Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The Pyramids of Giza!

It was so surreal to visit the Sphinx and the Pyramids. The Pyramids were built over 4,500 years ago and the Great Pyramid is the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing! It is hard to imagine how they were built and even harder to imagine how they are still standing today.
Now I know why they call this one the "Great" Pyramid... because it is massive! The guy riding the camel in this picture actually offered Nate 1,000 camels for me. I was very thankful that Nate decided to decline his generous offer.
Climbing the pyramid with Nate...
And Kimberly too! This gives you a little perspective of how big the blocks are that make up the pyramid. You can also see how when standing below at the bottom, you can't see the top!
The Pyramid of Khafre
In many pictures, this pyramid looks the largest, but it's actually smaller than the Great Pyramid. It's on a small plateau, so it only appears larger. This pyramid is famous for it's limestone cap. It's the only one with original limestone left. Imagine all of the pyramids covered in white limestone when they were first built... must have been beautiful!
This is the only picture we got of all four of us there... I'm glad we have one to remember the friends we shared this experience with!
Admiring the view...
The Sphinx, Nate, and I look like we are all posing together!
The ultimate highlight of the trip was riding a camel!! I was so excited when I got on... obviously!
Nate rode a camel too! After his camel ride, he told me that he was starting to have second thoughts about that guy's offer, because they were so much fun. I did not find this amusing.
I thought my camel was sooo cute...
Until he opened his mouth to yawn... yuck. Not so cute anymore.
As we walked back to the Great Pyramid, Mike took this awesome picture of us. It looks like we are stranded in the desert, well sort of... minus the obviously landmark behind us. I love this picture Mike!
I never thought I would see the pyramids... and I really never thought I would go inside one. But the rest of the group convinced me to do it even though I wasn't too thrilled about the tight tunnels. You had to duck your head the whole time in this tunnel because it was only 2.5 feet high and it was really uncomfortable when people went by in the opposite direction. This picture is of a random person, but you can see how small it is and there's not much space for 2-way traffic...
But it was worth it to get to the end, which was the King's chamber, and just being inside the Great Pyramid was... Great! :)
More "Egyptian Adventures" coming soon!

2 comments:

joydenney said...

Wow, it's crazy, the pyramids almost look fake. I don't think I would have liked to go in one! Cute pictures and your camel was cute too.

carey said...

That's awesome that that guy offered camels for you! I'm just getting caught up on the blog - what wonderful trips you've been having. I'm enjoying living vicariously through you. We miss you both.
Carey