"See the Pyramids Along the Nile..."

For those of us of a certain vintage, that phrase "See the pyramids ..." brings to mind a certain song title ("You Belong to Me"), a romantic ballad, probably from the late nineteen-fifties. Well, today that's exactly what we did! When we put to our tour group the question of what the SECOND line of that set of song lyrics was, however, no one had a clue. So I guess whatever else we should go see on our international travels, we won't be inspired by any other suggestion from this particular song...

At any rate, we were up and out of our hotel by eight this morning but got caught up immediately in Sunday morning traffic. The Egyptian weekend runs Friday through Saturday, so Sunday begins the work week. Plus this particular Sunday, many private schools began the new school year, and parents were accompanying their offspring to school just like at home. That made for some especially crowded streets!

However, the slowed traffic provided a great opportunity to observe numerous aspects of daily life: fashion-conscious teenage girls in head scarves and VERY tight jeans; school kids wearing brand new backpacks; career women driving spiffy foreign automobiles (not the banged up jobs of their male counterparts); a lone garbage collector valiantly attempting to gather up a mountain of trash from overflowing street-side dumpsters.

We realized as well that there were neither stoplights nor crosswalks anywhere along the divided boulevard we were traversing. Everyone entering from a side street had to turn right, then watch for a break in the median strip to make a U-turn if headed in the opposite direction! Pedestrians just wandered out into the traffic whenever and wherever they needed to cross the street! Yet there was no evidence of "road rage" anywhere around us as our twenty minutes journey essentially doubled because of the traffic crunch - amazing!

When we first caught a glimpse of the pyramids from our minibus, a collective gasp went up -- we even applauded! Here, at last, we were actually seeing the sole survivor of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. We made three stops on the Giza Plateau to gape at the awesome sights before us. Some clambered into the second pyramid; others posed for photographs on camel-back with the pyramids in the background. Lee took thirty-five pictures! Interestingly, it wasn't until our third stop where we were first able to see the Sphinx that the power of the place truly sunk in...

We also visited a museum housing (on the very site where it was discovered) the "solar boat" that transported the body of the second pharaoh buried here to his tomb. Discovered completely disassembled (over 2200 pieces) in 1954 in thirteen layers piled into a stone lined chamber at the base of the second pyramid, the boat has been put back together and is now beautifully displayed. Seeing it proved one of the day's true highlights for Lee.

Following an absolutely delicious barbecued chicken lunch served in a delightful shaded outdoor garden, we headed off to Saqqara to explore the beautifully preserved mastaba ("noble tomb") of Ptah-Hotep and the Step Pyramid, predecessor to the great pyramids of Giza.


On the distant horizon, we could also make out the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid, other progenitors of the "mature" pyramid style preserved closer to Cairo.

The drive our and back allowed us the added opportunity to see more of rural Egypt as well.
On our return trip to Cairo, we stopped briefly at a rug weaving school to marvel at youngsters whose dexterity allowed them to tie five knots a second on the rug looms they tended to in such a focused and disciplined manner.

Exhausted by then, we returned to our hotel -- but many of us rallied in time to make it to a sound-and-light show back at the pyramids this evening. The best part of that experience was being able to just sit and look at these marvelous wonders (the "real thing," not some cardboard mock-up) under the light of a full moon without vendors or camel drivers or the tourist crowd hassling us - truly a time to remember!