Good flight and arrived to 98 degrees at the Cairo airport. Now that's a shock to the system after seeing snow in our yard on the day of departure!
I enjoyed the 45 minute drive in from the airport. Although traffic became much more congested (3 cars wide in every 2-lane section of road), it was interesting to observe Cairo out of the window of our van. After a quick stop at our hotel to unload, we spent the afternoon at the Egyptian Museum.
There are so many artifacts in the Egyptian Museum that objects in some parts of the museum are placed or stacked without much of any identification. It must be challenging to catalog and display antiquities in a country with so many. Two new museums are planned; one archaeologist with whom I spoke estimated that only 30% of Egypt's ancient sites have been located, excavated, and cataloged.
One of the most interesting rooms I went in was the pet mummy room. There was an eclectic mix of animals displayed there - from an 18' alligator to cats to this pet young baboon below. We couldn't take a camera into the museum, so this image is from the web, but I wanted to share it on the blog.
We paid an extra fee to go into the human mummy rooms - these were much more carefully preserved in high-tech, climate controlled rooms compared to the rest of the museum. The room containing King Tut's death mask, sarcophagus, and jewelry was simply stunning. I could have spent hours looking at the detailed metal work, design, and brilliant colors. Again, web photos included below to give an idea of what we experienced.
We drove through Tahrir Square on our way to dinner. Traffic was moving normally and I didn't see anyone congregating in the Square. The evident signs of the momentous events of the last several weeks were few, but included some posters or billboards to the martyrs of the revolution, the nearby burned-out NDP building - including several destroyed cars, and some spools of razor wire on a side street. I hope we will have an opportunity to return to that area when we are here.
Lastly, we enjoyed a dinner of typical Egyptian food and called it a day. A wonderful day. I feel so fortunate to be here.
I enjoyed the 45 minute drive in from the airport. Although traffic became much more congested (3 cars wide in every 2-lane section of road), it was interesting to observe Cairo out of the window of our van. After a quick stop at our hotel to unload, we spent the afternoon at the Egyptian Museum.
There are so many artifacts in the Egyptian Museum that objects in some parts of the museum are placed or stacked without much of any identification. It must be challenging to catalog and display antiquities in a country with so many. Two new museums are planned; one archaeologist with whom I spoke estimated that only 30% of Egypt's ancient sites have been located, excavated, and cataloged.
One of the most interesting rooms I went in was the pet mummy room. There was an eclectic mix of animals displayed there - from an 18' alligator to cats to this pet young baboon below. We couldn't take a camera into the museum, so this image is from the web, but I wanted to share it on the blog.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/museumsecrets/5269075527/
http://raviolisforlunch.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html
We drove through Tahrir Square on our way to dinner. Traffic was moving normally and I didn't see anyone congregating in the Square. The evident signs of the momentous events of the last several weeks were few, but included some posters or billboards to the martyrs of the revolution, the nearby burned-out NDP building - including several destroyed cars, and some spools of razor wire on a side street. I hope we will have an opportunity to return to that area when we are here.
Lastly, we enjoyed a dinner of typical Egyptian food and called it a day. A wonderful day. I feel so fortunate to be here.
Hi,
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Dharm
oh that was really interesting that's was a huge gold right ? you so lucky guys visiting this place. i really appreciate this post sharing your experience i've learned also thanks : )
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