And More Pictures

At this rate we'll get pictures from the trip posted by 2013!

Alexandria and Train to Aswan

We left  Cairo and drove 3 hours to Alexandria, on the Mediterranean Sea.  On the way we stopped at an Egyptian rest stop and a woman was making and selling bread:

Alexandria still makes use of the electric rail trains that were introduced by the British:

Some of the buildings around Alexandria, some are just destroyed but people live right next door. It is a contrast of rich and poor - the rich on the seaside and the poor in the city:

In Alexandria, we visited the Greek catacombs, the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, but no pictures were allowed. It's a shame because it was a really cool thing to see, deep under ground. They stretch on for miles, but there are now apartments built over them so the excavation is slow at best, if it will ever happen. We drove by Pompey's Pillar:

 The seaside of Alexandria:

View from our hotel room balcony (we got upgraded to a suite thanks to our wonderful tour leader!):

The "adventurous eight" found a fantastic place for dinner - all of this food (family style) plus bottled water for the equivalent of $2/person! It was fantastic:

Alexandria at night:

After dinner, J and I took a horse-drawn carriage like this one back to our hotel. It was a much longer ride than we anticipated, and harrowing among the insane taxi drivers, but it was definitely an experience I'm glad we had:

On the carriage ride was saw a wedding celebration!

When we woke up the next morning we had a wonderful breakfast and then dipped our toes in the Mediterranean Sea, because people say until you've gotten in the Mediterranean you haven't been in Egypt (the water was entirely too cold to swim in, so our toes would have to do!):

Our second day in Alexandria was spent going to the old Fort. There is nothing left to see of Alexander the Great as all of those ruins are under water now. Our tour leader told us how divers, tourists and archeologists, do dive down to see the ruins. Here are pictures of the fort area, the fisherman, and the cats! The cats are everywhere by the fort:

After the fort, we visited a mosque, which was quite beautiful. We took a few pictures inside, too:

Then on to the Bibliotecha - it was amazing and I encourage you to Google it and learn more - it is the biggest library in the world with millions of books and they are endeavoring to put everything on-line. It houses art and history museums and is just fantastic. I wish we'd had an entire day to explore:

We left Alexandria to drive back to Cairo but there was construction on the entrance to the road to Cairo. Rather than having, say someone to direct traffic, or even a detour sign, everyone was left to their own to figure out how to get on the road. It was insane! We turned around over a median literally 4 times! This was not our van, obviously, but this is what we had to do, and yes that is a pedestrian on the right in the picture trying to cross the freeway:

We made it to the train station, but by this time Jen was not feeling well at all. It was probably something we ate, combined with the horrible cigarette smell in the train cabin, the awful train food, and the motion of the train, but whatever it was, let's just say it was the worst night on a train EVER! This was the last time Jen felt o.k. for the next 24 hours:

More pictures

Sorry it's taken so long, but we are finally adding more pictures and details.

Our day at the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, papyrus factory store, and the Egyptian Museum

No one ever believes that the pyramids are a stone's throw from the city:

The Great Pyramid of Giza (the Pyramid of Cheops) and entrance to the pyramid (we did not go in on advice of our guide who said it was expensive and not much to see; he recommended going in the "smaller" pyramid, which we did):

The "middle" pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre - it was described as the most in-tact on the outside, but not currently open to the public:

Here we are in the recently discovered ruins of the builders of the pyramids, with the Pyramid of Khafre behind us:

We went inside the "small" pyramid, the Pyramid of Mykerinus (farthest on the right in this picture):

This is not us, obviously, but it is a good picture of the entrance:

We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the pyramid. It was a long, steep climb down and our legs ached for days afterward! It was pretty hot down there, we thought it would be cool being under ground, but no such luck. It was really neat to see!!

Camel riding - one of Jen's favorite parts of the entire trip:

The Sphinx:

Restoration at the Sphinx:

The Papyrus Factory Store:

The Egyptian Museum - you cannot take pictures inside, but there is SO much to see I'm not sure what we would have taken pictures of anyway! The building itself is an antique, over 100 years old. They are building a new one by the site of the pyramids and Sphinx but will keep this building for storage:

That's the first day of our tour in a nutshell! More to come . . .