Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Egypt - Day 3: Day at the Museum + Night on the Train

Egyptian Museum in Cairo - most of the stuff found in the tombs are in here.
egyptian museum
Various statues outside. Chock full of tourists.
LE 50 to get in.

egyptian museum
Candid shot of the inside. Like most of the sites - no photo.
Lots of statues, coffins, etc. from the various dynasties. It's pretty cool to see how things, especially the designs and material evolved throughout the years.
There were even some Roman inspired ones!

Royal Mummies Exhibit

LE 100 extra to see the mummies. We ran out of cash and had to go to the ATM at the Hilton near the museum to get money. There are about 10 mummies of various Pharaohs in glass cases in a dimly lit room. Most of them had only their heads to shoulders exposed. The rest of the body was wrapped. A few was totally wrapped.
The one I really wanted to see was the pharaoh that was mummified on the battlefield - with a gash on the head and a broken wrist (last in the video)

Sleeping train to Luxor

Train leaves from the Giza station at 8:10PM. After a crazy but fun taxi ride through the city of Giza (which is a lot more modern than Cairo), we arrived at the station. The train was 30 minutes late. A couple of second class train passed by, it looked horrible to be in it: no light, windows open.


The dinner they served us was horrible. Dried, over cooked, etc. They had a notice telling us that there's belly dancing at the Club Cart after dinner. We went after dinner - no dancer. Big surprise. Got myself a Johnny Black. The guy poured me 3 cap full. LE 50 for 3 caps. When I ordered a second one, the same guy insisted on pouring for me again, telling the bartender who came later to step aside. I think he made a mistake pouring so little the first time and had to continue the charade.

The steward woke us up around 4:30AM for a breakfast of bread, bread and bread (3 different kinds) with jam, butter and cheese.
The train arrived at Luxor at around 6:30AM.


Check out my picture set on Cairo, Egypt

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