Larger than life

Little Stephanie, Big Pyramid
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We departed our Dar Es Salaam and arrived in Nairobi, Kenya with no problems.  We had an 8 hour layover in Nairobi, and our flight to Cairo didn't depart until 5am.  We found our nice little comfortable corner in the transit lounge where we had slept on our flight going to Tanzania a month earlier.  Our first mistake was getting too comfortable and sleeping soundly...because we missed our flight by a mere 10 minutes!  We were happy that they weren't going to charge us to put us on the next available EgyptAir flight, but unfortunately, that flight wasn't for another 24 hours!  Augh!  We had to entertain ourselves for 32 hours in the Nairobi Airport.  We befriended the immigration officials who helped us get cheaper meals from the "employee" cafeteria  (Kenya airport is bloody expensive!)  We also had lots of time to think, so Sam figured out an argument with the airline that finagled us 4 hours in the V.I.P lounge!  Our luggage was supposed to be on the flight we missed.  Somehow, it didn't make it.  So he pointed out their error and access was granted - free food, free beer, free drinks, free internet!  Alright!  We didn't sleep at all until we boarded the flight at 4:30am (weren't going to risk missing that flight again!) and were ensured our luggage was safely onboard with us.  Our second mistake was taking their word for that.   We arrived in Cairo at 9am and needless to say, were without luggage.  Augh!  We had to fight with EgyptAir for 2 hours over filing a claim and agreeing to some sort of compensation ($80 wasn't such a bad deal for a day without our packs).  It was actually sort of nice being able to locate a hostel minus our packs since we didn't look as much like targets for the touts as usual.  We decided on Wake Up! Cairo Hostel which was clean and hospitable.  We spent 2 nights here and our days were jam-packed with exploring artifacts and architecture of this ancient wonderland.  The Egyptian Museum is home to thousands of artifacts; sculptures, sarcophagi, mummies, jewelery, paintings, tools, relics, and anything else you could imagine existed back in the days of the Pharaohs.  It was fascinating.  We spent 4 hours roaming from room to room trying to discern the meaning and use of various objects (in all honesty, it isn't the most organized museum), and we didn't even get to see it all!  By far the most impressive exhibit was that of King Tut's.  The museum had all 8 of his sarcophagi, as well as all the objects located in the antechambers inside his tomb.  Beautiful jewelery, an ornate headdress, and skillfully crafted objects revealing the beliefs of the afterlife were all on display.  It was truly awesome.  The next day we made it a mission to take a local bus out to the Pyramids of Giza.  It is hard to put into words the enormity, complexity, and vastness of these ancient wonders.  The 3 big pyramids - Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure - were larger than life and looked surreal with the bright blue sky, glistening red sand of the Sahara, and the ever present camel riding touts as a backdrop.  Definitely nothing short of spectacular and we hope to visit once more before leaving Egypt.  The Sphynx was a bit smaller than we expected, but a beautifully crafted masterpiece nonetheless.  Unfortunately, recent efforts of restoration have left it looking discolored and newer rather than its real 'ancient' age.  It didn't matter that there were hundreds of other tourists running around the Pyramids and Sphynx grounds because it was hard to take your eyes off the immense stone structures.  These monuments were definitely larger than life and impressive in every way.