such. And since we were doing a tour I didn't feel the need to 'bone up' or 'cram' for the trip.

So here we go.

First off, we arrived in Cairo at about midnight on Saturday. We were picked up by Egypt Uncovered, our tour group, and transferred to our hotel. We were in the room around 1 AM. Luckily our hotel had a 24 hour restaurant. So we ate and were in bed by 2 AM. Unfortunately we had to meet our tour host in the lobby at 7:30 AM. Needless to say, we were tired.

It is hard to describe Cairo. We really didn't see enough of it to give you a good impression. But one fact that will help you understand, 23 Million people people and zero street signal lights. Controlled chaos personified. People drive around the city at night with their lights off. I asked our driver, who also had his lights off, and he said that the street is lighted why should he use his lights? Of course the horn is another thing. This gets used often.

Our first day we were really tired, but we went off adrenaline as these might have been the best sights in the trip. If not the best, then the most memorable:

Our stop was the Step Pyramid and some tombs around the area:

This is the first pyramid built and is over 5,000 years old. Still in pretty good shape.
The tombs were about one mile away in the same area. Until the last century they were buried under the sand. The entrance is literally five yards from where Paty and this typical camel guy were posing:

Inside the tomb, the Egyptians were very inventive as this is Original paint:


This is most likely the last pictures of close up on the tombs and monuments I will
attach. I just wanted to try and convey how detailed the carving is and how you can still clearly make out the colors on a stone that was painted in 3,000 BC or older.

A good portrait of Cairo, it goes from city to desert almost like someone has drawn a line on a map:

Yes, that is a police camel.

Stop for lunch, had to share with Simba:


If the step pyramid, the camels and the lion didn't drive home that we were a little ways from home. This is really your 'we're not in Kansas anymore moment':

Cairo in the background. No that is not fog or a dirty camera lens, it is smog. Cairo is among, if not the ,worst air quality city in the world. Thirty times worse than the recommended maximum by the World Health Organization.

But enough about the ills of Cairo, the pyramids of Giza are one of those things that you have seen all your life in pictures. It is one of Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Now everyone has heard of the seven wonders, but can you name any besides the pyramids at Giza? I couldn't either, because this is the only one left. What I am trying to say in my long winded way is that pictures can not do the actual sight justice. It is one of those sights that exceeds expectations. I highly recommend it.

Some more pictures with the pyramids and us. Together and seperate in case you are friends with only Paty or only myself:



This picture is back for an encore:

There is something else here, a little monument called the Sphinx: