PYRAMIDS!!!!

First off, my apologies for the one month intermission (whoops). But I have a pretty good excuse--I moved to Chicago 3 days after I got home and have since been getting settled (and chasing down AT&T to get internet!), etc. I definitely picked the wrong time to let the blog lapse as I pretty much left out the coolest sites of the trip: the pyramids and the ancient temples of Upper Egypt!

Court and I ventured out to the pyramids on Tuesday, August 11th, which proved to be a very Egyptian day. We started out by going to Giza, the most famous of all the pyramid sites, and contrary to popular belief, located smack dab in the middle of the suburb of Giza. I thought one of the coolest parts was approaching the giant pyramids poking out from behind the high rises of Giza. The experience at Giza pretty much went downhill from there as the actual site can best be described as a zoo, but one with all the animals let out! I'm pretty sure there were more Russians at the Giza pyramids than in all of Moscow that morning (and quite a few Spaniards as well. Similar to Mt. Sinai, Russians arrive by the bus load to see the pyramids and then return to the Red Sea resorts and sunbathe.


In addition to the invasion of the Russians, we had an unfortunate experience buying tickets. When we got out of the car (driven by a family friend who spoke English) we were given strict instructions to talk to no one, go directly up to the window, and buy our tickets. The walkway leading up to the ticket booth is known for being hassle alley (although, is allegedly better due to a new fence and ticket kiosk) and we actually had no issues and were approached by no one. After buying our ticket to enter the pyramid site, we entered, went to the first pyramid (and the largest of the three) called the Great Pyramid of Khufu and decided we should buy tickets to go inside because when else would we get the chance to do that? We had to go back out to the ticket kiosk where we bought student tickets ($10! $20 for non-students!) to the first pyramid. However, when we got to the entrance, we found out that the official ticket seller had sold us tickets for the second pyramid and pocketed the $20 difference. Well, that pissed us off. If there is one thing you don't do, it's take advantage of Conklins. Thankfully, our Egyptian driver walked back out with us, scolded the guy, and got our money back. But it definitely dampened the Giza experience a bit. Not only were we annoyed at being taken advantage of (especially after thinking we were Middle East savvy with 2 months under our belt), but we were cheated by the OFFICIAL guard! Welcome to Egypt.

After resolving the ticket snafu, we checked out the second (and my favorite) biggest pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre, the smallest of the three, the Pyramid of Menkaure, and the Sphinx, which is surprisingly small in person!

In front of the second largest pyramid

Giza backdrop

Camels never get old--I love how they smile

Court in front of all three

Awesome picture courtesy of our New Zealand friend, Travis!

Sphinx-y

The next stop on our pyramid tour proved to be much better as we headed out to Saqqara, a location a few miles down the road (but apparently too far for most tour buses). Again, one of our favorite aspects was approaching the pyramids but this time it was due to the cool date tree forests that we passed through. They were mesmerizing for some reason! Once at Saqqara (after saying we were Canadian to the entry guards to avoid getting a ride along guard with a gun...), we got our first glimpse of hieroglyphics in a tomb and got to climb down into a mini pyramid! The most famous pyramid at the Saqqara is the Step Pyramid, Egypt's first pyramid! It's cool to see how the pyramid evolved.

Date tree forest

The awesome Step Pyramid of Zoser

First hieroglyphics sighting!

The last, and definitely not least, stop on the tour was to the site of Dahshur which is known for the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid. This site is even farther south and had only a handful of tourists--I didn't know that was possible in Egypt! The Red Pyramid is GINORMOUS and is one of the coolest pyramids to go inside (plus it's free!). Because the entry is nearly halfway up the pyramid, the slope down into the pyramid is terrifying and insanely steep. After Court chickened out, I almost didn't go but then two nice Japanese tourists arrived so I followed them down the steep and long slope, then up a stairwell, then over again, and into the main chamber. It's cool to see how the insides of pyramids work as pharoahs were quite concerned with tomb robbers and went to great lengths to make it difficult for them. The other famous pyramid in this complex, the Bent Pyramid, is just funny--the architects didn't do a good job with the "measure twice, cut once rule." Apparently they started to build it with the same angles as the Step Pyramid but had to alter the angle when it started to show signs of instability. Trial and error, pharaonic style.

The Red Pyramid--post climb, legs of jello

The sweet Bent Pyramid

And in a fitting end to our most Egyptian of days (and literally 20 minutes after I had uttered, "Egypt makes Morocco look civilized"), we passed this amazing sign:

An even better take courtesy of our Austrian friend, Siggi