Cairo, Egypt

Friday, May 20, 2005:

If you spent 1 minute looking at each piece in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo you would spend about 9 months there. You would also be a really big loser.

KC and I reached the massive rose-colored building at 8:30 AM and bought our tickets in time to be part of the first crowd to be admitted at 9:00. On our way there we noticed numerous armed soldiers standing watch on the bridge that passed by overhead --- the same bridge from which an explosive was thrown at passing tourists about a month ago. While this was a bit disconcerting, it was reassuring to see that the soldiers clearly took their jobs very seriously and you could tell as you passed that they were looking out for you --- that is, specifially, you.

We figured we would spend the day at the museum, give or take, but quickly wound up exhausting ourselves as we toured gigantic room after gigantic room, most stuffed with hundreds upon hundreds of various exhibits ranging from statues to jewelry to mummified remains of crocodiles, cats and dogs. After 3 1/2 hours we had to call it quits. We had seen the museum's most famous attractions, but our ability to process everything had worn thin. There was too much to absorb. As far as highlights are concerned, the following is a very brief run-down:

1) Old Kingdom Rooms: Numerous statues dating back over 3,500 years fill several large rooms on the ground floor. Among them is a very detailed and well preserved statue of the pharaoh Khafre, who was buried in the second largest of the great pyramids. "Black, dioritic and larger than life-size" (Lonely Planet, Egypt), it sits on a lion throne and must be approximately 4,500 years old. A nearby room features the contrastingly diminutive 7.5 centimeter statue of Khufu, the only surviving likeness found of the first pyramid's pharoah. Statue Of Khufu

2) Tutankhamun Galleries: The museum's greatest draw and not without reason. Although Tutankhamun was an unremarkable pharoah in terms of historic significance (ruling from 1336 - 1327 BC, he died young and did little of note), his tomb was the only one found intact and its treasures are mind-boggling. The gold and gem-crusted coffins and death-mask are in superb condition and make for some serious bling. A corridor is filled with four large ornate wooden burial shrines that originally fit one inside the other in descending order of size, with the pharaoh's sarcophogi at the center. Golden statues, thrones, chests, model boats, jars, a wardrobe, chariots and numerous other objects are on display. Particularly impressive are three "funerary couches," each supported by statues of different animal figures (the cow goddess Mehetweet, the god of the underworld Ammut, and lionesses).
Tutankhamun Photo Gallery

3) Royal Tombs of Tanis: A collection of gold and silver-encrusted objects including sarcophogi and lapis-lazuli studded jewelry, some of the pieces here are as impressive as those found in the Tutankhamun gallery.

4) Animal Mummies: Mummified birds, rams, jackals, baboons, crocodiles, cats, dogs, cows, falcons, monkeys, etc... You can "adopt" an animal mummy if you want. They make for low maintenance pets and you can tell people you have a pet dead baboon, even if the museum won't actually let you sit him in your living room.

5) Royal Mummy Room: Arguably the most impressive exhibit in the museum, it will set you back an extra 70 Egyptian Pounds to enter. A sign instructs people to keep silent but the people generally ignore the sign like disrespectful idiots and babble on in English, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish and Arabic. Once a guard shouted "Silence!" which wasn't all that silent on his part, but rather effective --- for about 10 seconds, at which point the blather started all over again.

Perhaps 12 or so mummies of pharaohs (and a couple of queens) more than 3,000 years dead are on display in individual transparent, climate-controlled cases. One is still wholly wrapped in cloth, a few others partially so. The hair, nails and teeth are generally intact and the eyes of many are at least partially open. One pharaoh still shows signs of the sword wound from which he died. One of the queens retains her long hair, trailing perhaps midway down her back. To me the highlight of this highlight is the mummy of Ramses II, thought by most to be the pharaoh of the exile mentioned in the Old Testament. This guy oppressed Moses, for God's sake! He apparently died old and happy however, the suggestion of a cool but casually arrogant smirk on his face.
Mummy of Ramses II

6) Statues of Akhenaten: Though nobody seems to list this as an absolute "must-see," the statues of this pharaoh are remarkable in that they are not the product of efforts to idealize the features of the king but to render them in a wholly original style (though it is uncertain as to whether the representations are accurate or according to a different ideal). Whereas the statues of Ramses II, Tutankhamen and various other pharaohs all look almost exactly the same (in fact, Ramses II apparently had the names etched at the feet of the statues of other pharaohs erased and replaced with his own name, since nobody would be able to tell the difference), Akhenaten's preference for a different style has left likenesses that are wholly unique. See images

After dragging ourselves out of the museum, we had lunch at a tacky restaurant filled with chirping parakeets. I had some meatballs in a spicy tomato sauce and it wasn't bad for the price (about $2.50). KC ordered something she randomly picked out, despite not knowing what it was. She received something resembling a hunk of mutton and picked at it disappointedly. Note to people who will be unhappy if they go to a restaurant and want to receive something other than a hunk of meat on a bone resembling mutton: Figure out what it is you are actually about to order.

We went to an internet cafe and KC called a friend of a friend who was living in Cairo. Did I want to come with her to have dinner at this friend's house? I was too tired and wanted some time by myself. KC left at 4 PM and I headed off at 6 PM to find a highly recommended Lebanese restaurant I had read about in Lonely Planet. As I walked across Midan Talaat Harb toward the waterfront a young man, perhaps 25, approached me. "Hey," he said. "Where your wife go? She very beautiful. You very lucky man! Very lucky!"

"Got any camels?" I asked.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing."

(The Lebanese restaurant, Sabaya, was located in the SemiRamis Intercontinental Hotel, a 5 star riverfront place. Although my meal set me back about $17, it was probably the best middle-eastern food I ever had. I wouldn't recommend many of the cheap but bland restaurants in Cairo, but I would suggest that anybody going there go out of their way to eat at Sabaya.)