The Great Pyramids

My trip to Cairo wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Great Pyramids. I thought it was pretty cool that they are just sticking up out of the desert right in the middle of the city.

Andrew & Nancy have a favorite taxi driver who took us out there, waited for us, and then brought us home. He asked if we wanted to see the pyramids by camel, horse, or carriage, so we opted for one carriage for the girls and a camel for Andrew. Little did we know that it's pretty much a tourist trap to do that. Our carriage went a completely different way than Andrew's camel, so we had no idea what we were doing.

The carriage took us through tiny streets and then a very large one filled with traffic before we reached the actual entrance to the pyramids. We had no idea where Andrew was. When it was time to get out of the carriage, I climbed out first and then reached up to get Rachel. She jumped into my arms and threw me way off balance. There was a curb right behind me, and it sloped down a hill. You can imagine where this story is heading--down! Yup, down I went, hanging tight to Rachel all the way to make sure she didn't get hurt. I ended up on my back somehow, with Rachel safe and sound on top of me. My pride was hurt, and upon further examination, so was my knee and the two biggest toes on my left foot. It's a good thing I had lots of Bandaids with me. Note to self: next time you visit the pyramids, wear shoes!

Nifty horse-drawn carriage.

Like Joseph & Mary fleeing to Egypt!

Even though Andrew took a different route to the pyramids, he and his camel met up with us there. (Funny side note: the saddle on Andrew's camel slipped off, so Andrew had his own experience of falling at the pyramids! Go to heissatopia.com for details.) Rachel did not like camels up close, but she finally gave in and actually rode on one for a little while. And, get this, so did I! It's way scarier than riding a horse, but I did it. Andrew sure got a good laugh out of that!

By the time we got to the Sphinx, our carriage driver seemed tired. He stopped long enough for me to get a picture, but then he never stopped to let us out so we could walk around and see it up close. Next time I come to Cairo, we're going to do this again, but not like a tourist!