The Great Pyramids (May 20)
Today we visited the famous pyramids of Egypt. The pyramids, being massive structures, were located at what seemed like walking distance from our hotel. We could see them every time we went into town, so to finally see them up close and to touch them was amazing. The Pyramids of Giza consist of 3 pyramids, the Great Pyramid of Cheops, the Pyramid of Chephren, and Mykerinus. The Great Pyramid of Cheops stands 450 feet tall and is the only standing wonder of the "Seven Wonders of the World". The Great Pyramid of Cheops was originally coated with limestone and was the tallest structure in the world until the Eiffel Tower was built in 1898. These three structures were all to be barrel grounds for the pharaohs of the time.
Standing below the Great Pyramid of Cheops as if to keep guard is the 240 foot tall Sphinx. The Sphinx is a depiction of Chephren with his head attached to a lions body. With Chephren's death the body of the Sphinx was lost. A story is told that Napoleon when passing through the land blew off the nose of the Sphinx as jealous attack against the Egyptians.
The site of the pyramids consisted of many tourist friendly necessity and opportunity entrepreneurs. When we first arrived we had our pictures taken as a group which cost 20 egyptian pounds for each person. There were children running around as young as 8 years old selling post cards for 5 egp which is equivalent to 1 U.S dollar. Most of us rode a camel through the desert costing 20 egp. When I asked the driver of my camel how long he had being driving camels at the pyramids he stated 25 years and his father and his father also drove camels for tourists by the pyramids. The children selling post cards shows necessity entrepreneurship while my camel driver shows opportunity entrepreneurship. The pyramids have proven to be the main source of survival for a lot of the residents in that area.
Cairo Pollution(May 19)
Before coming to Egypt I was warned of the pollution and the trash on the streets of Cairo giving great emphasis on the piles of trash that you could find on the side of the roads. With all the research that I have done on the city and the pictures and different depictions that I have seen of the city, I thought that they were definitley exagerating. First full day in Egypt we visit the Egyptian Museum and experience our first day time travel through the city. The first thing that is notice is the infrastructure. Most of the buildings don't seem as if they have been complete and look as though they have potentially been abondaned and empty. There are many people hanging their laundry on the balcony and outside of their windows. The windows look as though they have no screens or window panes. Trash are on the streets in piles and there are fields of trash right in the middle of the city. It is understood why so many Egyptians become sick from the water and just the pollution in general from the city. There have been very few public trash cans on the streets or even garbage men for that matter.
When asking local residents how do they feel about the trash and the pollution in the city many have agreed that it is definitly is out of hand. When asked are there any moves towards improving the pollution in the city there were no definite responses to the question. There doesn't seem to be any real mention of improving the city's pollution at all. One native Cairo resident quoted Cairo to be the second most polluted city in the world and when guessed what was the first Bejing, China was mentioned. A resident of Cairo who had also lived in Bejing contradicted the statement by saying that Cairo was hands down worse. Cairo I believe would have much more tourist and more people that could fall in love with the city if the city had a better presentation.
Cairo Museum (May 18)
We finally arrive to Cairo after a long layover in Amsterdam and another long flight. Our first stop in Cairo was the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. The museum was established by the government in 1835 and the current building is older than one hundred years old, built in 1900. The museum seemed to hold everything from Mummies to Ancient Egyptian Floors to Pharaoh’s beds to elaborate jewelry but the room that caught my eye was to room dedicated to King Tutankhamun. Here you found Mask of Tutankhamum’s mummy which is a solid gold mask discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. Pharaoh Tutankhamum also known as King Tut was not a very notable pharaoh in his time but with the discovering of his tomb in 1922 virtually intact, he has become one of the more recognized pharaohs of our time. With all of the artifacts, sculptures, and statues it makes you wonder how could there possibly be anymore things that the Ancient Egyptians could have preserved for so long but there are museums all around the world that hold thousands and thousands of more artifacts from Ancient Egypt.
Amsterdam(May 17)
As soon as we arrive in downtown Amsterdam the first thing that we notice was a slew of bicycles. There was a parking lot as soon as you stepped out of the train station similar to a parking deck outside of Marta. The roads were very small as if only bicycles should only have access to them. The only gas station that I saw was on the way to Amsterdam Central. They seem to have no cars on the street besides taxi cabs. The main form of transportation seem to be the train, taxi cabs, and trollies. Gas doesn't seem to be much of a issue as it is in the United States, with no one really owning a car. There are traffic lights but they definitely seem optional and are far and few between. This city definitely doesn't seem like it was designed for cars.
When walking across the street the trollies will come freely with out honking or notifying you they are coming. Many of us almost got ran over by the trollies on many occasions because the trollies come sharply around the corners and give no warning that they are coming. The roads are narrow so even the bicycles are easily running over pedestrians. A cyclists ran a pedestrians over and the person fell to ground got up dusted themselves as if that is a everyday thing. None of the surrounding pedestrians found the incident to be surprising or strange. With the economy being slower than Atlanta and the city in general being much more condensed bicycles seem like a more practical form of transportation. Atlanta is a much more spread out city with most of all the large attractions and destinations being at least 15 to 20 minutes away from each other driving. Amsterdam is a much more oil friendly town mostly because you can avoid using it almost completely.
