On Christmas morning, our very last gift was a puzzle to the children. They opened 5 books, and used hints to find 5 letters: Y, P, T, G, E. We let them unscramble the letters and gave them a biblical reference to EGPYT. When we announced we were going as a family to Egypt, Hazel squealed with delight, Charlotte's mouth hung open in shock and then turned to a big smile, Zachary jumped for joy, and Camille had no idea what we were talking about and continued playing with her Alphabet Robots. Two days later we were waking up at 2:30 AM to start our journey to Frankfurt and then on to Cairo (see post on Von Trapped in Austria for the middle of the trip).
Austrian Air had cool learning/coloring packets for the kids.
Later that afternoon we were in the desert and excited to explore and learn.
The early morning made everyone tired so the one-hour drive to the hotel was enough to put the kids to sleep. Here is a rare photo of Charlotte letting Zachary touch her.
Prior to the trip we did lots of internet research and found out that Egypt is not a good place to rent a car or drive yourself around. A tour guide was recommended so we worked through a tour agency. This online advice was very correct (in case anyone who read this ever considers going).
First stop: THE GIZA PYRAMIDS!!!!
Clearly, Zachary was excited to jump around :)
Apparently, wintertime is the peak tourist season so it was busy. It was colder than we anticipated which was mostly due to the wind.
Our tour guide taught us about how they think the pyramids were built, their height, and what they looked like when they were fresh and complete. I (Fred) remember learning (not sure when or who told me this) that the pyramids were white with gold caps. WRONG! They were painted with a dessert brown/red color. It was the reflection of the sun that made them appear to be golden or white and this is where that common misconception came from. Silly Americans...
Camille with her blond hair and blue eyes was a favorite and everyone wanted to take a picture with her. Not too hard to see why; she is one cute girl.
Hazel was cold but beautiful at the pyramids
Charlotte was freezing. Gratefully, our tour guide had an extra jacket to lend to her.
I suppose that jumping is a popular thing to do in pictures here, so the tour guide (and photographer) staged a few photos of us jumping. This was pretty hard to jump with Camille in hand and this is the best picture we could get.
Next up was a ride around the pyramids on camels!
Some of these camels were a little too friendly.
Charlotte LOVED riding the camels. At first, she was a bit nervous but soon got the hang of it and became a champion camel rider in no time! The hardest part is getting on and staying on while they stand up because they stand up with their hind legs first, followed by the front legs.
Hazel was given a camel for herself but was overwhelmed so she decided to join Dad and Zachary (this also kept her warm). Zachary was in charge of our camel and held on to the reins and the front handhold of the saddle.
Team Dad/Zach/Hazel led the caravan.
Here is the head of Mom/Camille's camel and it was a bit crazy. It rubbed its head against my leg over and over again like a cat would do. Not sure if it was trying to pass its fleas to me or trying to claim me as his own... Charlotte was worried the camel would do the same to her ;)
Maybe camels are like cats! Here is another camel from our group taking a sand bath just like a cat :)
Charlotte riding the camel like a boss!
Here we are at the overlook to the 9 principle pyramids. Unlike "The Prince of Egypt" where Ramses appears to be building a bigger statue of himself than his father, each generation actually built their pyramids smaller than the generation before to show respect to their forefathers. The smaller pyramids shown here were for various queens/grandmothers.
One thing about Egypt, everyone wants a tip and every trip you take will have possible add-on options if you have enough money... So they told us that for an extra fee we could go further on the camels and get better pictures. I used the "this is a once in a lifetime" justification to add this on. Turns out, they did not take us further but allowed us to get down to take pictures. Seemed OK at the time...
Turns out, it is totally against the law! The police came by in their truck and hassled our camel guide and took his license. His response to this was "money in, money out."
Even though we paid for the tour and the extra time, in the new age tradition of Egypt, he still wanted a tip. Go figure.
The next stop was the 4500-year-old Sphinx. It was much smaller than I was expecting -- but according to Charlotte and Hazel, it was bigger than they thought. Zachary, the Goldilocks of this story thought it was just right.
We have all seen Aladdin or many other cartoons where they show stone cutters accidentally cutting off the nose of the sphinx... turns out it was disfigured by visiting armies who thought it was a pagan symbol and they wanted to discourage the worship of the Sphinx. We know now that there was no worship of the Sphinx, it simply represented both strength and wisdom.
Like many of the Egyptian temples, the Sphinx was originally buried in the sand. The story goes that Prince Thutmose, son of Amenhotep II, fell asleep near the Sphinx. While sleeping, he had a dream where the statue, calling himself Harmakhet, spoke to him and lamented that he was in disarray and buried. He promised the prince that if he would uncover him and restore him to greatness he would become Pharaoh. He awoke from this sleep and started on the excavation where he indeed discovered the sphinx and later became Pharaoh.
If you want to see it up close, you better bring... you guessed, more $$$$$. I don't remember the price but I think tickets were $100/person to go walk around it. Crazy. A little out of our price range for 6 people
Smooching the Sphinx
"Ugh, gross" - Nielson Children (other than Zachary who loves kisses).
Pretty lady.
Hazel was tricked by dad! I told her to look to the left and I moved around to grab a photo of her kissing the Sphinx. She is embarrassed now.
Next was the tourist trap - I mean next stop - was Life of Papyrus where we learned how they would slice the reeds, weave them, hammer out the water, and then place them under a press for 70+ days to make the famous papyrus paper.
