Braby Expeditions: Egyptian Museum, Pyramids and the Sphinx

Hi everyone-

We are a bit behind on our blogging as we have been on the go and were w/o internet for awhile.

So, Sunday we toured the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square and the three major pyramids and Sphinx at Giza. Totally AWESOME! The museum was unbelievable - we were looking at items over 4,000 years old and they were in excellent condition! We saw the real items of King Tut including his death mask, which alone is worth a half million- pure gold! Lots of other very cool relics spread throughout the museum - it has over 120,000 items split up into three periods of Egyptian history. We barely made a dent in seeing everything. Then it was off to see the pyramids and the Sphinx - something Jan has dreamed of seeing since fifth grade. They were unbelievable standing there so majestic on the sand. The scale is huge - note how small we are in comparison to the pyramid. Also note that no mortar was used. Each block was cut to fit perfectly next to and on top of each other. The main pyramid of Cheops stands 230m x230m square by 140m high. The only disappointment was the peddlers who were relentless in trying to have us buy their wares. They reminded us of a bunch of flies that would not leave us alone. Right around the corner from the pyramids, was the Sphinx. Walking up to it we saw where they had excavated a carved bigger then life size statue of Ramses II. On our return to Cairo, we stopped at a perfume factory. A presentation was made to us on how the oils are extracted from the flowers and how their essence is captured in a bottle. The perfumed oils are blended or kept as a single scent. A few of the scents included Lotus Flower, Desert of the Valley, Lily of the Valley, and mint, among many others. The oils are claimed to help with various aliments! The factory also had a wonderful display of uniquely designed perfume jars. All in all, the day was complete in that we felt we had finally arrived in Egypt seeing these things up front and personal. Now on to bed. Wake up call comes at 6:00 tomorrow morning.

Note the Coke machine - The Egyptians love their cola!

Here are some pictures-