EGYPT

egypt was AWESOME! we were able to spend 2 days there. seeing the pyramids was just breathtaking. i even got to ride a camel! looking back i can't believe that we were really there! the pyramids were gigantic...as you can see below. ben's standing at the base of one of them. each stone was that big!...a look at all 3 of the pyramids together. pyramids are actually tombs (which i didn't know). each one houses just ONE person (a king, etc). crazy how much work went into them...years and years...just so they could provide a sacred burial place for their king etc...the great pyramid of giza! one of the 7 wonders of the world! pictures don't do justice..it was SO TOWERING AND BIG!!...look at all the camels!...sitting on the side of one of the pyramids...down a bit from the pyramids was the sphinx!...a closer look at the sphinx...a bazaar (shopping area) we passed. if any of you watched the news this day you would have heard that tourists were bombed at a bazaar similar to this one! the bomb went off only about 15 miles from where we were at the time! pretty scary & crazy..out of all days for us to be in cairo! luckily it WASN'T us!...we went on a 'lunch cruise' on the nile! our boat was called the 'nile crystal'. it was pretty cool to see the nile and float down it!...us during lunch :)...some cute little girls who lived right by the nile. i just had to take their picture. they were running towards a small boat that was on the side of the river...some of the entertainers on our nile lunch boat :)...out on the deck looking over the nile... can you tell it was windy :)...an egypt license plate :)...those 2 funny looking structures are pigeon coops! they actually eat a lot of pigeon there, so everyone raises them!...laundry was hung outside all of the buildings...this is what a lot of the streets looked like. it was a really poor country...we went to the mosque of muhammad alli...this chandelier is over 200 years old. it was given to muhammad alli by the french...

darla, larry, & i inside...

outside of the mosque looking over cairo, egypt!...the tomb of Muhammad Alli!... this is how most of the egyptian women looked/dressed...a market in the heart of alexandria, egypt...some boys pulling ?? :)...we were able to go to some catacombs. we walked down a lot of stairs and tunnels to get way underneath the earth. it was pretty sweet...another room full of tombs...going down into the bottom of the catacombs... kinda crazy, huh...those are actual carvings and an actual stone tomb (or coffin)... the main tomb of the catacombs...we went to a museum that had a lot of different artifacts etc. we were able to go down into a tomb underneath the museum to see a real mummy. it was REALLY cool!...up closer...some really cool statues found in a pyramid... a really ancient book....some original oil lamps found in a ruin. pretty cool. makes me think of the 10 virgins...in front of the museum :)...in front of another mosque...all i could think of was aladdin : )...