Memphis, Step Pyramid in Saqqara, & Not feeling very well

Day three of the trip did not start off very well to say the least. I woke up with a terrible stomachache so decided I needed to take it easy with the food. Lets just say I wasn’t feeling better as the day went on.

We started our day off in Memphis, which was the first capital of Egypt, to see some of the oldest artifacts in Egypt. Memphis became the capital of Egypt when the upper and lower regions were brought together to become one nation. Zach told us that over 30% of these artifacts belonged to King Ramses II. Two of the statues we saw there were of him. The large colossus of him was made of limestone and one of the biggest statues in Egypt. They were extremely impressive considering how old they were and the condition they were in. Here we also saw the alabaster sphinx, which is the second largest sphinx in Egypt.

After we left the site of the ruins, we went to the Imhoptep Museum in Saqqara, which was a necropolis for the city of Memphis. There we watched a short movie about the complex, and we saw some amazing artifacts. We even saw a mummy that was in amazing condition! Most of the artifacts there were around 5000 years old. It was truly incredible.

Next From there we went to visit the step pyramid of Kind Djoser, which is the very first pyramid ever built in Egypt. We entered the site through the Funerary complex of Djoser which had a lot of columns and was made of beautiful stone. The step pyramid we learned is the first man-made stone structure in the world! The entire complex was designed to imitate a city and is surrounded by walls made of limestone with many doors, but almost all of the doors aren’t functional because the complex was designed for the afterlife. We learned that the Egyptians cared more about their next life then their current one, therefore everything they had with them at their grave would be brought to the next life with them. They also believe that their spirit could occupy any object thatcontained the face of that person after death, and that is why so many statues were made with heads of the pharaohs. The step pyramid was very cool, and here I learned how to use the panoramic feature on my camera!

We went to the Tomb of Mereruka and the Titi Pyramid which were both very cool. The Tomb was filled with hieroglyphics and drawings of things that people did in everyday life. Archeologists apparently learned a lot about daily life in Egypt from this tomb. Some of the drawings still had color on them and the detailing in them was amazing. The pyramid was very cool as well. Once inside we were able to see hieroglyphics taking up literally all the space on the walls. There was also a sarcophagus here too, which almost freaked me out until I found of there was no mummy inside (The mummy from the Imhoptep museum really freaked me out!)

After this we went to a carpet school where Egyptian children learn how to make hand-made carpets out of wool and silk. These carpets were extremely beautiful and very expensive. Some of them cost up to $35,000! (Yes dollars!) They really were beautiful oriental carpets, but unfortunately I’m just a college student so I didn’t feel I would have a good place to put such an elaborate piece of art!

Finally we made it to lunch (yes we did all of this before lunch!) where there was a buffet. At this point my stomach was only getting worse so I didn’t eat much, but was very cool about this place we went was they had a baby lion you could take pictures with! (In addition to a bunch of other animals) I saw some shot glasses that some merchants were selling, but they weren’t quite up to Andrew’s standards (still looking Bro!)

Finally we made it back to the hotel for a little rest, which I definitely needed because my stomach as well as my head were in agony! Luckily I got an hour-long nap before we went to the sound and light show at the Giza Pyramids. The show was decent, but it was pretty cool seeing the pyramids lit up at night.

When we got back to the hotel Ben and I split a single portion pizza because the two of us really haven’t been able to eat much (he isn’t feeling well either). Tomorrow we are leaving this hotel and will be taking a sleeper train to our next destination. Tomorrow’s itinerary includes some Mosques and Churches, which are supposed to be beautiful. Ghaly told us that we wont have internet on the train so I don’t know when I will be posting my next entry, but stay tuned!