Cairo Day 2- Pyramids!

Today we were off to see the pyramids. Little did I know how many pyramids there are in Egypt. We started with the Pyramids of Giza. Then we saw the sphinx. After the sphinx we had lunch at a great restaurant that gave us the opportunity to have our last look at the Pyramids of Giza before we traveled to the next one.

View of the Pyramids from a hotel

The Pyramids off in the distance

We made it!

Look how close the city is

Group photo

The 2nd pyramid

The doorway into the first pyramid

The did not use mortar of any type. They layered the stones together and let gravity and the air pull them together.

A long way up

Elmo gets in on the climbing fun

The side

3 small pyramids for the wife and daughters of the king

A boat was found in here- They used boats to bring the dead to the pyramid for burial

And she has had enough

My little T rex pose

This guy tried to take Little Lady for a photo and when we wouldn't let him he tried to crash ours.

The look she gave him

Yep...this is the best one we have of the girls. lol

Can you tell someone was in need of a nap?

Bedouins riding camels

Little Lady and S are "enjoying"  sitting on the camel (yeah she is screaming terribly)

I got to pose with Elmo on the camel

Walking to see the Sphinx

grumpy faces kissing the Sphnix

Lone camel

Elmo Kisses the Spinx

Lunch overlooking the pyramid- why not?

After lunch we headed to the red and black pyramids along with the Dome pyramid. Apparently the name comes from the limestone used and during construction of the Dome pyramid they discovered that with the angle they were using it would be a huge pyramid and nearly impossible to finish so they decided to change the shape half way through building it. We were able to go inside of one of the pyramids Dachur. It was a long climb to the midway point of the pyramid where we faced a steep narrow hole into blackness. We had to be hunched over to walk in and it was a ramp that every so often they stuck a board across to catch your foot on and act like a step. Erin and I went first. We toughed it out and made it to the bottom where it smelled of ammonia and was just a big hole. There was not even a carving in the place. Then we climbed back up and held the girls while Chris and S went it. After that we climbed back down and got in the van and left.

The dome pyramid

The entrance to the Dachur (I think I am spelling that wrong) pyramid

Looking out from the top

Such a little adventurer

After that we climbed back down and got in the van and left. We then hurried to the Step Pyramid, Saqqara. This pyramid is made to look like steps and was built for the Pharaoh Djoser. We hurried through this site because it closed at 4 and it was 3:30 when we arrived there.

Entering the wall to the Step Pyramid- sooo smooth

After the measurement it seems that they were only off by 1 millimeter from beginning to end and that could be modern day error.

Cobras lining the top

Step Pyramid- Saqqara

Carving in the tomb

Nabil explaining the carvings.

another perfectly straight wall and without modern day lazers!

After enjoying the Pyramids we went back to the hotel for yet another swim and dinner. We had Asian food and it was very yummy!

One thing that we found interesting yet do not have picture of is Cairo’s city for the dead. There are areas of the city that have houses built and apparently those are graves. When a person died they were laid to rest but a fully functioning house was built next to the grave. That way when family members came to visit the dead they would have somewhere to stay and of course they would get hungry so they need a kitchen to cook in. Then there are those natural needs which leads to building a bathroom. Over time some of these houses for the Dead have been rented out to lesser fortunate people as a place to live. There is a huge population boom in Cairo and nowhere for them to go. In order to solve that problem they started renting places in the city for the dead. Talk about strange!