Day 3: Cairo, Egypt

we visited the pyramids of giza today. impression of the pyramids - it is bigger than we thought it would be. it is truly impressive how the ancients built it. we got to go into the burial chamber of the second pyramid or the pyramid of khafre. it was hot and dark. it wasn't very interesting, but would be sad to miss seeing it. inside the tomb was pretty insignificant, sadly.

after the pyramids, we went to see the sphinx. that turned out to be smaller than we thought it would be. ;) but it seemed pretty interesting to see. in front of the sphinx is the temple where they embalm and mummify the pharaohs.

we had lunch at a buffet restaurant. there seem to be a lot of buffets from our trip, as soon will tell.

we drove out to saqqart to see the step pyramid and the complex of dsojer. we visited the mastaba of ti which was beautiful and so amazingly preserved. we also went down into the burial chamber in the pyramid of teti. that one was more interesting than the one of khafre but the pyramid was definitely less preserved. as a tourist walked by, she took a picture and commented, "and that was the mound of dirt I went under."

after a nap, we went on a dinner cruise on the nile. it wasn't as exciting as we would have liked, but we didn't realize we could get out to the top to see the view instead of the mediocre entertainment. that would probably have been a lot more entertaining.