Day 4 - Old & New: All in Cairo

Living in Uganda for the better part of a year, I’ve become accustomed to being very hot and just dealing with it. More often than not you can find a fan, some shade, or even just a nice cool breeze. The temperature in Cairo was hot, but not unbearable by any means. Until we walked into the Egyptian Museum. This is a large two-story building with no A/C. And way too many people. So for about three hours while we were looking around in the museum, I was constantly dripping with sweat. Just what you want to be doing inside a museum, right? But, aside from the heat, the museum was pretty cool.

One thing I can say about it: there was lots of OLD stuff in there. The amazing thing is that most of it has just been discovered in the last 100 years or so. Even in the last 10 years, there’s been some big archaeological discoveries that have made media headlines. One of the little exhibits we saw was of artifacts that were found earlier this year! So the museum will continue to change and evolve as more and more Egyptian history is discovered below the rubble of the earth.

Because they are constantly unearthing new Egyptian artifacts, the museum is packed full to the brim with statues, jewelry, tombs, mummies, and so much more. Sean noted to me that it almost feels like a garage sale in there – the walls are completely lined with stuff, and most of it is unlabeled, so you have to guess the significance of it on your own. Some things were labeled, though, which enabled us to learn a bit about the Pharaonic culture. And there were signs giving brief histories of each “period” of Egyptian history. But there were so many different kingdoms and dynasties and kings and pharaohs that it was just too much to grasp.

After walking through the museum, I came away with a few observations about the historical Egyptian culture. First off, the Egyptian people must have loved the pharaohs, or maybe the pharaohs were just really insecure. There were so many HUGE statues and monuments made for them. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that some Egyptian kings were likened to gods, but if it were me, I think it’d be a bit weird to have a huge statue of myself sitting outside my house. Second, they surely didn’t have the kind of unemployment problems we have today in the States. With all the stone work that was done, from pyramids to statues to other smaller monuments, I’m guessing there would have been plenty of work for the Egyptian men. Third, the Egyptians were incredibly artistically talented people. The precision of the designs on the stone carvings is unbelievable, especially when you consider the archaic tools they used. Lastly, the old Egyptian culture was infatuated with gods, but not so much with God. They had very interesting beliefs about the afterlife, which is the primary reason they had such beautifully decorated sarcophagi and filled their tombs with relics and artifacts.

After getting our fill of the museum (and when we just couldn’t bear the heat and dripping sweat anymore), we made our way back to the hotel, stopping for a quick lunch at one of the local places for some more shawarma and falafel. After a shower and a nap, we walked down to the Nile River, which runs right through the middle of Cairo. We knew of a place we could go to take a felucca (sailboat) out on the river, and it certainly did not disappoint. We waited for a while for the time to pass, so we were out on the water right as the sun was setting. It was beautiful! And so peaceful! I was amazed that in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world, I could be on a sailboat watching a sunset feeling the cool evening breeze, almost forgetting that there were about 22 million people around me! It was great.

But after seeing the history of Egypt and enjoying the beauty of Cairo, we changed the pace a bit. We took a taxi out to a huge mall on the outskirts of Cairo called CityStars Mall. It reminded me of Pacific Place mall in downtown Seattle. It was seven stories tall, with a movie theater on the top floor, and more North American stores and restaurants than I had seen in a long time. We went there with the purpose of seeing the movie “Inception.” Great movie. Makes you think. I want to watch it again. That’s all I’m gonna say. And of course, since it was right there in front of us, we gave in to the temptation of American mall food to finish off the night. I had a Big Mac and fries, and topped it off with a Cinnabon. Stop judging – it’s been a while.