September 15
Today figured to be one of T-H-E highlight days of the trip and it did not disappoint. Much like yesterday I had oh-so-many photos to choose from (I shot 120 today) and I narrowed it down to the "best" of them, a total of twenty-eight representing the basically four stops of our day. We began our day a little later than yesterday - 9 am on the bus (which doesn't even help to compensate tomorrow morning's 6am departure! - more on that later). And our driver Mohammed Ali set off on the major road paralleling the Nile River before crossing over to the west bank and continuing our journey. We left the province of Cairo and entered Giza and soon we came to the first pyramid every built the famous Saqqara Step Pyramid. Truly it was amazing to see. Hard to describe the feeling for me because I have seen so many photos and videos that it wasn't stunning, but like much of yesterday and nearly all of today - it was THERE.....that's the REAL Saqqara pyramid! We disembarked the bus and walked up the plateau for a good look. Then we meandered through the columns of the ceremonial temple into the main square for an even better look at the massive structure. After getting some history from our guide Hany we walked about fifty yards farther and came to another smaller pyramid that was 500 years older - but THIS one we could enter! We needed to walk completely bent over as we descended to the burial chamber where the sarcophagus and the king was still in his tomb. Pretty cool to explore INSIDE a pyramid!
NOTE the size of the people in relation to the pyramid :O
We boarded the bus and headed for a local carpet workshop / sales shop. It was fascinating to watch the young children work so quickly producing such high quality carpets. We seriously debated over a couple of carpets but in the end opted not to purchase. Headed next to a lunch at in the shadows of the Great Pyramid of Giza. As we turned onto the main street THERE it was towering in front of us.
Lunch was, at best "ok," The most interesting story was that the "bread pudding" - Egyptian style was highly recommended to John and I who both love bread pudding. It was anything BUT bread pudding. Not even close. We laughed a lot about it at dinner. We left the lunch site and went to the Great Pyramid. P-R-E-T-T-Y cool to see it in person. It so SO massive and if you've not seen photos or videos you'd be caught off guard that the gigantic stones are NOT evenly cut or placed together. But that's because all that's left now is the inside of the pyramid walls. After the pyramid itself was built the outside was covered with massive pure white limestone so that the sun gleamed off of the walls of the pyramid that could be seen for miles. Today very few of those outer stones remain.
We left the Great Pyramid, drove past the 2nd and third and arrived at the "Panoramic Point" where we would be treated to a camel ride - oh my! And a great photo op to get a shot of the three Pyramids of Giza in one shot. The camel ride was, ummmm, "interesting. The camel is seated and you climb on board with one stirrup. Then you're instructed to lean way back as the camel stands up which pitches you forward - the leaning back compensates for this. Then the camel is upright and you're a good 8-10 feet in the air having only the saddle horn to hang on to. The camel walker led us out into the desert and them we had photos taken. OK, despite the "interesting-ness" of the ride and the "anxiety" of the "what if I fall head first into the rocks and sand" feeling, the photos turned out to be among the coolest shots of the day.
One final stop - no visit to the Pyramids of Egypt would be complete without seeing the Sphinx. I won't say I was "disappointed" in the Sphinx, but it was pretty beat up and "rough around the edges" so to speak. And unfortunately you don't get the view of the Sphinx with the pyramids directly behind it. BUT with that said it was awfully impressive and all three of the guys in the couples we were hanging out with said several times, "So....that IS the real Sphinx....it's right there - THAT is THE Sphinx!"
Tomorrow we leave Cairo. We're on the bus at 6:00 am to head to the airport where we have a charter flight to Luxor. It's less than an hour by air to Luxor - we disembark the plane and head out immediately for an excursion to the Temple of Karnak and the Luxor Library. We'll check into our staterooms by lunch time, have a late afternoon "Port Talk" and then head out for yet another excursion, this one to the Luxor Temple. Back on board by 7pm dinner and end the very long day and begin our Nile River Cruise!
Interesting side-note. It's been an ongoing "thing" that those of you who know us have heard, how so many cruise lines contact KIM. Well when we checked in our room was under the name "Woods-Love." And they referred to us as Mr. & Mrs. Woods. I tried to explain to two different people that our name was not Love and Woods was my wife's maiden name. How did this information even come into play. Then tonight when we settled the bill, the room was under the name, Kimberly Woods Love and when I said we were in Room 1728, could we settle the bill the desk clerk said, "Certainly Mr. Woods!" Sigh......
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