Haha!! Still in Cairo

Wow .. you can tell that my last post was typed during my last 5 minutes at an internet cafe... haha. Sorry about that.

To clarify... Everyone involved with our trip to Egypt has been a wonderful. It is clear that this country is proud of their history. Our guides have been informative and and enthusiastic at each sight. Of course ... seeing the Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramids (aka the Pyramids of Giza) within 3 days of each other is mind blowing in itself. We drove around and saw the pyramids from every possible angle, climbed down into one of the smaller ones (it's much quicker than in the main three, and all of the tombs are the same .. and empty, haha) and admired the sphinx up close. It was a shame how crowded it was near the sphinx, though. People got a bit pushy and no one could get a very good picture of it... Still though -- we got to be right up next to it! And forget all of the legends you've heard.. he lost his nose when an Islamic ruler smashed it years and years and years ago. He did it to show the people that it was just a statue, not any kind of true deity. Our last night before heading to Luxor we took a sunset camel ride around the pyramids ... but not before we ate at the Pizza Hut with a view of the Sphinx and second largest pyramid! ... they love their American fast food here ... and because it was still Ramadan (just ended today) the touristy places were the only ones open for lunch! The camel ride was fun. Just another exotic animal I can cross of my list I guess.

Luxor was much calmer than Cairo. We had a lot of free time there so we took a few strolls up and down the Nile riverside. It was all quite pleasant, except for the constant taxi offers and boater's cat-calls... we just learned to say "La shokran" or no thank you in Arabic. That usually impressed them enough that they left us alone. We got a big kick out of the Mc Donalds that was across the street from Luxor Temple, and then of course went in for ice cream. (It was hot!!!)

We made it back to Cairo without any problems; spent the day at our hotel to take everything in, and then ended the night with a Nile dinner cruise. It turned out to be better suited for travelers a few years our seniors... but we had a nice time anyway. Andrea had to leave for a gnarly early (4:30 am!!) flight home. So we stayed up watching bad movies on Egyptian TV until she got picked up to go to the airport around 1:30.

And then there were three.

We'll miss Andrea ... and we are all a little bit jealous of the comforts of home that she is so close to enjoying!! But we have had today to entirely map out our plans for Europe together, and our feet are getting itchy again and we are all excited to get to Greece!