Cairo, Egypt

After spending 2 days at sea we made it to Alexandria, Egypt. It is a three hour drive to Cairo and we booked a tour for our group of 15. We met our guide right outside the door. All bus tours were postponed while we waited for the fog in the desert to lift. We waited around in the port area for about 20 minutes and then our guide suggested we walk to the gate of the port authorities. He talked to them and they let us leave before the big buses. We were stopped once again just outside of Alexandria and we waited for another 40 minutes until they finally let us through. At this point we learned that the buses were still in the port waiting for approval to leave. We were driving and got into a traffic jam which turned out to be a really bad accident. Our 3 hour drive turned into about 4 hours but our guide was very good. He was telling us information about Egypt and it helped to pass the time. We found out that none of the buses back at the port made it out of town.

We made it through Cairo with 11 million people and headed toward the pyramids. I had always thought that the pyramids were quite a ways outside of Cairo but they are just on the outskirts of the city. We got to the pyramids and the kids immediately got out and ran. Riley tripped and fell and skinned his knees, elbows and wrists. That put a damper on his experience there. Our guide called the paramedics and an ambulance came with sirens and all to patch up his scrapes. Meanwhile, we were all climbing the pyramid and taking pictures.

The pyramids exceeded all expectations. They truly are amazing. To think and marvel at the work that was accomplished is amazing. I also didn't realize how close the sphinx is to the pyramids. I always thought that it was off by itself, it's also smaller than I thought.

There were so many peddlers selling trinket trash. My kids loved it. My kids were buying bags full of it for 20 euros. Afterwards we drove around to a restaurant to eat lunch and driving around we were disgusted with how dirty it was. There was a river full of garbage and we even witnessed a woman coming out of her home and she dumped it right in the river.

After lunch we drove back into Cairo and went to the museum to see the King Tut collection. Pretty amazing to see. By then the it was dark and time to start the drive back to Alexandria. The time went fast as we talked with our guide the whole way. He told us about Egyptian mythology and we talked a little about religion and politics. It was a great day and we learned much.