Les Pyramids

Back after yet another week. The high level of punctuality's probably becoming a regular feature of this blog!

Anyway, so there we were in Giza, next door to Cairo, in the Hotel Les 3 Pyramids. Probably not on the Top 10 list in Trip Advisor but a decent place, nevertheless. Finally, we would get to see the remains of the Pharaohs, and get a glimpse of everything that history books had shoved down our throats ;)

But then, good things always take their own sweet time. We were first taken to the museum of Ramses 2. The guy was so confused, he ended up marrying one of his daughters! I guess all that does deserve a museum of honour ;) The next stop was the step pyramid in Saqquara--the precursor to the Great Pyramids. A little bit like the rough architect's sketch before the final building goes up. A slight detour at a carpet shop and then finally, the pyramids!

One of the biggest names on the Greatest Wonders list, the first is the Pyramid of Cheops, the second, of Khefru, and the third, of Macarenas (sounds very familiar). While our parents very wisely decided not to enter the belly of the beast, my sister and I had the spirit of the explorers upon us. So we went down a steep ramp, just about ready to slip every few steps, pretty sure that we would end up with broken limbs, or die of suffocation in the Pyramid of Macarenas.The scary trek was worth it. Though it's been a few years, I still remember the sense of awe that we felt when we could finally walk around this ancient burial site.

Unfortunately, the Sphinx had closed its doors for the day and we ended up getting pictures of it only from the outside. But then we were never ones to give up early. A bit of sauntering around the shops, and then we were back for the Son et lumière, as the Sphinx came alive to tell us the story of the Pyramids and the Egypt of yore. It was a fascinating show, with the light from the stars above and the mesmerizing voice coming together to take us back into one of the richest periods in the world's history.

More later...

Into Pharaoh country

A brief trip to the Papyrus Institute ( a store pretending to be more;) and we were instructed (in keeping with the pretences) in the art and craft of cobbling together the world famous parchment from the reed with the same name. After about an hour of the education which left me as unskilled in papyrus making as I had been before the lecture, we left equipped with Pharaoh likenesses for our wall frames back home :)

It was funny, but the way our tour was paced (and we have followed that pattern ever since), as soon as we stepped out of a store/museum/hotel, we seemed to step on a super speed highway that rushed us to our next pit stop. So, we climbed aboard our first Egyptian train with a few other passengers. Good news--very comfortable train, bad news--our co passengers and we spoke and understood no common language. Activate your imagination and you will hear the cacophony of voices, with each group trying to make themselves heard above the exact efforts made by the other. Fun overnight trip ;)

The next morning, we land in Luxor, the starting point of our Nile cruise, and I feel like I am in a dream. We walk through a chain of cruise boats to step onto ours and it's almost as if we are wandering through a dream. Tomorrow...