To the Pyramids!!

Today we toured Memphis and Sakkara where we visited the Mit Rahina Museum. The most impressive structure here in my opinion was the statue of Ramses II. This statue is so astounding that it has its own building. In this building King Ramses II lays on the ground in all his glory at 14 m long and that is with him missing his legs because they were never found. So the question is: How tall would he stand if he were not missing his legs? Furthermore, where are they? We then visited the first step mustaba, created by Imhotep. We also visited the tomb of Teti, which was extraordinary. The art on the walls were amazing in itself. The fact that the Egyptians were able to create things so remarkable with the tools nowhere near as advanced as what we have today just puts me at a loss for words.

The day did not end there. Next up we visited the El Sultan Carpet School where we watched little children create beautiful works of art we usually take for granted. Followed by camel rides!! We also visited the Khufu Boat Museum where we saw the 140 ft long ship of Pharaoh Khufu, the oldest surviving ship in the world. The last tour of the day was the pyramids. We climbed the Great Pyramid, entered the second pyramid: Khafre (gives the perceptive illusion of being larger than the Great Pyramid but only such due to the elevation of the land), and saw Menkara and the infamous Sphinx.

The worst part of the day was being harassed by the various merchants located pretty much everywhere, especially around the pyramids. One of them tried to buy me for some camels!! Luckily, Dr. Carr came to my rescue on that incident as well as multiple similar ones that occurred throughout the day. What a day!