Waking up in Cairo

After arriving in Egypt late in the afternoon, finding our luggage and boarding a bus, we joined the tour, already in progress. We were able to meet our friends and see the magnificent Cairo Museum, before heading to our hotel near the Great Pyramids.

The museum in Cairo was astounding. It was hard to take in the fact that we were viewing items that are thousands of years old. The museum featured artifacts found in pyramids as well as the history of Egypt.

We spent most of our time in the Tutankhamun Gallery.

 There were sarcophagi, and cartouches, and mummified kings as well as their animals.

The thing that was most astounding to me was the primitive display cases. These treasures of Egypt seemed to be just set out in the elements with little or no protection. I felt like one of Indiana Jones' students on an archeological treasure hunt.

After checking into our hotel and eating a late dinner, we turned in for our first night in Egypt.  I was hoping that our rooms would be side by side - but they were all on different floors. The children were on their own from the get-go!

The hotel was lovely, but "interesting".  The electricity in the hotel went on and off a few random times, which made for excitement - especially when you were in the bathroom on the toilet and suddenly surrounded by utter silence and darkness.  Since it was impossible to actually close the bathroom door anyway (door off square with frame) - you could catch a glimmer of light from the hotel window across the bedroom.  How convenient!  And then there was an awkward entertainer singing 80's songs in the lounge until the wee hours of the morning.

We were so tired - that it didn't really matter. We slept soundly.  They don't need to make wake up calls in this hotel - as soon as the sun comes begins to rise - all the mosques around Cairo eerily call their followers to morning prayer over intercoms - simultaneously!  It makes quite a racket!