The Sphinx

You will find The Sphinx on the other side of the pyramids from Pyramid Outlook. There are lots of street vendors here selling souvenirs. If you stand at the back of The Sphinx and look forward, you can see a KFC and Pizza Hut.

Pyramid Overlook

This was a great place to see the pyramids and get photos. The pyramids are located at the edge of the desert. When we first arrived, we saw caravans of camels moving through the desert. In the background, you can see Cairo. The city has been built up all the way to the edge of the pyramids.

The Great Pyramid

Next stop was the Great Pyramid. It is truly huge. The blocks at the bottom were almost as large as people. We were fortunate enough to get tickets to go inside the Great Pyramid. There are only 150 tickets given out each morning and afternoon. You go through a narrow tunnel way into the pyramid until you reach the burial chamber. In the burial chamber is the lower half of the box used to hold the mummy. We walked up to look inside and got quite a surprise, there was someone inside. She sat there meditating, eyes closed, the entire time we were in the burial chamber.

The Stepped Pyramid

This was the first pyramid on the tour today. This is the oldest pyramid and the oldest stone building in the world.

Ramses

There is an entire building around this statue. This was our first stop on the tour today. The statue is very impressive. We learned about Ramses, his accomplishments as ruler of Egypt, and the fact that he had over 190 children from over 60 wives. We don’t know how he found time to rule Egypt. Notice the man at the bottom right of the photo. He just stood down there, smiled at you, and made a thumbs up hand gesture when you would try to take a picture. On the way out, this man would hit you up for a tip since he was posting in the picture.

A long day

Today was a long day. We started at 5 AM in Orlando, took a two hour flight to New York (JFK), waited through a 12 hour layover, and took a 10 ½ hour flight to Cairo. We were tired and excited when we finally landed. We were greeted by our tour guide at the airport. He helped ease the way through customs and immigration. Before leaving the airport, he asked if he could use our passports to buy cigarettes at the Duty Free shop. No problem. We have been on the ground only a few minutes and we are helping someone avoid paying taxes. Cairo should be interesting.

Club Hopping

We are now 9 ½ hours into our 12 hour layover. We have been here so long there have been shift changes for the workers in the Sky Club. We made it to each Sky Club at JFK. Some clubs actually have putting greens.