The time has gone by so quickly
Cairo, Egypt
June 16, 2013After an uneventful breakfast (I avoided the toast station) we took a white metered taxi to visit the Egyptian Museum one more time.
On the first floor we took another look at the Narmer palette which depicted the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt and the Cairo Dahshur Boats 1870-1831 BC (oldest boats in the world).
We looked into some rooms that we did not have a chance to see the previous time. We saw amulets and statuettes that seemed unique to us such as a mongoose or ichneumon, a crocodile body with a falcon head.
We also saw some images of Bes who may be the interesting character that we saw a Philae Temple. Bill found an interesting article about him: http://www Returning to the museum.bbc.com/culture/story/20130619-how-the-devil-got-his-looks
We also roamed through rooms that had papyrus, ostraca - practice drawings or plans on limestone, tools, weapons, fishing and hunting gear, musical instruments, fans, canoptic jars, solar boats - including fishing and kitchen boats, models of daily life such as the granary and kitchen.
We paid extra money this time to see the mummies on display at the museum. The most notable for us were Ramses II, Hatshepsut and Memnon.
We also revisited some of the treasures found in Tutankamun's tomb.
The museum has a vast number of treasures and you coud find something new and fascinating each and every time. I would highly recommend a guided tour because many items were not labelled well or at all. It can definitely be overwhelming and not very educational if you go it alone.
We walked around the burnt out Democratic Party (Mobaric's party) building to take some photos Two Years Later... Zero Progress. We then dodged traffic on the way to and through Tahrir Square and took some photos of the graffiti from the time of the revolution. We then crossed the square to the Emeco Office.
We were graciously welcomed by everyone and had a nice conversation with the Vice President of Leisure and the President who had just returned from Toronto and had met with some of the Goway staff. We were treated to a great Egyptian lunch with ?. Then he was also kind enough to drive us back to our hotel.
We had a quick shower, packed everything and checked out. We spent a bit of time on the internet and then Hanny met us at 6:00 to take us to the Giza Sound and Light Show. Traffic was crazy as always, but we arrived with plenty of time to spare.
We ran into Pepito again, he was a the Swiss travel agent from our cruiser. We also ran into him at Abu Simbel. When there are so few tourists, I guess your are likely to see the same people everywhere you go Tahrir Square. Pepito joined us for the show.
The show was an hour long and was OK. The lights and projections were not bad, but I think they need to update the story and the voices. It seemed disconnected and I did not understand what the point of the stories that had been selected.
We returned to the van on good time and did not have to deal with much traffic. We arrived to the airport prior to the check-in desk opening, so we killed an hour or so at one of the coffee shops. Moussad expertly guided us through the airport one last time. We boarded our flight around 1:00 am and hoped to get lots of sleep on the flight so we can catch up on work tomorrow.
The trip has been so breath taking and incredible, but it will be great to be back in our familiar surroundings and to see our kittens again!
Pictures & VideosRevolution GraffitiMass TransportStory!Sound and Light Show
