A day at the Pyramids

Now that I am back in Rome I am going to try to update the blog with my travels to Egypt.   I think it will be easier to do so in smaller chunks.  There is so much that I could include that a super long post will be difficult.  This way I can do what I can today and then keep adding as the week goes on,

One caveat is that I did not take a lot of pictures.  I find that they often don't come out that well,  I also wanted just to experience what we saw and then try to share with you my insights and feelings.

I have already posted about our first day which was spent in Old Egypt.  This was essentially a Christian and Jewish time in Egypt.  A good part of Egypt's Christian history is connected to two events which they treasure:  The Holy Family spending time in Egypt after the birth of Jesus and the evangelization of Egypt by St. Mark.  This marked the character of Egyptian Christianity which is called Coptic.  Coptic essentially means Egyptian.  They developed a distinctive style of art which has similarities to Byzantine and Orthodox art but has a special beauty all its own.

On our second day we headed to Giza.  First up, the pyramids.  Although we could see them from our hotel it was awesome to be up close.  They are as impressive as you think they will be.  There are lots of pyramids all over Egypt.  The ones at Giza are just the most well known.  In fact, I suspect most of us think of the three significant pyramids.

But as you can see next to the one on the right there is another one.  In fact there were several pyramids for the wives of the kings.  This is a very arid area, we were on the edge of the Sahara desert.  We were able to get close to the pyramids and, in fact, climb part way up one of them.

Tth

Here you can see the steps going up to the "entrance" to the pyramid as well as my foot and hand on a 4000 year old pyramid.  Incredible.

While we were there we had an option to ride a camel.  I had ridden one in Israel but thought it would be fun to do so again,

My view from the camel.

My camel and I.

We then left the area of the pyramids we went to see the sphinx. While it was smaller than I expected it was very cool to see.  

From here we went on to Memphis and saw this colossal statue of Rameses II.  He was an incredibly powerful king.  Many think of him as the pharaoh of the Exodus although scholars now believe that it was another of the pharaohs. 

We went to Saqqara and saw the step pyramid which predates the ones at Giza, if I remember correctly.  This is how they were first built - starting with a platform tomb and then additional layers added until the pharaoh died.  This was a common phenomenon.  The tombs in the Valley of the Kings were begun and work continued on them as long as the king lived.  If they had a short reign they may be only a short kind of tunnel.  If for a longer time the tunnel would be extended.  On the death of the king they only had 70 days to complete it.  So tombs are of sorts of quality and size.

We also went to the Serapheum.  This is a hung underground tomb for bulls!  Massive stone sarcophagi.  Scholars are unsure how they were gotten into the tomb.  Niche after niche after niche.  Incredible.

At the Serapheum we were in the Sahara desert. Sand as far as the eye could see.

My feet on the Sahara desert.

We also went to a royal funerary temple but my pictures are not great and, since it was the end of the day, I was so tired the details of what we saw did not stick with me.  We headed back to the hotel for dinner and bed.  

When people ask me how my trip was my response is that you start sensory overload on day two and that becomes the state of existence for the rest of the trip.  I find my pictures help remind me of some of the details but others are fading from my memory.  I should have taken better notes.