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At a very reasonable cost, we reserved
a two room suite at the Pharoh Egypt Hotel in the center of Cairo. An
older hotel, the Pharoh offers wonderful personal service, and a full
breakfast is included.
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Wini and I spent our down time right
here in front of the windows overlooking this vibrant city of 17 million
people. Nearly all of Egypt's 57 million people live along the Nile
River, the longest river in the world.
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It's not clear enough to see the Giza
Pyramids on this day, but they can be seen from nearly every tall
building in Cairo. Notice the minaret in the center and the swimming
pool. Our hotel pool was closed. Too cool--about 60F.
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The sprawl of the city is almost
unimaginable as is the traffic. There are no traffic lights, no cross
overs or cross unders for pedestrians. We ended up calling a cab to get
to the shops that were literally across the street. The first time
without cab, I made it across 4 lanes, but not the last four lanes. I
had to be rescued by the hotel concierge.
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For our excursion to Giza, Wini and I
opted for the cart rather than a camel or horses. Now we know--walk. We
were about 50 feet away from the entrance. One advantage was we got to
see wonderful small side streets, shops, carts laden with carrots,
orange and violet, about a foot long. Couldn't get pictures. Just tried
to keep from bouncing out of the cart.
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Near the pyramids are kilometers of
temples and tombs of everyone associated with the Pharaoh. That is what
you are seeing here. The tombs are connected to the Pyramid of Khefre,
the largest of the three. I didn't take pictures, but there were
literally hundreds of tourists with guides speaking every language under
the sun along with hordes of children on school trips. Friday is their
day off!
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Close as I could get to the opera
theater that was built to house the performance of Aida. Do you remember
all the todo. I do, but I don't remember the producer.
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Here is the smallest of the Giza
Pyramids--that of Menkura. It was once coated with pink granite. I made
it down the 10 meter ramp hunched over like Gollum in a passageway that
barely let one person descend let alone the hundreds coming up.
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