Day 2 Cairo - Pyramids and Grand Museum

 Today was the money shot day…we started the day by driving to the Pyramids. 4 years ago when I was here it was chaotic…no clear entrance…people..camels…tours and vendors all milling about…now that’s all history. There’s a newly constructed entrance about a mile away where you park your car and board a shuttle bus that brings you down to the Pyramids and Sphinx. All very organized…like an endless conveyor belt of people all clambering around the base of the larger of the 2 main pyramids ( there are several but the 2 larger ones draw the most traffic). Ricki was awestruck and even though I had been there before I was impressed anew. It’s hard to convey how extraordinary these monumental structures are in person…coupled with a well told story by our guide as to their history…a good time was had by all.

The Sphinx was just down the hill and while cool to see in person it’s scale pales in comparison to the pyramids and so it was just ho-hum.

Our next destination was the new Grand Museum…it’s not officially open…the official opening is Nov 1 and it’s closing up tomorrow for 2 weeks to prepare for the opening. We had to move our trip back a couple of days to make sure we were here before that closing. All I can say is WOW!!…I am so glad we got to see it. The scale of the museum…like the pyramids themselves is monumental. Think Temple of Dendor x 100…the inside galleries which are like normal galleries on steroids are flanked by an entrance gallery that 4 levels up with a ceiling height equal to 15-20 stories. Each level held incredible statues of pharaohs…gods and temples. Enormous sculptures dwarfed by the scale of the building but still impressive in their size.

I was pooped out from the pyramids tour and didn’t have the patience to go through all the galleries…Ricki however soldiered on with the guide and had a marvelous time.

We ended the day back at the hotel where we slept like the dead.







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