It was really easy to remember names because everyone was either Mohammed or Ahmed, with the exception of one “George.”
Monday was spent relaxing, running errands and meeting Chris at the airport. Chris was excited to finally finish work and was more than ready to hit the road. On Monday night we met up with Dr. Antosek, a friend of a friend whom lives in Cairo. He is the head of research for infectious diseases for the US military hear in Cairo and was a big help in giving us updates on the good places to see, eat, and not eat in Egypt.
On Tuesday we started the day in Saqqara, home of Zoser's Step Pyramid, which is the oldest standing pyramid today (approximately 2700 BC). Next we were off to Giza where we saw the famous pyramids - Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus - and the Sphinx, or “Sphin-cus”, as the Egyptians say. Amazing how these impressive structures are still standing after all of these years. The Pyramids were still in very good shape, but the Sphinx has seen better days. Supposedly Napoleon and his army used the Sphinx as target practice back in the day.
Today we headed out to see some of the other remaining attractions in the greater Cairo area. We started the day in Coptic Cairo, the Christian section of Cairo, and visited several old mosques, churches, convents and cemeteries. We continued on to the Citadel, which was highlighted by the Mohammed Ali Mosque. We spent the afternoon walking through the City of the Dead, a cemetery that dates back thousands of years. The lured, arcade-game name refers to the fact that the cemeteries are not only the resting places for Cairo’s dead and buried but for the living too. (This line came straight out of the lonely planet book. We, as engineers, could never put together a string of such complex words). And here is one more quote from the lonely planet book about the city, “In some tomb-houses, cenotaphs serve as tables and washing is strung between headstones.”
Chris brought a video camera with him and we've all been having a lot of fun with that. You'll all be happy to know that we will be selling unedited copies of our travels on our website for the low price of only $19.95 if you reserve your copy today. Sponsors will have a first shot at the tapes.
Tomorrow we will be heading to Tanzania for our attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Considering we are dead tired after spending the day walking around Cairo, it should be an interesting climb.
For the next few weeks we will most likely have little, if any, access to the internet, so hang in there for future updates.
**Check out the new pictures that have been posted.**
Over and out
Disclaimer...We are still engineers. We don't claim to be able to write or spell. :)