We bought 2 paintings on papyrus: The Final Judgement and the Family Tree. They offered to write our family names around the tree in Egyptian Cartouche. This sounded cool; looked awful. This decision was my one true regret of the trip.
We then went to Old Cairo - the oldest part of the town - where there is a nice blend of Christian, Judean, and of course Islamic influence and culture (85% of Egyptians belong to the Islamic faiths, 14% Christian, 1% other, and 10 Jews according to our tour guide LOL).
Here is a carved depiction of Mary/Joseph/Jesus traveling to Egypt
This church has a claim to fame:
This church was built over a cave that was believed to house the holy family.
Camille caught up on sleep with our tour guide (Ahmed).
The roof was redesigned to look like Noah's Ark. I found it to be a warm and peaceful place.
Lunch was a great part of the day. Here is Charlotte eating her favorite food: Pigeon. J/K, but really, we did eat pigeon just once. Apparently, it is a common food in Egypt and it is served from the oven after being stuffed with rice. There was practically no meat on the bird and no one really enjoyed it. At least it came with french fries :)
Mom and dad elected Tagine: a mixture of zucchini vs okra + tomatoes and meat cooked in stone bowls. It was really yummy!
Don't be fooled by her smile, Hazel did not like the dessert. I loved it! it was a low sugar cream pudding with a wonderful sweet coconut topping. Delicious.
We also had a guided tour of the Egyptian museum
This item is the only replica in the whole museum: The Rosetta Stone. I never knew much about the stone - I knew it was a company that had language software but never bothered to re-educate myself as to the origin of the name.
Crash course in history, This stone has 3 languages on it: Greek, Old Egyptian and Ancient Egyptian. Before it was found, the Old Egyptian and Ancient Egyptian languages had been forgotten and no one knew what the engravings in the temples meant. This stone allowed them to learn these old languages and rediscover their history.
What I enjoyed the most about this was the Old Egyptian which was widely in use in the year 600 BC. Could this be what Nephi used?
"1 Nephi 1:2 Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians."
The statues with their hands at the side were built when the Pharaoh was alive. If you see their hands on their chest, that means it was built after they had died
The left leg was always placed like he was stepping forward. Why? Nobody knows but it could be a representation of him leading or moving forward in life?
There are also the statues of commoners which was cool
This statue was made of wood. When it was found in the valley of the kings, the discoverer screamed in fear as they thought someone had been buried alive! The eyes were made of stone and looked amazingly lifelike
Here we are looking at the Key of Life! This is the reward the kings and all people wished for upon their judgment in the next life
These 2 statues depict Hatshepsut, the Egyptian queen that ruled as Pharaoh for 20 years. She wanted to show that she was as smart and as strong as a man so she made sure that all the statues of her had a male body with her face attached. We later learned from a different tour the extended version of her story.
The next generation of strong women: Charlotte!
Remember the Emperor's New Groove where Yzma says she will turn the emperor into a flea and put him in a box, and that box into another box, and that box into another box, and then mail it to herself? Maybe that was what King Tut wanted because his sarcophagus was found in a golden box, inside a second golden box, inside another golden box, and then one last large golden box! This is the largest one and the other 3 follow it in the hall.
No pictures are allowed in the King Tut room, but I took one! Don't tell anyone :)
This box was used to house the organs removed during mummification
How to Prepare a Mummy:
Ingredients: 1 dead body
Instructions:
1) Cut the body on the side of the abdomen
2) Remove the 4 essential organs: Stomach, Liver, Lungs, and Intestines
3) Put each organ in an alabaster container (pictured above)
4) Use a hook to pull out the brain through the nose (throw the brain away, it is useless in the next life apparently)
5) Leave the body on a stone table to allow the fluids to drain out and the body to dry for about 70 days.
6) Wrap the body in fine Egyptian Cotton and place it in the sarcophagus
7) Leave Anubis to guard the body
8) Pay homage to Anubis because you love dogs and he is a God Dog! (Charlotte is alone on this one).
Check out their blond hair--this is important! The yellow hair means that the Egyptian royalty were descendants of Asian ancestors (mummified Asains' hair turns yellow over time)! I did not know this.
My favorite picture of the ENTIRE trip! I caught Jari making this face that we have seen Hazel and Camille make over the years! Now we know where they got their fun facial expressions. Way to go, Idaho.
This was a queen; which one? I don't remember.
Another great shot of the yellow hair.
Presenting Queen Mummy Charlotte!
Presenting Queen Mummy Hazel!
Presenting King Mummy Zachary!
A quick stop to an Egyptian Cotton store. The most popular item in the store was the 1,200 thread count bed sheets. No shocker there. We did not have space in our luggage so we passed on this and bought some scarves, shirts, and dresses for the kids
If you ever go to Egypt and someone asks if you would like to buy tickets to "Light and Sound" tell them "NO!" This was a true disappointment.
They sort of told parts of Egypt's history while lighting up the pyramids. Why shouldn't you go? Because the quality was that of a 1950's recording you listened to in school along with the film strips that would beep when you needed to advance the film. It was so loud that Camille simply buried herself in Jari's lap and hid under her blanket.
Later on our trip, we took a cruise, and family from the states with us (originally from India) asked if we had gone to the Light and Sound show. When we confirmed that we had the dad enthusiastically recounted how they had been suckered into the show as well and how mad he was about the waste of money.
Quiz:
1) Alive or Dead?
2) Is his foot placement correct?
Quiz 2:
1) Alive or Dead
2) Is the foot placement correct?
Comments
Thank you for your efforts to give us a taste of Egypt!