Pyramids

We have now officially been to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. I never thought that we would see these famous structures in person. They were awesome and huge! It's the only "ancient wonder" still in existence, so I guess we won't be seeing any more.

Our group was the first one there, so we got to wander around and take pictures before it got too busy or hot. The tops of the pyramids still show how they were originally smooth, but the outer sandstone has eroded and now the individual square stones are visible. The amazing thing about the pyramids is that they were built by the people of Egypt, who were paid to do the job. They worked in the flood season when they couldn't work in the fields. At that time, the Nile was expanded to where the pyramids are, so the stones could be floated down and then put in place. It took 100,000 people over 20 years to complete. The pyramids are 4500 years old.

The boat was discovered buried next to the largest pyramid. It's called "Cheops" and was found in a pit, completely disassembled. Archeologists reconstructed it and then a museum was built around it. Built out of Lebanese wood, it's 4500 years old, and 146 feet long. It's purpose was to take the king to the afterlife, which is why it was buried next to his pyramid (tomb). Of course, he would have to reassemble it in the afterlife to take his trip down the river. I don't know how he would have done that!

The camels are only for tourists. We never saw anyone using them for real transportation, and our camel driver lives in Cairo and comes to the pyramids to earn money. Apparently, really poor people eat camel meat, because it's cheap. But our Egyptian guide said it's very tough and implied that it was tacky to eat it.

Sphinx is a Greek word meaning "combination," a combination of a king's head with the body of a lion. This is the first Sphinx constructed in Egypt. You can see how busy it was. And half of those people are Egyptians selling souvenirs. The Sphinx is next to the funerary temple for the king. It was built for the mummification process and then the "opening of the mouth" ceremony. That entire structure was built for only one king and used for a total of 72 days. All of the statues and things have been removed, so what's remaining is just the walls of the place.