Marian & Barry's World Cruise: APR. 19th -- EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA & THE SPHINX

FYI -- Temperature is: 86°F/30°C🐪🐪

We have a 4:00 AM "wake-up call" and that was fun. We have to be in the lobby by 4:45 and we get a Breakfast box and all get on the bus and head for the airport.
The Breakfast box consists of a lot of carbs...2 croissants, 4 pita bread, about 10 slices of cheese, a banana and a box of orange juice. Hmmmmm -- I'll have cheese, please.

We get to the airport, get tickets and boarding passes, board the plane and one-hour later we are in Cairo.

From the window of the plane -- the desert below.

We arrive in Cairo about 8:30 and are taken directly to a deluxe restaurant for breakfast....because we haven't eaten for a couple of hours. There is a huge breakfast buffet and some really good coffee and then we are off.

Our first stop is the Egyptian Museum.
Once again we are told that we cannot take pictures in the museum...Crap Balls again!!! We'll have to pay extra to get a pass to take pictures inside the museum and even with that you cannot take any pictures in King Tutankhamun's (that's King Tut) room. We say "no" and again go the postcard route.

We go through the scanners and once inside all receive ear-buds call The Whisperers to use. When the tour guide talks we can all hear him through the buds.
We are here on a Friday (Good Friday) and it is really busy by our standards.

There was so much to see.
The first place we go to is "The Royal Mummies" room. There were about 10 mummies and it was kinda freaky...but we looked at them and it was fascinating. The oldest mummy they had was of Ramses II (we saw the tombs of Ramses III & IV yesterday) and, if memory serves, its age is from approx. 1200 BC.

Ramses II

We go to King Tut's room and see the famous golden Death Mask. Unbelievable. His golden sarcophagus was also on display. The gold in King Tut's sarcophagus (coffin) weighs 1800 lbs. and is worth about 60 million dollars today.

King Tut's Golden Death Mask

Close up of Death Mask

Partial shot of the golden sarcophagus

We went into Queen Nefertiti's room and looked at the artifacts from her tomb. Nefertiti was the mother of King Tutankhamun and was consider a beauty in her day.

Famous bust of Queen Nefertiti

We saw a lot more than this and I have put in some photos of these other areas.

Anubis, Egyptian God of the Dead

This is carved of wood and was found in King Tut's tomb. The Jackal...representing the God of Death...in Egyptian etchings he is usually depicted as a man with a jackal's head. This carving was absolutely beautiful. Might have been my favourite.

King Kahfra

We saw this guy, King Kahfra, because he was the builder to the second pyramid of Giza and we are going to see that later today.

After our museum visit, we board the bus and head to the Pyramid's area. We have lunch at a deluxe restaurant ...oh good, another meal!
There is another lovely buffet of Egyptian food, all delicious. We try the local beer, again, just to compare. It is called Stella, a lager beer.

STELLA

One thing we did try, that no one offered before, was a fresh date. We've all had the dried ones but the fresh date was really delicious. Yum.

After lunch, we board the bus and we are off to see the Pyramids.
Finally!!
First of all, I want to give the details on the 3 Pyramids of Giza.
First is the Great Pyramid of Giza, it is 480 feet high, the base is 756 feet and it was built in 2560 BC.
Next is the Pyramid of Kahfra, it is 448 feet high, the base is 706 feet and it was built in 2470 BC.
Last is the third and smallest pyramid, the Pyramid of Menkaure, it is 200 feet high, the base is 335 feet and it was built in 2511 BC.
They are magnificent.

Great Pyramid & Kahfra behind

This is the second largest pyramid...Kahfra

Here are the 3 of them

Barry looking at the Great Pyramid of Giza

OK, so you know I have this thing for camels. So, here come the camels. 🐪🐪🐪
I had planned on riding one, but the guys were so aggressive, I didn't do it.

From here, we did a quick jog to the Sphinx. There is a concert going on there tonight, so we had to hike a little to get in position. BTW...how cool would that be to go to a concert at The Sphinx in Egypt! Anyway, I got a shot and am also adding a "post card" shot...just cuz.

Post card shot

My shot...that's the Great Pyramid behind the Sphinx

After the Sphinx, we board the bus and head back to the Cairo Airport. We have a flight to Hurghada which approximately 60 km. away from the port of Safaga. The flight's an hour and the bus drive is about an hour. We get back to the ship at 8:30 PM.
We go through an immigration check and we are welcomed back on board by Jamie & Dana and the staff.
Whew!! What a great couple of days.

P.S. -- HAS TO BE DONE & SAID....