Cairo
Finally....well....actually i cant say i had to wait long...its only the second time we were in egypt....but after this egypt, only one more time...so it was really tight whether or not i would see the pyramids...and trust me...egypt is not a place i would go on holiday to...so it was now or never that i was going to see the pyramids...and you know what...yes, it is a once in a life time thing...literally and figuratively.....it was impressive to see but also once seen..i dont think ill need to go there again....so lets talk a little about my actual day....
I got up around 4:30... Yes AM...cause my shift was from 5 until 7....then time to change, eat some breakfast and head to the meeting point for the excursion...i chose to be an escort on a passenger tour rather than the crew tour cause i wanted to not only see the pyramids but also go to the museum to see the tombs and the gold mask....so around 8:30 we finally departed, you see the group that has chosen this excursion consisted of 4 large buses...so first you had to divide people, then we got introduced to our local guide, bus driver and police escort....yes....scary but true....every bus had its own police escort....then time to leave...im not gonna go into all the knitty gritty time schedule...cause that would be a hell of a boring....but what i can say...on the way there we did not have any traffic...and it still took us 3 hrs....first off were the pyramids....you know...amazing sight...from far away.....they look like they have been built from small blocks...and when you actually get closer..the individual blocks get larger and larger...and when you finally stand next to the pyramids....wow....they are really big...what a sight...yes....they are falling apart....but then again..they are ancient....the guide explained that it took 25years to build the largest one...there is three of them and they are somehow aligned....they call them the father, son and the grandson.....and next to the grandson there is three little blocks...those were said were the presents from the grandson...one for his mother and sister...one for his wife and one for his grandmother.....interesting....the pyramids are hollow inside.....its funny to see that these pyramids are just outside the main city which of course is a desert....but its not like from the pyramids you only see desert...you also see the city of cairo....amazing to see the pyramids....here are some pics.....
Sphinx....wot to say....nice to see...but so sad...nose gone and it really for me was less impressive than what i thought it would be...was big and all but somehow a little let down...the pyramids for me were just far more impressive and far more wow than the sphinx...and such a fuss is thrown about the sphinx....oh well....interesting from the pyramids you actually cannot see the sphink cause the Sphinx is on a totally different elevation....much lower.....here is a pic
Then time for lunch...and man i was hungry...of course a 5 star hotel cause we dont want people getting gi...so it is important to go to a very clean hotel.....buffet was good....but man..way too many tour buses....somehow they should co-ordinate the times a little better....why does everyone have to go and eat at 13:30.... Buffet stood in line forever...food....well nothing special....but then again i didnt expect anything wow from a buffet....mass production can only be so good.....some deep fried fish and roast chicken and veggies for me....dessert....give it a skip.....after lunch it was the papyrus factory....its a type of painting...its done on like bamboo type paper.....they peel bamboo, keep it in water for a few days and then someone sticks various pieces together to make a large sheet and then paints on it...of course i bought a painting cause i love paintings....thats the other souvenirs that i collect....mugs and paintings.....and i bought one onto which they painted my name in arabic and also it has the egyptian calendar....which they explained to me how it works...and i must admit, quite clever.....
Last but not least stop...museum...and im not gonna go into too much details....the museum is like 110 years old...and trust me you can see it....lights are very bad and the main reason is cause otherwise the things inside the museum would get damaged....so....inside of course the Highlights were the mask....i never knew that even if they have exhibitions in the states or in Europe, they take all original pieces EXCEPT the mask, they have a fake, the gold tombs...those go....quite a site....24 carat gold mask and tombs...amazing to see....and the jewllery also impressive....one funny thing....they have these massive statues at the bottom of the museum and we were told the statues were moved there first and then they built the museum over it....now they wanna move the museum to a different spot....and they are not sure how to move the statues cause they cannot get out of door...so they are thinking to keep some of the things in the old museum.....hmmmmm...anyway....great day to see a lot of new things, learn a lot of new facts....interesting.....the way back...lets not talk about that....it took us 1.5 hrs to just get out of Cairo....what the hell....then it took us another 3 hrs to get back...hell....i had to work at 21:30 until 23:30..... I was an hour late....so ended up working from 22:30 until 00:30.... Man after that...i was finished.....good nite to me....i can tell you that.....but good day in Cairo....so we have an overnite in Alexandria, so tomorrow we will still be here....so im gonna do nothing......well sleep....goodnite
I got up around 4:30... Yes AM...cause my shift was from 5 until 7....then time to change, eat some breakfast and head to the meeting point for the excursion...i chose to be an escort on a passenger tour rather than the crew tour cause i wanted to not only see the pyramids but also go to the museum to see the tombs and the gold mask....so around 8:30 we finally departed, you see the group that has chosen this excursion consisted of 4 large buses...so first you had to divide people, then we got introduced to our local guide, bus driver and police escort....yes....scary but true....every bus had its own police escort....then time to leave...im not gonna go into all the knitty gritty time schedule...cause that would be a hell of a boring....but what i can say...on the way there we did not have any traffic...and it still took us 3 hrs....first off were the pyramids....you know...amazing sight...from far away.....they look like they have been built from small blocks...and when you actually get closer..the individual blocks get larger and larger...and when you finally stand next to the pyramids....wow....they are really big...what a sight...yes....they are falling apart....but then again..they are ancient....the guide explained that it took 25years to build the largest one...there is three of them and they are somehow aligned....they call them the father, son and the grandson.....and next to the grandson there is three little blocks...those were said were the presents from the grandson...one for his mother and sister...one for his wife and one for his grandmother.....interesting....the pyramids are hollow inside.....its funny to see that these pyramids are just outside the main city which of course is a desert....but its not like from the pyramids you only see desert...you also see the city of cairo....amazing to see the pyramids....here are some pics.....
Last but not least stop...museum...and im not gonna go into too much details....the museum is like 110 years old...and trust me you can see it....lights are very bad and the main reason is cause otherwise the things inside the museum would get damaged....so....inside of course the Highlights were the mask....i never knew that even if they have exhibitions in the states or in Europe, they take all original pieces EXCEPT the mask, they have a fake, the gold tombs...those go....quite a site....24 carat gold mask and tombs...amazing to see....and the jewllery also impressive....one funny thing....they have these massive statues at the bottom of the museum and we were told the statues were moved there first and then they built the museum over it....now they wanna move the museum to a different spot....and they are not sure how to move the statues cause they cannot get out of door...so they are thinking to keep some of the things in the old museum.....hmmmmm...anyway....great day to see a lot of new things, learn a lot of new facts....interesting.....the way back...lets not talk about that....it took us 1.5 hrs to just get out of Cairo....what the hell....then it took us another 3 hrs to get back...hell....i had to work at 21:30 until 23:30..... I was an hour late....so ended up working from 22:30 until 00:30.... Man after that...i was finished.....good nite to me....i can tell you that.....but good day in Cairo....so we have an overnite in Alexandria, so tomorrow we will still be here....so im gonna do nothing......well sleep....goodnite
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