That's all folks

23 November 2010 Tuesday

A 4:00am flight through Amsterdam and Minniapolis brought us back to Fargo by around 6:00pm. We went from around 70 degrees down to around 7, and are still in a bit of temperature and culture shock. It has been good to have a bit of time to relax and visit family before we made the trek back to Colorado to find jobs and a place to live.

Due to the jet lag I have been up to see the sunrise for a few days now…..

Last days

Day 89 21 November 2010 Sunday

Day 90 22 November 2010 Monday
Saqqara and Dahshur
We shared a car with another couple at the hotel and traveled south to the older pyramid, tomb, and temple complex of Saqqara and pyramids of Dahshur.

The Red Pyramid at Dahshur.

 

 Inside the Red Pyramid

 The Bend Pyramid at Dahshur.

 The Black at Dahshur.

The Stepped Pyramid of Zoser at Saqqara

View of more pyramids in the desert

 

Fiber from palm tree used for ropes, rugs, animal feed, etc.
 
“Cop” tic Cairo
 
 

The Coptic Christian area of Cairo dates back at least to the first century A.D. and the remains of the Roman fort that still very present today. There is also the “Hanging Church” and the Greek church of St. George. The area is easily accessible directly from the metro, but also entirely surrounded by walls and armed tourist police.

We also took a walk around the "Garden District"

Islamic Cairo

Day 88 20 November 2010 Saturday

We took the Cairo Metro a couple of stops and then walked 20 minutes to the “old Islamic” neighborhood of the city. This was the historical center of town until the Aswan dams prevented flooding into lower Cairo and facilitated the building of a newer, European style 19th century down town.

The area encompasses beautiful mosques, mausoleums and madrassas, dating back more than 700 years, and very lively modern bazaars. Active restoration and beautification efforts are being made to preserve the area and maintain its attractiveness for tourism. The surrounding area remains one of the poorer and over populated neighborhoods.

 

Interior of a mausoleum

Door of one of the gates to the walled city.

Pyramids of Giza

Day 87 19 November 2010 Friday

We made the obligatory trip to the pyramids and sphinx at Giza our third day in town. A painless 30 minute city bus trip southeast from the downtown area brought us to the famed area.

 

We must have entered the “locals” walking entrance near the sphinx because there were no tour buses and limited concession sales, and only 10 armed tourist police instead of the usual 30. The pyramids are indeed the massive iconic structures of heavy sacked stones that we have all heard about for our lifetimes.

In postcards and travel brochures the pyramids of Giza always appear isolated in the middle of a desert landscape. In reality, the suburb of Giza has grown all the way the to edge of the park. The sphinx is only a hundred yards away from the edge of town.

The pyramids of Giza were covered in polished limestone casing stones, and would have been brilliant white in their day. The scope of the building projects dating from the second millennium B.C. is phenomenal. The great pyramid of Khufu: Originally, 480 feet tall, built over 20 years, composing 5.5 million tons of limestone (2.3 million blocks), 8,000 tons of granite (imported from Aswan 500 miles upriver) some blocks weighing as much as 25-80 tons, and another 500,000 tons of mortar. If, indeed, the pyramid of Khufu was completed in 20 years, then 800 tons of stone would have been needed to be placed each day.

 

Cairo and the Egyptian Museum

Day 85 17 November 2010 Wednesday
Day 86 18 November 2010 Thursday


We arrived in Cairo, to a town in a bit of a relaxed atmosphere due to the holiday, it was a relief. After getting some food, we walked around the evening streets, which were packed with locals of all ages out and about enjoying their time off. Day two was filled with a visit to the Egyptian Museum.  We had heard many reports from travelers about how poorly signed the displays are and how the number of artifacts the museum contains feels overwhelming. Although the displays are outdated and at times poorly lit, being able to see the tomb artifacts from Tutankhamen, the diversity of mummified animals, and countless sarcophagi demonstrate that this is obviously the best Egyptian museum on earth.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-487991/Am-I-cursed-King-Tut.html

In the museum we constantly remind ourselves that the wealth of Tutankhamen’s tomb may have been comparatively small for this insignificant, short lived pharaoh. The difference was the tomb was only discovered in 1922 and, unlike all of the other pharaoh’s tombs, which had been robbed and pillaged since antiquity, King Tut’s was mostly intact. The tombs included everything a pharaoh might need for their travels in the afterlife, including furniture, chariots, boats, food, and pets!



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24426101/ns/technology_and_science-science

During the reign of Akhenaten, a direct predecessor of Tutankhamen, artistic style radically changed to contain more caricature type of features.



http://www.art.com/products/p15180467-sa-i3605106/richard-nowitz-statue-of-pharaoh-akhenaten-also-known-as-amenhotep-iv-roman-museum-of-antiquities.htm

Note: We should mention to people intending to visit Egypt that STI or ICIS Student or Teacher Cards will save you 40-50% on all sites and museums.



Water in the Desert

Day 83 15 November 2010 Monday

Day 84 16 November 2010 Tuesday

This is one of the many (possibly hundreds) of large diesel pumps of the Oases.

Flora and fauna of the Oases. (Where is Bessie?)

Egyptian scraper bikes and motorcycles.

Our last day in Bawiti, the main town in Bahariya, was also the first day of the Festival/Feast celebrating the return of people from the Hajj. All of the children are out of school, many of the shops are closed, and everyone is in a very friendly and light mood. Adults had out candy and families slaughter a two year old cow or sheep.

Young boys practice donuts on bicycles and motorcycles in the empty sandy streets.

The young girls dress up in their best winter jackets (it was around 75 degrees today), and hope for treats.

The blue entrance into someone’s family complex, which is surrounded by more typical drab brown mud brick walls.

The owner of Popular Restaurant is jokingly referred to by the locals as the “One Bad Muslim.” At his restaurant he provides beer and wine to the tourists (for a healthy profit).

Toyota land

Day 81 13 November 2010 Saturday

Day 82 14 November 2010 Sunday

Bahariya Oasis, 375 km SW of Cairo, on a road connecting 4 of the major oases of the Western Desert in a crescent shape. The economy of the town revolves largely around desert safari tours and lodging, and 80% of the vehicles in town are desert ready Toyota Land Cruisers. Luckily the police state atmosphere of the New Valley Oases to the south is not present here.

The major desert safari attraction is the dramatic natural scenery of the White Desert National Park. Eighty million year old calcium rich sea bed has eroded into cloud like shapes on pedestals. Golden sand has blown in across the desert, contrasting the whipped cream like rock, and near by volcanoes have provided a peppering of small black iron ore.

Adjacent to the White Desert is the “Black Desert,” named for the numerous cinder cones which showered the otherwise cream colored landscape with igneous dark debris.

More camels