Day 34 Port Said

Note beautiful day!

This is the one we went inside :)

Me!

Building burnt during "facebook" revolution in Jan

Gosh, up at 5.15am today and it is now 10.55pm, so yes I am rather tired
with another early day tomorrow though think we'll make it 6am start
this time.
What can you say about Cairo and the Pyramids, if you've seen them
you'll know how amazing they are and if you haven't.........do it! We
were on a Princess tour that included Pyramids, lunch and Museum and a 3
hour drive there and a tad longer back. As our tour guide said a couple
of times, " you are only getting a sip of Egypt". She was correct, but
that is all I expect to get from each port of call.
The day started early and after a bit of waiting around we were all
placed on our bus, in an armed convoy of about 25 buses, each bus had a
guard and other soldiers followed in their cars. This is normal protocol
and has been in place for a number of years. Cairo reminded me a lot of
Mumbai, interesting traffic conditions and lots of unfinished buildings
and a place well worth a return visit.
Once at the Pyramids you are again faced with lots of hawkers trying to
sell you things for "one dollar", postcards, trinkets, pyramids and the
like. We just say a polite no thank as most passengers do.......we have
got used to the in your face selling from the previous ports, but it can
be draining.
On the way there our guide asked who wanted to go inside a pyramid and
14 of us put our hands and money up ($6) to do it. You needed to be able
to crouch down low and not be claustrophobic or have heart conditions
etc. So after a stop for a photo shoot we headed down into the smallest
of the 3....There was a ramp on the way down and you had to duck your
head for maybe a few minutes walk, then you could straighten up in a
small chamber, have a look around it and 2 other chambers and then
return to the surface. Luckily we were one of the first lot in as we
didn't have to contend with folks coming up when we went down, but by
the time we went up groups were coming down and it was quite warm and
stuffy. Thankfully it wasn't a hot day at all, in fact another amazing
day weather wise on the trip!
A few more photos and then off to the Sphinx, which was also amazing.
Everyone has seen photos of pyramids and sphinx, so I will only post a
couple, plus I'm stuffed and we weren't allowed to take our cameras into
the Museum.
We were on a very tight schedule all day and felt rushed at times, but
fitting in all we did was a very good job. We obviously concentrated on
Tutankhamen's treasures in the Museum and they were mind blowing. All
that gold! There were photos in the place of the few things that are on
tour in Australia and Great Britain, and we wish we had days longer to
explore the place. You had to pay extra to see the mummy exhibition,
which we did at the end of the tour, it was well worth it.
The day also included buffet lunch at The Marriott and a stop at a
souvenir shop in town. Here you could browse at your leisure and Katie
and I even had a gentleman follow us and carried the couple of little
trinkets we bought, a big change from the hawkers.
All in all, the sights even though you have seen pictures and movies are
something you just have to experience. And now some sleep before Masada
and The Dead Sea tomorrow, I can't wait to float.
Did I mention that those cold and flu tablets are amazing things, though
I ran out with about 3 hours left to travel home (so have packed extra
for tomorrow).