Day Two in Cairo

January 6 (Tuesday)
Our wake up call came at 6:30am so we could get up and get some breakfast and be in the meeting room for morning devotions at 7:30am. We made it on the bus at 8:00am. Right next to our hotel was an empty field where they were beginning some construction. And on the other side of the field was this enormous white building. We were all speculating as to what it could be and the guide finally told us it was built just six years ago and is the private home for one of the largest car dealership owners in Egypt.

By the way - the currency in Egypt is the Egyptian Pound (LE). The exchange rate worked in our favor as you took the price in LE and divided by 4 to figure out the cost in dollars. We never had to change currency in Egypt as folks were always anxious for our greenbacks.

Our first official stop of the morning was to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed inside the museum at all, so we have no pictures of the wonders we got to behold. Just the outside of the building and the really cool tickets we got to keep as souvenirs.

We spent a couple of hours here and barely scratched the surface of everything to see. We spent most of our time going through the extensive exhibits dedicated to the contents of King Tut's tomb. Wow! He certainly did try to prepare well for the afterlife, with chariots, beds, thrones, jewels, clothing and more. His funeral mask and sarcophagus were beautiful and amazingly detailed.

We also followed Dr. Tuttle and paid extra to get into the Royal Mummies exhibit, which was very cool to see the pharoahs and queens all laid out.

Dr. Tuttle's main reason for wanting to take us all in? So we could observe the pharoah who was Moses' adopted grandfather and the pharoah who would have been Moses' adopted uncle that he tangled with in getting the Israelites freed. Pretty cool to observe those bodies and realize what a link to history that was. There was also a queen in there that was pretty interesting. She had been found with a smaller mummified body that people assumed at first was a baby. After doing x-rays, they discovered she was actually buried with her pet monkey!

Next we headed off to visit the largest Protestant church in Egypt, which happens to be in Cairo. Christians only make up 10-20% of the 80 million population in Egypt with the rest of the country claiming Islam. Building restrictions in Egypt are very tight for Christian churches and this church just received permission after 30 years of asking to build another building for their ministries and are currently in the midst of construction. We met with one of their associate pastors who told us about their main ministries, one of which is an education program for Muslims who come to them and are interested in learning about Christianity. Unfornately many who convert face a great deal of pressure from their communities as well as their families, as most are disowned and persecuted. We loved the church's stained glass windows, but were surprised a little to see such an Americanized version of Jesus depicted.

After the church we stopped off for lunch and then headed out to Giza (just outside Cairo) to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx. This was something we were both looking forward too with a great deal of interest - after all, the Great Pyramid is the only remaining Ancient Wonder of the World!
First we went up to this lookout spot and had a group photo taken. Some of our folks took the opportunity to ride a camel for a bit. It was incredibly cool to be able to see the pyramids and know that we were finally there.

The three big pyramids are actually built for three generations of pharaohs: father, son and grandson. But what you don't realize in photographs is that there are actually six other very small pyramids out there - three each behind two of the big pyramids which were used in the funeral and mummification process. After a while we got the chance to be able to wander down around the first and second pyramids. The biggest thing we noticed is that you always think of the sides of the pyramids as being really smooth, but in reality erosion has made the sides very rough until they almost look like steps up.

In our effort to get closer, we followed some other people over the ruins of one of the small pyramids. We were doing really well until someone started screaming in Arabic and when we turned around we found one of the tourism police gesturing wildly at us and the other twenty people up with us - none of us had seen the sign that said "Do Not Enter!" So we backed off and kept our distance during the rest of our viewing time.

Next we went down to visit the Sphinx. You couldn't get very close because there's a big archaeological dig happening right next to it where they found a new tomb two years ago. They are also trying to do some restoration work on the Sphinx itself, in particular the feet. This was Daryl's favorite part of the day and very exciting to see!

We were also able to get some good shots of the Sphinx with the pyramids in the background.

The only disheartening thing about seeing the pyramids and the Sphinx is that the city of Cairo has spread out right next to the Giza complex. Literally you can stand on the side of the street and look out over Giza and all you can see is the desert and these incredible wonders. And then you turn around to find a Pizza Hut and a KFC on the other side of the road! Don't think that's quite what the ancient pharaohs envisioned for the afterlife!

Then it was back for dinner and another meeting. We closed our days together as a group each night listening to Dr. Tuttle talk/preach about the things we'd seen that day and their Biblical significance. He's been to Egypt and Israel so many times and it's fascinating to listen to him. Especially when you consider that the pyramids were built so long ago that Abraham would have surely seen them on his trip to Egypt, Moses would have grown up around them and Jesus would have seen them while he and his family lived in Egypt as well!