Giza

Yesterday my sweetie and I took a guided tour of the pyramids at the Giza plateau. It still amazes me that one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world is located only 30 minutes away by car, depending on traffic. It's also interesting to compare my hubby's photos with mine. I seem to have people, he goes out of his way to have none. Anywhere here are just a few photos.

The Great Pyramid of Cheops was the tallest man-made structure until the Eiffel Tower was built. This thing is huge. I was in a better mood this trip so it didn't just strike me as a big pile of rocks... Our guide convinced us that it was worth going inside the pyramid to the burial chamber. This is what I could see looking out from the robber's entrance to the pyramid. There's Cairo right there. And loads of tour buses.

It was an interesting trip into the pyramid. I didn't panic and run screaming, tho it wasn't exactly pleasant. You have to climb a 45 degree ramp bent over double. That went on quite a ways. It's a narrow little thing and it's the only way in OR out, so you had to manage to get by people as well. The burial chamber itself was fairly small, considering how much stuff I'd expect the pharoah to cram in there to take to his afterlife. And it was damp. Didn't hang around in there for long, let me tell ya. My muscles just ache today.

This is a photo of the back of the Great Pyramid where there are hardly any people at all. Most of the hordes are in the front I guess. Closest to the parking lot.

I love the Sphinx. His proper Egyptian name is Abu Hol, Father of Terror.

And this is what it looked like when I stepped back (and down) a few feet:

Yeah, lots of people. Not just tourists either, but some of the locals were doing tours.

The horrible obnoxious sellers of postcards, bookmarks, water, etc weren't nearly as bad this trip as the last time we went. Is that because I have acclimated to Egypt or that we had a tour guide and didn't look like such easy prey? Still makes me angry to see little kids selling stuff, tho this was at least a Saturday and there wouldn't be any school. Then again, I bet they're there every day of the week.

So it was a good tour, glad we went. Made me feel happy to be living in Egypt, which is a good thing as well. It was only a half day tour, it wasn't too hot, and we had a nice breeze, which means I wasn't completely wiped out when we were done. Plus I'm now smart enough to bring an umbrella with me to provide shade - that made a difference too.

After napping a bit I managed to sew for awhile. This post is already too long for that, but you'll see my progress shortly.