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Pyramids of Giza : Cairo, Egypt : Trip Report

Pyramids of Giza

The inside of a pyramid smells like a camel's ass.

After being in Egypt for two weeks we FINALLY get to visit the pyramids. We arrived mid afternoon and we had less than two hours before the pyramids shut down for the night and all the tourists are asked to scram. We first visited the Great Pyramid which is the biggest pyramid every built and was the tallest structure built by man for about 4000 years. I think the Eiffel Tower finally took that title.

We then went to the 2nd biggest pyramid nearby where Ahmed told us would be a better pyramid to go inside of. We were warned that it's really cramped and smells funny but we paid our money and went in anyway. The deeper we went the more sorry we were. The walls are not adorned at all and the ceiling hight is mostly around 4 feet so we had to walk crouching for quite some time. Once we finally got to the burial chamber the only thing inside was a large granite sarcophagus and writing on the wall of the person who discovered the chamber. The room itself had a very high ceiling so we were able to relax our backs for a while before going back through that tiny little passage.

When we were nearly at the exit Michelle discovered she had lost the expensive sunglasses she had hanging from her shirt so she turned around and went back in looking for them! Unfortunately she didn't find them. They were left for future archaeologists to find, or at least someone who was behind her.


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Great Sphinx

We then rushed to the Sphinx to get to the viewing platform before that site closes. The platform was super crowded with tourists. I can't imagine how it would be during the high season when it's much more crowded and a LOT hotter! We still all had plenty of time to get our goofy postcard shots. I had heard that the development had been built so close to the monuments that there was a KFC and Pizza Hut only 100 yards from the Sphinx. Sure enough there it was! The Sphinx now has to look straight at them.

After we got chased away by the Tourist Police we went to a papyrus factory down the street. Then Bill had the bright idea that we go back and take some more pictures. That was a good plan because we found some guys with camels just down the block so we offered them money to let us take pictures on the camels in front of the Sphinx. It was starting to get dark so we had to hurry but everyone who wanted a picture on a camel was able to get one before we left! Michelle even got her much sought after picture of a camel toe.


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Next: Visiting the City of Paris.