June 20
Writing this after a very long gap. I had made it a point to jot down things things I saw and did each day during that week I had in Egypt and to put it all here I guess I grew too lazy. Anyways, here goes.
Second day in Cairo. Enid Blyton breakfast repeat :P.
The Cairo museum is where we spent most our day. That place has thousands of years of history spread across its halls. According to Sam, we could distinguish the artifacts of Egypt by their look- if the statues had a dignified look about them, it belonged to the ancient period. The ones from the middle ages were grim and dark. The modern ones were fair in nature.
There were sarcophaguses of stone and alabaster at every turn and corner. Sam told us a lot that day. About Ka, Ba, Hathor, Horus, Isis and Osiris, false doors, embalming, Hatshepsut, Tutmosis, Ramesis...I could travel back in time through his stories and the things I saw there. Honestly, you'll need more than a day to walk leisurely through here and see all the wonders exhibited.
My younger brother can act like a spoilt brat at times. But in ancient Egypt there was a 19-year-old who could cover himself with gold. Yeah, I'm talking about King Tut alright. There was a whole section dedicated to his belongings. On his body, they found 143 gold objects wrapped in the linen coverings. The gold mask alone weighed 11 kg! His solid gold coffin was placed within 3 other coffins (like those Russian dolls), which in turn was inside 4 concentric rooms. His ornaments weer adorned with carnelian, lapiz lazuli and turquoise.
Then there was an ancient Egyptian ornament section. I'm somebody who hates wearing gold just because of the shiny yellow colour and the boring patterns I've seen. But looks like I could be game for the ancient Egyptian kind. There were really pretty, fashionable ones that I absolutely loved. The earrings were too thick, the holes in your ears have to be really wide to put the ones here on.
Another thing I remember from here is a birthing stool. The ancient Egyptians believed the crouching position was the most healthy one for birthing and had special stools with a hole in the middle for this purpose. Other things that caught my attention were a queen's bed, her metal pillow and her slimy internal organs still preserved. A duplicate of the Rosetta stone.Ancient writings, magic spells, charms....
Then there was the mummy room where we saw 12 mummies resting since about a 1000 years. We could still see the hair and nails.
I seriously cannot sum up everything I saw in there. You have to be there to get how it feels. History all around you, all about you.
The day's lunch included Kobeba and beef kofta.
Next we went to St Mary's church. It was a hanging church, placed above wooden beams on an ancient building. Legend has it that Mary had appeared in this church several times. They also say that Mary and Joseph hid here while travelling to Bethlehem while King Herod was hunting for baby Jesus.
This church had a lot of interesting symbology.The fish shaped tile, the 13 pillared pulpit...
We also went to a market that day. Full of hustle and bustle, people saying Namaste identifying us as Indians, calling out Amitabh, Shahrukh, Amir. It really is a wonder how they knew we were Indians. Yes we are brown skinned, dark hair, dark eyes, but there are a whole lot of other citizens who look like us, right? Pakistanis, Sri Lankans...
Anyways, we said bye to Sam that day. Had an early sleep too, coz the next day was supposed to start at 3:00 am.
Writing this after a very long gap. I had made it a point to jot down things things I saw and did each day during that week I had in Egypt and to put it all here I guess I grew too lazy. Anyways, here goes.
Second day in Cairo. Enid Blyton breakfast repeat :P.
The Cairo museum is where we spent most our day. That place has thousands of years of history spread across its halls. According to Sam, we could distinguish the artifacts of Egypt by their look- if the statues had a dignified look about them, it belonged to the ancient period. The ones from the middle ages were grim and dark. The modern ones were fair in nature.
There were sarcophaguses of stone and alabaster at every turn and corner. Sam told us a lot that day. About Ka, Ba, Hathor, Horus, Isis and Osiris, false doors, embalming, Hatshepsut, Tutmosis, Ramesis...I could travel back in time through his stories and the things I saw there. Honestly, you'll need more than a day to walk leisurely through here and see all the wonders exhibited.
My younger brother can act like a spoilt brat at times. But in ancient Egypt there was a 19-year-old who could cover himself with gold. Yeah, I'm talking about King Tut alright. There was a whole section dedicated to his belongings. On his body, they found 143 gold objects wrapped in the linen coverings. The gold mask alone weighed 11 kg! His solid gold coffin was placed within 3 other coffins (like those Russian dolls), which in turn was inside 4 concentric rooms. His ornaments weer adorned with carnelian, lapiz lazuli and turquoise.
Then there was an ancient Egyptian ornament section. I'm somebody who hates wearing gold just because of the shiny yellow colour and the boring patterns I've seen. But looks like I could be game for the ancient Egyptian kind. There were really pretty, fashionable ones that I absolutely loved. The earrings were too thick, the holes in your ears have to be really wide to put the ones here on.
Another thing I remember from here is a birthing stool. The ancient Egyptians believed the crouching position was the most healthy one for birthing and had special stools with a hole in the middle for this purpose. Other things that caught my attention were a queen's bed, her metal pillow and her slimy internal organs still preserved. A duplicate of the Rosetta stone.Ancient writings, magic spells, charms....
Then there was the mummy room where we saw 12 mummies resting since about a 1000 years. We could still see the hair and nails.
I seriously cannot sum up everything I saw in there. You have to be there to get how it feels. History all around you, all about you.
The day's lunch included Kobeba and beef kofta.
Next we went to St Mary's church. It was a hanging church, placed above wooden beams on an ancient building. Legend has it that Mary had appeared in this church several times. They also say that Mary and Joseph hid here while travelling to Bethlehem while King Herod was hunting for baby Jesus.
This church had a lot of interesting symbology.The fish shaped tile, the 13 pillared pulpit...
We also went to a market that day. Full of hustle and bustle, people saying Namaste identifying us as Indians, calling out Amitabh, Shahrukh, Amir. It really is a wonder how they knew we were Indians. Yes we are brown skinned, dark hair, dark eyes, but there are a whole lot of other citizens who look like us, right? Pakistanis, Sri Lankans...
Anyways, we said bye to Sam that day. Had an early sleep too, coz the next day was supposed to start at 3:00 am.
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