Flight back to Cairo and the Cairo Museum

01/25/2018


Another early morning.  Wake up call at 3:45 a.m. and luggage out by 4:00 a.m.  We had breakfast in a bag, and driven to the Luxor airport for a flight to back to Cairo at 7:30.  The flight was delayed 1 hour, and the traffic in Cairo and Giza was very bad.  We stopped at the Pyramid Restaurant in Giza for lunch--another awful Egyptian meal.

We arrived at the Mena House Hotel at 3:30 p.m. (another 11 hour traveling day).  We were both spent.  Tom fell asleep, I had a hot bath and caught up on my emails and log book.  We went to the restaurant for dinner and had another bad meal, and called it quits for tonight.


01/26/2018

Wake up call at 6:15.  Breakfast at 6:30, and bus left at 7:00 for the Citadel and the Mosque in Cairo.  I was about a 1/2 hour drive.  The complex was very large and my legs would not move.  Tom and I both stayed on the bus.  Here a two pictures of the Citadel and the view of Cairo.

The Saladin Citadel and the Mohammed Ali Mosque

view from the parking lot to Cairo

Off to the Cairo Museum.  I have been waiting for this stop.  Here is the front of the Cairo Museum.

entrance to the Cairo Museum

The museum is only 2 stories, but spread out pretty wide.  Here is the entrance hall.

Bottom floor of the Cairo Museum-Rameses and wife at back

We spent 3 full hours walking through the museum.  One half of the entire second floor was dedicated to the contents found in King Tut's tomb - mostly gold.  The statues and the sarcophagi were really good.  We got to see the only statue of Khufu, the Pharaoh of the Great Pyramid.  It was about 2" high and sitting on a chair.  the face was very detailed.  I have many pictures here, but many more in my phone that I did not include.  Hope you enjoy them.

close up of Rameses and his wife at the end of the hall
Do you see one of their children between them?

a typical Sphinx (but in excellent condition)

Queen Hatshepsut
Remember the large temple in the mountainside?

2" statue of Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid

sarcophagi in gold

And now to King Tut's collection:

4 jars that hold the pharaoh's organs

The Jackal - the Protector

This picture is what Howard Carter found in King Tut's tomb in 1922:

1922 Picture of contents of the tomb

This is a bed of gold -
Do you see it in the picture?

King Tut and his wife

His Golden Chair
(This was my favorite item-the detail was remarkable)

Now back to the bottom floor for more famous artifacts:

The profile of Nefertiti
She is touted as being the most beautiful
woman in the world

A Scribe about 2500 B.C.
Don't know whey this statue is so famous,
but it is in all the books

Lastly, I found these statues in one section of the museum.  They are all about family.  The Egyptians must have cherished their families.  Notice that the men and the women are all the same height, and their children are always near.

The wife is between his legs for protection

Man, Wife, and children

Wife, Husband, and 2 children

And this is the explanation:

Description of the families

I really enjoyed our visit to the Cairo Museum, and bought several books.  Now all the pictures I see in my books mean more.  We left the museum and got on the bus, it was really cold outside.  We headed into town for lunch.  We had grilled chicken - mine was good, but Tom's was undercooked.  The rice was over spiced as usual.  But the deep fried zuchinni was great.  At least that is what I thought it was.  NO-the waiter told me,  it was deep fried fava beans, ground and formed into patties.  It didn't matter, they were very good. 


We got back to the hotel at 5:00 and had just enough time to rest and clean up for dinner with Dr. Hawass.  Neither of us were hungry, and I didn't really was to sit through another one of his ego trips, so we skipped dinner and went to bed.