Day 42 Giza
Wednesday January 16th, 2008
Up at 7am grabbed a quick breakfast – very excited today we see the pyramids.
We were on the bus headed for Giza Plateau by 8am. We arrived very quickly about 8:15am. Found out there was an extra ticket to actually enter the largest pyramid but the smaller pyramid was included. Applying our experience from King Tut’s tomb we immediately rushed to get the extra ticket – we were luck as the number of people allowed entry to the Pyramid is restricted but everyone in our group that wanted to enter was able to.
The Pyramid was amazing – I tried to imagine what it looked like when it was its exterior was intact – what an engineering marvel. The entrance is about 30 feet up and the path to the burial chamber is arrow and steep. It opens up eventually and into a surprisingly large chamber with a sarcophagus on the right side as you enter. There were no markings or paintings inside the pyramid. No pictures either but some people smuggled in cameras and took pictures laying in the sarcophagus – and took turns in startling visitors. As we exited I could imagine other secret chambers buried within lying undiscovered.
By the time we made our way out we were supposed to meet the rest of the group in 8 minutes! Arial, Allysha and I still decided to walk around the pyramid and at least see the other 2 before leaving, after all we came all this way. We hurried but still ended up being 30 minutes late. I felt terrible and the guides were very worried – they had sent security to look for us and were calling the police. They were concerned that a camel or horse ride might have taken us off into the desert for ransom. I apologized and off we went. It was uncomfortable for the next few hours.
The next stop was the Sphinx. We were not allowed to get very close but it was still very cool. Not as large as I had imagined. The girls collected some sand.
Next was the Papyrus stop – in my mind I was wishing we could have skipped this and had more time at Giza. The papyrus paper manufacturing however is interesting – no added chemicals all natural paper that can last thousands of years. We did purchase a few small pieces.
Lunch was next – food was ok and as usual all drinks including water were extra – there was no indication of this fact that until after the meal they show up with a bill.
Next stop the Egyptian museum. We only had a couple hours and the place is quite large and has thousands of items, I read that if you looked at each item for ten seconds 24/7/365 it would take 13 years to see everything. It was amazing – Tut’s treasures were cool. With him being a minor King one can only imagine the tremendous wealth that must have been buried with other more important Kings.
Finally back to hotel we had dinner with Jen and Kathy – the mother and daughter from Florida we met on the cruise. By now we had struck up a nice friendship – Allysha especially was growing attached to Jen. We walked to Fel Fela and had a great meal that was very affordable. We decided to hire a car together the next day and go back to Giza and the Museum.
Up at 7am grabbed a quick breakfast – very excited today we see the pyramids.
We were on the bus headed for Giza Plateau by 8am. We arrived very quickly about 8:15am. Found out there was an extra ticket to actually enter the largest pyramid but the smaller pyramid was included. Applying our experience from King Tut’s tomb we immediately rushed to get the extra ticket – we were luck as the number of people allowed entry to the Pyramid is restricted but everyone in our group that wanted to enter was able to.
The Pyramid was amazing – I tried to imagine what it looked like when it was its exterior was intact – what an engineering marvel. The entrance is about 30 feet up and the path to the burial chamber is arrow and steep. It opens up eventually and into a surprisingly large chamber with a sarcophagus on the right side as you enter. There were no markings or paintings inside the pyramid. No pictures either but some people smuggled in cameras and took pictures laying in the sarcophagus – and took turns in startling visitors. As we exited I could imagine other secret chambers buried within lying undiscovered.
By the time we made our way out we were supposed to meet the rest of the group in 8 minutes! Arial, Allysha and I still decided to walk around the pyramid and at least see the other 2 before leaving, after all we came all this way. We hurried but still ended up being 30 minutes late. I felt terrible and the guides were very worried – they had sent security to look for us and were calling the police. They were concerned that a camel or horse ride might have taken us off into the desert for ransom. I apologized and off we went. It was uncomfortable for the next few hours.
The next stop was the Sphinx. We were not allowed to get very close but it was still very cool. Not as large as I had imagined. The girls collected some sand.
Next was the Papyrus stop – in my mind I was wishing we could have skipped this and had more time at Giza. The papyrus paper manufacturing however is interesting – no added chemicals all natural paper that can last thousands of years. We did purchase a few small pieces.
Lunch was next – food was ok and as usual all drinks including water were extra – there was no indication of this fact that until after the meal they show up with a bill.
Next stop the Egyptian museum. We only had a couple hours and the place is quite large and has thousands of items, I read that if you looked at each item for ten seconds 24/7/365 it would take 13 years to see everything. It was amazing – Tut’s treasures were cool. With him being a minor King one can only imagine the tremendous wealth that must have been buried with other more important Kings.
Finally back to hotel we had dinner with Jen and Kathy – the mother and daughter from Florida we met on the cruise. By now we had struck up a nice friendship – Allysha especially was growing attached to Jen. We walked to Fel Fela and had a great meal that was very affordable. We decided to hire a car together the next day and go back to Giza and the Museum.
