0 Cairo Rihlas III

Cairo Rihlas III

5th November:

Today was good. I enjoyed it more possibly because there was less walking involved.So I went to the Egyptian Museum which is located near tahrir (liberation) square. There just too much history to absorb and currently I'm trying to write this in the midst of tooo many facts buzzing through my my mind.The museum did not permit cameras inside, but that did not stop others from taking videos and photos from their phones :)

So anyways I saw the statue of Queen Hatshesput (she married her half brother thutmose II) and bore a child Thutmose III, who is known as the napoleon of Egypt)

In 1925 the tomb of Hetepheres was discovered, and on display were her alabaster sarcophagus, baldachin, bed (made with gold and papyrus), headrest(looked really uncomfortable), jewellery box and carrying chair.

Saw ancient wall drawings of Amenhotep IV who later took the name Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti worshiping Aten.

There was great queuing in the room for Tutankhamen. His golden mask, sacrcophagous, jewellery and all were visible

And lastly saw the mummies! :D They had some 12 mummies, those that I can remember included seti, Queen Hatshesput, her wet nurse, and Ramsis II.

Later we visited the citadel of Saladdin. In the 14th Century they built a mosque within its premises, which is now known as the Muhammad Ali mosque. In 1811 Muhammed Ali called the leaders of the Mameluks for a feast to his citadel. When all the leaders had arrived, he ordered his men to shoot them. Very few out of the 470 men survived.

At night I went for the sound & light show. We sat at a point where all the 3 pyramids and the sphinx were visible. Images and lasers were then projected on the 2nd pyramid with stories being recalled.