Day 1: Saqqara, Memphis, Papyrus, and Carpets

I will try not to make this entire trip about her, but for me, it was. She wouldn't leave my side for 2 minutes or even 10 seconds mostly. She sat by me on every train, bus, plane etc. She held my hand and she threw her fits, she let out her frustration and all of her excitement at me. She had Egypt in the palm of her hand. Everyone loved her hat, wished her 'Happy New Year' or 'Happy Christmas'. She listed to not one word from any guide. She played in the dirt, touched every single surface and would've climbed the walls if she'd been allowed. She grew tired of pyramids and stories and structure. She hung in there. 

I had to remind myself how far she's come. I remember when she was less than 2 and we traveled all across the US, just the kids and myself. I had to walk out of eVERY. SINGLE. TOUR and leave my young kids to hopefully learn the best they could. She did a great job. I don't know if she'll remember the trip fondly or not. I'm pretty sure her favorite part was the airplane. She's always been a sucker for movies no matter how much we do NOT watch them at home or how much we do.

I think that the rest of us got an incredible Egyptian history foundation. We know that this is a Hathoric after the God Hathor. She was the female God of Music, love, motherhood and really most of the good things of the world. She is embodies with cows horns and/or ears. 

Most statues are of Ramses the 2nd, especially in Memphis.

Here's where I missed some stories. We took a minute to let her do things her way. Saqqara and the Step Pyramid is the oldest pyramid in Egypt I believe.

We saw so many Temples on this trip and I wish they weren't all running together in my head. I believe this is the Temple where the mummification took place. Whether it is or not, there are different Temples for the living and the dead. There was a route from each Temple before the dead are buried. There were also some well-decorated and fascinating tombs of nobles here.

Everything has symbolism. Everything tells a story. Hieroglyphics are fascinating. So much work to preserve their belief in an afterlife and the potential available in the next life. We noted the truths mixed in with the peagen and had it reaffirmed that truth is eternal.

Though we were feeling it might be best to call it a day Achmed suggested we visit 2 places. A Papyrus store and a carpet store. Elise was done with tours but these places really spoke to her. She loved learning to make carpets and learning to make papyrus. The colors are relatable. Too bad Egyptian ruins weren't more colorful.

Sennia really wants a loom for her birthday. I don't know if she'll get it but it certainly would make a lovely addition.

Tourist traps abound. I never fell for their gimmicks but poor Matt just couldn't help himself. He paid out so much money to guards and random people, workers, vendors etc who would lure him in with compliments about his family, questions about where he was from, offers of free gifts. No matter how many times Sam rudely insisted he stop talking to people he just couldn't help himself.

Don't let these funny faces fool you. They soaked up every bit of information on these tours. They all loved the mythology, they loved the symbolism, the art work and everything.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the fun dinner Achmed took us to. The falafel was delicious but as usual my options were limited to that and some dips. The others enjoyed chicken and meat as well. We then went to the train station where we waited for a very long time for our sleeping car to arrive.

Elise made 4 lovely friends. I don't remember the gentleman's name but there were 2 Miriams and a Noora and Elise chatted with them for almost 2 hrs. Only 1 could speak English and Elise reminded them repeatedly "No Comprendo". She wants to learn Arabic and frequently tells them the only 3 words that she knows. We learned a new word today-Jamilla. These people were Jamilla/Jamille.

 

We boarded our train and were maybe 5 minutes into our trip before her bright little light was OUT! Alena was pretty freaked out by the whole idea of trying to sleep even  though we were all exhausted. Between Eli and myself and even Matt, we've been on a fair number of trains. I've been on some pretty old trains in England even, this train was hands down the bumpiest experience of my life. I don't know how those trains are still running. I did manage to go in and out of sleep but it was certainly not a time to catch up on the sleep we missed from the night before.  Except for Elise and Sennia. I think they did pretty well.