Sunday, January 23, 2011

Egypt, week one




This week Mia and I are in Egypt! It's super hot, but it's worth it. This week we saw the pyramids of Giza, and even found out what they were made of! Our tour guide seemed a little bored...I'm guessing he has told this info many times. Anyway, all of the pyramids were made of limestone with granite burial chambers, but the biggest one had this beautiful white limestone outercseing. In fact it was so beautiful people actually came and took it off the pyramid!!! Not cool. I've heard of tomb robbers, you know people who break into tombs and steal all the valuable gold stuff, but stealing the pyramid itself (haha)?!?!?! That's just wrong.


We also saw the Sphinx, which sits in front of the second largest pyramid. It was missing its nose and its beard..I guess when it decided to get rid of the beard the razor ran wild and shaved his nose off too......


All of these monuments were gorgeous, and so historical. Wanna know what else is gorgeous and historical?? Our hotel. It's on the banks of the Nile and built on the sight where Cleopatra's palace once stood. Our room has a gorgeous view, and, we have water beds!!! The room is themed like what Cleopatra's palace might have looked like. Although I doubt she had a water bed.


We decided to stay in Egypt for another week, so we could go see Queen Hatshepsut's temple. I managed to get us a privet tour!!!! It's amazing what giving someone homemade New York style cheesecake will do. Mia decided we should take a camel from Giza to Hatshepsut's temple....my estimation is it will take about 3 days to get there...which means about 3 days worth of sore butt. Oh well, we get to ride along the Nile so it should be pretty and the guide said


we can also take a quick (veerrrryyy quick) dip if we get to hot. Who cares about the Hippos and Crocodiles that could possible eat me? Oh and we get to meet a priestess of Isis, the queen goddess. She's going to tell us the legends of Isis, Orisis, his evil brother Set, and all the other gods and goddesses. But mostly those three. Well all for now, I'm going to go the the market and get some food, hopefully they have some chicken or something.....I heard a rumor they have rockin' desert.




Kelsey

6 comments:

  1. Kelsey! What a trip! It is sounding amazing! So, what do water beds feel like when you sleep on them? My dad says that he had one when he was growing up. I think that I would come to Egypt just for the bed. Well, have a really good time with Mia on your camel!! LZ

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  2. Kelsey, what a post! Thank you! Wow, robbers, structures, mythology, cultural exchange (swapping desserts). I mostly loved how you said you loved how historical Egypt is. I know exactly how you feel. In Israel I just could NOT get over how OLD it all was. There's something "to" the idea that the walls speak...those ancient dwellings -- large and majestic, or just hovels -- have voices, somehow, that pass onto us the thousands of years they've experienced. Thank you so much for the post. So, what's up with the "evil brother?" Carolyn

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  3. LZ- the water bed is amazing...its like sleeping on a floaty on a pool but if you roll over you wont get wet.

    Carolyn- Set is Orisis' evil brother, he wanted the power Orisis had. He (according to legend) killed Orisis by chopping him up into lots of peices (sound familiar? In greek mythology Zues did the same thing..but to his dad)and scattered them all over Egypt. Isis found all the peices and put them together in the "holy mound". Lots of people have looked for the holy mound, but none have succeded. I hope to learn more about it when we talk to the preistes of Isis

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  4. Be careful, the hippos are more dangerous than the crocodiles! My butt got a little sore on the camel ride also. But once I started climbing the Pyramid I forgot all about my sore butt.

    Cody

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  5. Thank you for explaining, Kelsey. I think it's fascinating how stories repeat themselves, even through more modern-day religions. It's so interesting, isn't it?

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  6. Awesome! Why would someone steal the tomb? It seems kinda. . . . . . . .pointless?

    Niki Mouse :)

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