Egypt Journal #1

JOURNAL: November 18, 2006 - Saturday - 11:20 a.m.

After about 30 hours of travel, we arrived in Cairo this morning at 3 a.m. After a few hours to rest and eat, we hit the ground running. Right now we are on our first tour, in the area of Sakkara (on the west bank of the Nile and just south of Cairo). We saw the tomb of a high priest on our first stop, dating to 2300 B.C. The walls were literally covered with sculpture and hieroglyphs in relief. Nearby was an early "step" pyramid inside the earliest limestone building (an enclosure/wall) in the history of humankind!

The trip has been good so far. We had a 9-hour layover in Amsterdam. It was a nice diversion, and the long period of time allowed us to leave the airport and walk around the city. We visited the Rijksmuseum, which has a lot of Rembrandt paintings - portraits and sketches, including the mammoth "Night Watch," depicting a city militia unit. Makes me want to spend more time there. And the bicycles! The number of people using them as actual transportation is amazing.

We are seeing the major Pharonic sites around Cairo today, including the pyramids at Giza. Interestingly enough, they are all located in what I would call "greater Cairo." I always imagined that these places were all out in some remote area, but that's not the case. I will write as I am able during our periodic stops along the way.