Egypt (and my Birthday!)

While the east coast was suffering through icy winter temperatures, I snuck out of Beirut for a few days and made for an even sunnier spot: Egypt! Jeff and I were able to get away for nearly a week during the short semester break, and it was a wonderful trip.
 
As we prepared to land in Cairo, Jeff reminded me that Egypt is, in fact, in Africa. I know I shouldn't need to be reminded of such things, but in the excitement of preparing to see the pyramids and such, I overlooked the fact that I would be visiting a continent I've never seen before. That made stepping off the plane into the Cairo sunshine all the more exciting.
 
We got up early the next morning and headed for Giza to see the pyramids and the Sphinx. Jeff's friend Paula had forewarned us that the approach to the pyramids is not a long and dusty walk through the desert, but rather a simple cab ride through what looks like just another urban neighborhood. And that's exactly right: before I even knew to look for them, there the pyramids were, looming large over the bustling streets of Giza. Our timing was perfect: we arrived before the hoards of tour buses and were able to ascend the steep and very small chute up into the burial chamber of the Great Pyramid. It was really neat being up inside the structure that I had seen so many times in photos. When we got into the burial chamber there was a group of New Age Scandinavian tourists meditating and doing what looked like yoga while communing with...something or other. After we had our look around, we descended the chute, only this time there were big groups of tourists coming up the other way. I didn't think we'd fit, but we did. It was pretty tight, though. After looking at the pyramids, we walked down to see the Sphinx. It was just as neat as I'd imagined. I especially like the way its tail wraps all the way around its back.
 
Once back in Cairo, we saw some neat old Coptic Christian churches, and also visited a mosque. I'd never been in one before, and had to buy a scarf to put over my head before I went in. Jeff went in the men's side, and I went in the women's side. The women's side was a tiny room jam-packed with women looking through a plexiglass window at some object (possibly the Quran, but I couldn't get close enough to tell) in a silver cage. The men's side sounded a lot more spacious. In any case, the blue sparkly scarf stayed with me for the rest of the trip. You never know when you'll need to cover up!
 
As if our legs weren't tired enough after climbing around inside the pyramid, we spent the next day walking through the immense and mildly disorienting Egyptian Museum. We made a beeline for the royal mummy room and checked out all the meticulously preserved bodies of the pharohs. It was pretty astounding to see how well preserved they were, though the comments on the exhibits about how decayed King So-and-so's teeth were struck me as mildly rude. How would you like to have tourists looking at your cavities after you're gone?!
 
We were about to leave the museum thinking we'd seen everything when we stumbled upon the room containing all the treasure from King Tut's tomb. Seeing the gold mask of the boyish King Tut was really powerful: again, it was something I'd seen images of for years, so it was really neat to see it.
 
The next day we took a cab ride out to some even more ancient sites: the step pyramid of Sakkara, which predates those at Giza (note: Jeff took the above nice photo of it!), and some pyramids in Dashur. We climbed way down into the burial chamber of that pyramid, and got caught in a sandstorm when we got out, with the wind blowing grit everywhere. We sought refuge in our cab and went next to the museum at Memphis. No, there was no bust of Elvis in Memphis, but there was a statue of Ramses II, also known as Ozymandius. The Shelley sonnet of the same name was inspired by a different statue, but I couldn't help thinking of it just the same.
 
The other neat thing about that day was that it was my birthday. I thought about the same day one year before when I was eating homemade chocolate cake and watching "Life on Mars" with my friend Karen in Maine (thanks, Karen!). That night as Jeff and I stood and watched the Nile flow by, I felt very fortunate to have friends and adventures on multiple continents.
 
The rest of the trip was great, too: climbing up into the minaret of a mosque and seeing the city stretched out before us, watching men balance huge trays of flatbread on their heads, and wandering through a colorful and chaotic market. It was a great way to spend my birthday, too. Maybe I'll try for a new continent next year!