pyramids

on our first day in cairo we went to the egyptian museum. it is not organized well, nothing is labeled, and paying for a guide is totally over priced. so we really don't know what we were looking at, but whatever it all was was amazing. the hieroglyphs looked so modern and sleek. i was blown away that they are ancient, and really inspired by them. the scale of the statues, the texture of the materials, and the intricacy of the carvings is really a sight for sore eyes. and i really covet king tut's jewelry. i wish we were allowed to take pictures in there, i snuck a few with my phone anyways, but they don't do anything justice. i was like a kid in a candy shop, someday i will come back and pay a guide to tell me about everything.

i was worried to visit the pyramids, worried that since you have heard about them your whole life that they wont live up to what you had imagined. i have heard before that the pyramids were like this for most people, and they were. its probably that the city goes right up to the pyramids, they aren't isolated in the desert like you might imagine, and that the place is crawling with scammers trying to take tourists money. if you make it past the scammers the pyramids are nice, but there is nothing inside of them but a dark tunnel that you have to pay a lot to walk through.

however- one tourist trap that is worth some money is the camel ride around the back of the pyramids. it doesn't feel more authentic because your guide is constantly saying "when we get to the sphinx i want to smell some green american money, because I have been a good guide. i take lots of pictures, you happy lady?". but being on the back side of the pyramids where you cant see the other scammers, the bus loads of people, and the tractors, it feels a bit more historical. there were gray skies when we arrived at the pyramids, but they cleared up right when we got to the other side of them.