The Pyramids at Giza

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 (cont.)

After we left the Egyptian Museum we drove about 45 minutes back to Giza.  We had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the Pyramids.  William had a hard time sitting still in the restaurant, so we took him out in a courtyard to watch the stray cats.  Stray cats were everywhere.  Since this was our first big sightseeing day, the cats were still a novelty.  By later in the trip, however, it was a different story.  I don't think Sarah ever tired of the cats, however.  About half of her pictures of the trip are of cats. 

After lunch we went to the Pyramids.  They are right there in Giza--you can see them from all over.  The city has been built up all around.  We saw the three pyramids of Giza, including the Great Pyramid, which we learned was made of sandstone and faced with limestone. Our first stop was an overlook good for photographs.  Unfortunately, it was very windy and hazy, and actually pretty chilly....and the pictures reflect that.  We are all sporting a lovely windblown look. 

Next we got to take a camel ride.  This was quite an adventure.  

These desert camels were very tall and it was hard to not fall off when they were standing up.  You have to lean way back as they stand up on their back legs first and you tip very far forward.  Actually, it was hard to stay on them the whole time, especially when riding in the back.  You really sway back and forth.

I have fun pictures of Grandma Hales and Grandpa Harper on camels, but I'm not sure they want them displayed publicly.  :)

William had a turn on a camel just like this--sitting on the ground.  That was about all he wanted--he was scared of the camels and it took some coaxing to get him to sit on it.  But since then he tells me stories about how he rode the camel and how it was so much fun.

Our last event at the pyramids was getting to climb inside one.  We were able to go down inside the smallest of the three pyramids at Giza. 

There was a long ramp downward into the chambers.  I couldn't stand upright on the way down, so I had to hunch down as I walked carrying William.  Inside were just medium-sized empty rooms.  Not too much to see, plus it didn't smell good so we didn't stay down inside too long.  On the way up, three Arab men were coming down as we were coming up.  One decided to take advantage of the close quarters and stroke my leg as we passed each other.  The Egyptians think all American women are like what is on TV.  They think we are all loose and want to be treated like that.  Thank you American media.  So, even though it was fairly offensive to be touched in that way by a complete stranger, I can't say that the men there are entirely to blame.  Thankfully, that was the worst experience of that kind (at least that I know of) while we were there. 

The vendors at the pyramids were extremely pushy.  They would follow us around and try to get us to buy the items they were selling.  They would give gifts to the children and then expect us to pay.  Even though I knew better and tried not to get sucked in, I still ended up on this camel with Rachel and a man demanding money. 

It happened like this:

Rachel and I were walking toward the pyramid to go down inside.  This man stopped us told us to take a picture of Rachel on the camel in front of the pyramid.  I said, no, we had already ridden camels.  I didn't want a camel ride.  "No ride," he said.  "Just take a picture."  So I told Rachel to just climb on quick while the camel was sitting down and I would take her picture.  So the man put a headress on her and I started to take her picture, but then he insisted I climb on too.  I thought we could just get a quick picture, but as soon as we sat on the camel he had the camel stand up.  I kept saying no, I didn't want a ride, I wanted to get off, I wanted the camel to get down, etc., but there wasn't much I could do.  So after the pictures he started bothering David for money.  He kept saying, No, she said no, etc.  It was crazy.  He waited for us to come out the pyramid and bothered us again.  In this picture you can see one of the men talking to David.  Next to him is our tour guide who is coming to rescue us and get us off the camel.  Our guard also came and helped us once when the vendors were cornering us and not letting us away.  It was crazy! 

We jumped on the bus again for a short ride to the Sphinx.  We got to walk around a little and walk through the outer temple that was built nearby. 

Kate is wearing a headress that was a "gift" to her--that we had to buy.  Crazy vendors.  We gave back so many things, but decided to let her keep that. 

That night after visiting the pyramids, I asked Ben what he learned about the pyramids that he didn't know before.  (Before we left, he had read some books about the pyramids and was chock full of facts like if you take the blocks from the largest pyramid and laid them end to end, you could build a single lane road from New York to San Fransisco).  Ben answered, "I learned that the Egyptians don't really care about the pyramids.  They are just there."  I thought his answer was rather a good observation.  It doesn't really seem like the Egyptians care much about the pyramids.  There is no national park.  There is no security.  There is no one telling you not to take a rock or any artifact away.  Everything has been stripped away long ago.  We actually learned that the pyramids used to have more layers, but over the centuries people have come and taken the rocks away to build other things.  I think perhaps the Egyptians are just too bogged down with survival and the basics of society to have the resources to put into preserving their national treasures.  Even the museum was built by the British. 

We left the pyramids and drove to a shop that sold very fine Egyptian cotton.  They had nice stuff and it was fun to feel all the soft cotton things.  After that, we went back to our hotel and had dinner.  It was a wonderful huge buffet and there were only a few others in the hotel besides our group.  Tourism is way down in Egypt.  William fell asleep in his chair while we were eating.  We transfered him to bed, got the kids tucked in and then headed to bed.  We were all asleep by about 8:00.  We were so exhausted.