Once in a Lifetime

I know, I know. Typical cheesy tourist shot. But what else are you supposed to do WHEN YOU'RE AT THE PYRAMIDS???

More than an educational or eye-opening experience, visiting the great pyramids of Giza seems to be more the culmination or completion of a goal than anything else. Despite the very atypical below-60 degree weather all week and my broken camera (this was one of the last pictures I took before it fell in the sand), Egypt was an exhilarating 'pinch yourself-these places really do exist' experience.

The pyramids up close are cool but my greatest realization came seeing them as part of the Cairo skyline. They are the major identifying landmark of Egypt today in the same way they were over 4,000 years ago. I wonder if Moses or even the later pharaohs like Ramses II were as excited or intrigued by the pyramids as I was when they first laid eyes on them.

Amazing is the hard work of the common people of ancient Egypt in building these structures. They put a lot into honoring and respecting their leaders after they died. Either they were somehow brainwashed to construct massive temples for no functional purpose of their own or they actually cared about their leaders and wanted to show gratitude by heaving insane amounts of 1.5-ton stones across the desert. Either way it is a wonder to think about.


(Hopefully modern day file sharing will aid me in obtaining more pictures that I was not able to take myself. Also, those are my roommates in the picture.)