King Tut, Lunch with a view, Ancient wonders

Today was our last day of the trip, and we went out with a bang. Here’s the highlights…

We began the morning by heading to the Egyptian Museum of History. What an incredible place. We only had 2 1/2 hours there, but we’d really need 3 days just to see everything there. Our guide focused mainly of the King Tut grave relics. It was amazing to see how much was packed into his tomb, and the ornate details of all the pieces. The museum actually has over 1 million more ancient egyptian relics they don’t have room to show, but they’re building a huge museum near the pyramids.

Egyptian Musuem of History

We then headed to the “suspended” Coptic church, which is egyptian Christians, in the old city of Cairo. As you enter the area you pass the “city of the dead”, which is a huge development of small homes that house the bodies of the dead of the city. Each family has their own “house” where all their dead are buried. It literally looks like a “ghost city”. The suspended church is named so because it was built on columns that exist from the Roman occupation.

The “suspended” Coptic (Christian) church

We hit lunch at a restaurant right across the street from the pyramids. Lunch was okay, but you couldn’t beat the view! Traffic was “light” today, but from our terrace table at a main intersection we found great amusement watching.

The view during lunch

Making bread for our lunch

Light traffic (seriously)

After lunch it was time to ride the camels to the pyramids. I had pictured the site being out in the middle of the desert, but they’ve literally built the city of Cairo around the pyramids. We started by riding camels, which was quite an adventure. It was hilarious to watch the whole group hanging on for life while laughing at each other. Somehow we all managed to survive!

Riding the camels

Pyramids and sphynx

Some of the group walked the tunnels to the middle of one of the pyramids while the rest of us just took in the sites. It truly is an amazing piece of workmanship. Our guide informed us that there’s actually 95 pyramids throughout Egypt, and he even pointed out a group of 7 pyramids off in the distance.

Group at the pyramids

King of the Pyramids

The last stop was at a papyrus store, where they showed us how they make paper of the papyrus plant. Very simple, yet fascinating technique. It’s amazing how resourcesful we are when we want to accomplish something.

Tomorrow we wake up at 3:15 am to head to the airport for the long journey home. Please pray for us, especially because I’ve picked up a stomach bug that’s waging war inside of me (I’m losing). We fly to London then straight to Phoenix, getting in around 6:30 pm. I have to tell you I can’t wait to see my kids, I miss them all so much!

This has been an incredible journey, one all of us will never forget!