Cairo!

Hey Everyone!
We made it safely to Cairo. It turns out that 16 straight hours of flying, combined with no food, and a 1.5 hour wait to get through immigration is not the best way to be introduced to a city. However, we managed to escape the airport, find a taxi, and take it to the hostel we had booked. Once we arrived, we found out the hostel no longer existed (I'm sure Tina and Kimmy remember this experience well in Spain). We were supposed to be "transferred" to another hostel but that one gave away our reservation. A friendly local walked around with us in search of the "new" hostel and took us to two other hotels, which were completely booked due to the holidays. He introduced us to his friend, a tourism agent, who found us a nice hotel to stay at and paid for the taxi to take us there. It all worked out well because the tourism agent ended up planning a great 3 day tour for us based on everything we had planned to do in Cairo and Luxor.

Although Trev and I were only running on less than 3 hours of sleep (combined) in 36 hours, we went to see the Sound and Light show that night at the Pyramids. We watched lasers and spotlights retell the history of the Egyptian Kings and how the pyramids were made. The nighttime show was spectacular. I personally enjoyed seeing the towering pyramids in the pitch black night, surrounded by a bare desert.

After 7 great hours of sleep, Trev and I awoke at 4am thanks to jet lag. We were up to hear the morning prayer at 5am (apparently they have prayer 5 times a day announced on loud speakers throughout the city). We had a private van, driver, and our own tour guide as we toured the Pyramids, Sphinx, and a nearby city, Sakkara. Trev and I rode camels near the pyramid, which was quite an experience. We also went into a few tombs and saw many hieroglyphics.

We are off to Luxor tonight on the night train to see the Valley of the Dead and the East and West banks of the Nile. I will try to put up some pictures once we return from Luxor in two days :) Until then, I hope everyone is having a fabulous Holiday Break!