Egypt

I had an education conference in Cairo at the beginning of April. Marie and I had been before but decided to go back to show the kids. My impressions of Cairo: crowded, loud, major air pollution, terrible traffic and some seriously unfriendly people. That being said - it is still a cool city. And in the end the kids LOVED it.

We spent the week with our good friend Anna Lissa and her son T. Here is Jack and T in front of our hotel.

We spent the first day doing the pyramid tour. That consisted of both the Saqqara step pyramid and the Great Pyramid. It was a great day. The highlight was going inside the Great Pyramid. Very hot and a little smelly. We had a great lunch in Giza and spent that night in our room eating Pizza Hut. Exhausted.

This is the kids at Saqqara.

If you look real close you can see Jack and T at the base of the pyramid.

This is Jack eating lunch in Giza with the pyramids in the background. The city comes right up to the base of the pyramid complex.

Token family shot.

Here's the kids goofing off at the pyramids.

For a good part of the week, Marie and the kids had a great time hanging out at the hotel pool while I attended the conference. We forgot to bring - ok I forgot to pack Sarah's suitcase in the truck so when we got to Cairo, Sarah had no cloths. Her and Marie got to go on a shopping spree. Luckily Cairo is not too expensive. Here are some pics by the pool.One night we went on a dinner cruise on the Nile. It was a lot of fun. Jack especially enjoyed the belly dancer.

On one of my free afternoons we went to the Cairo Museum. The two big questions of the week were whether Jack would have the guts to go into the pyramid (which he did) and would he be able to go into the mummy room in the museum. He skirted the walls but he went in. This is one of the coolest places. As a guy who taught Egyptian history for 8 years of my career, I find it so cool to be able to stand face to face with Ramses II. Also seeing Tut's treasure is mind blowing as well. Anna did not think so and proceeded to climb under Tut's battle trumpet display case. I could not get under the display to get her out. She proceeded to start banging on the bottom of the display. The golden 2 thousand year old trumpet was laying on the blue felt floor of the display. Anna could see I was upset with her so in true 3 year old style, she starts to bang harder. Looking down on the display from above one would notice the trumpet actually bouncing in the display. I almost passed out. I decided to not play into her plan any more and walked away. To the shock of a group of Italian tourists she came climbing out from under the display and walked away. Here we are in front of the museum.

On our last day in Cairo we went shopping at the Khan al Khalili souk. It was great. Very typical of a middle eastern bizarre. Crowed and at times creepy. Kept the kids on a short leash here but the cultural experience was excellent.

Overall a great trip. I think we need to slow down a bit. The kids are getting spoiled. Where we going next dad? How about back to the States. 10 weeks until repat!!