A busy first day!

Sat Dec 19th was spent travelling to Cairo - about a 5 hour flight from London, and we arrived late. By the time we'd got from the airport to the hotel and checked in etc, it was pretty much time for bed.

Sunday was a late start (as it turned out) of 9am. First part of the morning was spent doing the usual tour admin, then it was off to see the pyramids at Giza. It was completely surreal - to have been in London one day, to then be looking at the pyramids the next day. And as Cairo has expanded, they really aren't far out of town at all - town on one side, then desert on the other. We were too late to go into the Great Pyramid of Cheops, but I did go into the slightly smaller one of Chephren - down and up a steep path, bent double (not to be recommended for those with a bad back!). Nothing to see inside, but it was one of those things that had to be done!

I also went into the Solar Barque Museum - amazing. A cedar wood boat from the time which may have been used to convey the mummy of the Pharoah across the Nile to the valley temple. The barque's were then buried around the pyramid to provide transport for the Pharoah to the next world. This boat was discovered in 1954 and recreated - but the wood is original.

After the Pyramids it was down the hill to check out the Sphinx. Again it was the surreal thing of actually being there and seeing it. Its a bit smaller than I was expecting - and I couldn't help but think of the Asterix and Obelix story where Obelix knocks the nose off... :-).

After a quick stop at a Papyrus institute and a 'falafel sandwich' (first of many!) we headed off to the Eygptian Museum. This was fascinating as it houses most of the treasures from King Tut's tomb. Just mind blowing stuff what was in there - and he wasn't even a particularly important Pharoah. Makes you wonder what someone like Ramses II had in his tomb - he ruled for 66 years. But the museum itself felt very dark and dusty and old fashioned. One of the arguments for the British Museum not returning the Rosetta Stone is that Egypt doesn't have anywhere appropriate to store it, and having visited that museum I can see the argument. They won't get it back until they open their new museum I don't think.

From the museum we caught an overnight train from Cairo down to Aswan - first class sleeper! But not exactly Orient Express first class :-).