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Long time, no see . . .
Jun. 9th, 2007 10:09 pmWell, aside from putting up a few meme's I've been absent for much too long and much has happened in the mean time.
At the end of April and into the beginning of May Anna and I whisked ourselves away to Cairo for a holiday. We met up with a few people we know out there and had a great time looking at antiquities and getting to know a completely different culture. The first night we arrived we were taken on a Falucca trip on the Nile, there were so many people in the group though that they had to tie two boats together to accommodate everyone.
Saturday was a trip to the Egyptian Museum on public transport (which we managed to safely navigate, although Anna felt very conscious of being the only blonde, white woman anywhere in sight (I was as usual largely oblivious). We've seen various Egyptian artifacts in different museums around Europe (the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin and various statues in the Louvre) but the idea of seeing Egyptian artifacts in Egypt really excited us. The museum is (as you would imagine) packed to the rafters with artifacts and some wonderful statues. The pride of the collection (excluding the Mummies of course) has to be the Tutankhamun exhibition, with the Gold mask as it's centrepiece. The sheer lavish nature of his sarcophagus and the grave goods on display really impress, especially since he was only about 19 when he died and had only ruled for about 10 years. Since the museum has a no cameras policy (enforced on entry with metal detectors and x-ray machines) these pics are scans from the Museum's Pocket Book. You could spend the better part of a day just going around the artifacts but after a couple of hours we were both suffering from overload and made a run for it.
The rest of the week consisted of doing the regular tourist things:
The Pyramids - an incredible sight which does leave you awed and definitely makes up for getting hassled all the way round by a man and his camel, speaking of which . . .
The very necessary camel ride, which once you realise that the saddle is supposed to wobble quite that much and that it's not going to deposit you in the sand any moment, is a great deal of fun.
The Sphinx, which I really thought would be bigger although I couldn't tell you why since it's impressive just the way it is.
We visited several Mosques, of which I have numerous pictures (but that last one is my favourite, so you should definitely look at that one ;>) and the Cave Churches on Muqattam Mountain of which we have a very large amount of pictures due to the large number of pictures carved into the rock faces around the area. The largest of the churches is claimed to be able to hold about 20,000 people which must be an impressive gathering. I have to admit though that as I walked out of the entrance passage and looked up at the rows and rows of curved seats going off into the distance, my first thoughts where "Wow, it's the Imperial Senate!".
All told, we had a really good time and enjoyed ourselves greatly. The only downside was the both of us catching a stomach bug the night we were due to leave, making for interesting flights home. Ironic since we had eaten Egyptian food all week without too much bother but then on the last night we went with friends to an international american restaurant chain and it was a meal that we might have ate hear at home that got us. Well, I'm sure there is a lesson there somewhere.
More has happened, that I mean to tell you about but it is much later than I had meant it to be and so I'll have to tell you of my other exploits another time.
At the end of April and into the beginning of May Anna and I whisked ourselves away to Cairo for a holiday. We met up with a few people we know out there and had a great time looking at antiquities and getting to know a completely different culture. The first night we arrived we were taken on a Falucca trip on the Nile, there were so many people in the group though that they had to tie two boats together to accommodate everyone.
Saturday was a trip to the Egyptian Museum on public transport (which we managed to safely navigate, although Anna felt very conscious of being the only blonde, white woman anywhere in sight (I was as usual largely oblivious). We've seen various Egyptian artifacts in different museums around Europe (the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin and various statues in the Louvre) but the idea of seeing Egyptian artifacts in Egypt really excited us. The museum is (as you would imagine) packed to the rafters with artifacts and some wonderful statues. The pride of the collection (excluding the Mummies of course) has to be the Tutankhamun exhibition, with the Gold mask as it's centrepiece. The sheer lavish nature of his sarcophagus and the grave goods on display really impress, especially since he was only about 19 when he died and had only ruled for about 10 years. Since the museum has a no cameras policy (enforced on entry with metal detectors and x-ray machines) these pics are scans from the Museum's Pocket Book. You could spend the better part of a day just going around the artifacts but after a couple of hours we were both suffering from overload and made a run for it.
The rest of the week consisted of doing the regular tourist things:
The Pyramids - an incredible sight which does leave you awed and definitely makes up for getting hassled all the way round by a man and his camel, speaking of which . . .
The very necessary camel ride, which once you realise that the saddle is supposed to wobble quite that much and that it's not going to deposit you in the sand any moment, is a great deal of fun.
The Sphinx, which I really thought would be bigger although I couldn't tell you why since it's impressive just the way it is.
We visited several Mosques, of which I have numerous pictures (but that last one is my favourite, so you should definitely look at that one ;>) and the Cave Churches on Muqattam Mountain of which we have a very large amount of pictures due to the large number of pictures carved into the rock faces around the area. The largest of the churches is claimed to be able to hold about 20,000 people which must be an impressive gathering. I have to admit though that as I walked out of the entrance passage and looked up at the rows and rows of curved seats going off into the distance, my first thoughts where "Wow, it's the Imperial Senate!".
All told, we had a really good time and enjoyed ourselves greatly. The only downside was the both of us catching a stomach bug the night we were due to leave, making for interesting flights home. Ironic since we had eaten Egyptian food all week without too much bother but then on the last night we went with friends to an international american restaurant chain and it was a meal that we might have ate hear at home that got us. Well, I'm sure there is a lesson there somewhere.
More has happened, that I mean to tell you about but it is much later than I had meant it to be and so I'll have to tell you of my other exploits another time.
