SOKHNA, EGYPT - CAIRO - April 8th

Our final port of call in Egypt was Sokhna.  This was the port for Cairo and we boarded a bus for the 2 1/2 hour trip, first to the Cairo Museum then to the Great Pyramids and Sphinx just outside Cairo.

The trip into Cairo was uneventful although despite our guides reassurance, (of course we had 2 armed guards with us on the bus)  coming really, really close to Tahrir Square (revolution square) we were still unnerved.  It was Friday, a Muslim holy day and party day and these people by the thousands headed to the square to listen to speeches, wave new flags, and generally picnic in the park.

The presence of these troops did little to allay our fear.  This was outside the museum which was a block away from the square.

This building is the National Democratic Headquarters beside the Museum, and was Mubarak's headquarters.  They are going to leave this building standing as a reminder of the events of the day.

They do not let you take photos inside the museum which has somewhat dim lighting but our guide, who was also an Egyptologist gave us files of some of the items in the museum.  We did see a number of the cases that were broken into during the revolution though we understand that most of the items have been returned.

There are more than 107 exhibition halls and over 120,000 objects to view.  We only could view just a smidgeon of items in the short time they gave us but whatever we saw was amazing.  A number of linens, fabrics, feathers etc. are deteriorating in their cases.  What a shame!

We did see King Tut's gold death mask although the special room it was in was even darker than the other rooms.

When I get home and make a book of our trip I will include some of our guides pictures.

We left the museum amid the chants in Egyptian - God is Great and our guards hustled us into the waiting busses.

Here are some street scenes in Cairo of an apartment building

Garlic

There are millions of homes such as this throughout Egypt.  The roofs are of reeds, maybe with some bits of wood and metal under it to keep out the rains however it is sad to see people living like this.

The walls of every home is made the same way the slaves made homes more than 2000 years ago.
Mud and straw bricks.  Len has a close up photo of a wall near Karnak made this way.

Pigeons are a delectable treat to eat in Egypt.  Only wealthy Egyptians can afford to raise their own.

Obviously this man is quite wealthy.  There must be a couple of thousand birds living in these.

I wish I could say that the Egyptians take pride in their country, but they do not.
This canal which runs along side the road to the pyramids is filled with everything from dead animals to all their garbage.  We saw a woman walk across the street and heave a bag of garbage into it.  They are talking about filling in the canals and have done so in some place.  I have no idea where they plan to put the garbage if this is done.

We stopped at a hotel to eat right near the Pyramids.  It is a shame that the city is almost upon the pyramids.  There is a rule in Egypt that you do not have to pay taxes if your home is unfinished - therefore, there are very few finished home .  If they are not made of reeds, than the cement pilings are left there for years and years and years so that the next generation can building another level on it and still not pay taxes.  The government has decreed that people have 30 months to finish their homes, add the roofs and pay taxes.  Doubtful.

From this vantage point the view of the pyramids was spectacular.

At this pyramid robbers tried to enter and made this huge hole in the pyramid.

This last photo is of the sphinx and a pyramid.  Not in this photo but in others Len took, someone had the bright idea to rebuild the sphinx's legs.  How thoughtful.  Looks like Disney's handiwork!