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Thursday, May 2, 2019

Cairo!

The Egyptian Museum probably has the most cachet of any museum in the world.  If anybody has ancient relics it's the Egyptians, right?


It definitely delivered!


A family--probably one of the most famous of its kind.


Our Egypt host couple, the Hoers, gave us a completely unique tour pointing out all of the temple symbolism!  Here they noted the manner in which this Egyptian is wearing his robe.


I neglected to take a mummy count.  They were prolific!  I've seen mummies in other places, but the sheer number here was staggering.  Particularly impressed with the beautiful teeth!! So straight and white!


As shown by his uncrossed arms, this guy is just a guy.  But he made it into the Egyptian Museum, so Hey!



Even a mummified smiling crocodile!  Loved the animal room!


Oldest document in the world


Not King Tut, but a pharoah's death mask nevertheless.  The Tut room was magnificent, but no pictures could be taken.  The guards stood and forced a girl to delete hers in front of them, and when she got snippy they escorted her out!  "No Tut for you!!"


This guy (Ramses) was found buried and preserved in mud in the ancient city of Memphis!



The "portable" Sphinx at Memphis.  His nose is still intact. (We looked for the Elvis impersonator to no avail.)


Even the kitsch is cool!


Oh, to be of such rare beauty that a sculptor would want to capture me in alabaster...sans whatever beasts seem to be coming out of her forehead.





If you don't stop to think about it, you can choose to put yourself in this long, dark, narrow, steep passageway heading up up up and into the gut of the pyramid.  It's strenuous and you fight the panic!  After what seems like forever you emerge into a tiny room with an empty bathtub-sized sarcophagus where you can at last stand up straight.  If you're a kid you might climb into the sarcophagus for a picture op.  The room was dark and small, and I was anxious to descend back out into the Egyptian sun!!!  On a normal non Easter day you would have been joined on this "ride" by hundreds of your closest friends.  The three of our group of 15 who opted to go had it basically to ourselves.







Parking lot!


Either the Sphinx is shrinking or someone has been playing mind games with me all these years.



A holy site on the Nile in the Coptic church where Mary and Joseph supposedly landed back in their exile days


Playmates on the banks of the Nile



Beautiful Sudanese women leaving the Coptic church


If your headrest covers aren't as cool as these, then just don't bother.

Au revoir la Caire!

1 comment:

Araignee said...

I saw your comment on my blog so I had to go explore yours. Your photos are amazing. I am not much of a traveler so I am really going to enjoy following along with your adventures!

Favorite books

  • Me 'n Steve
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  • The Count of Monte Cristo
  • Travels with Charley
  • A Walk in the Woods
  • Peace Like a River
  • The Egg and I
  • Mary Poppins
  • Extremly Loud Incredibly Close
  • How Green Was my Valley