3-14-20 - The Wonder of the Ancient World

Today, we visit the Pyramids of Giza with our tour guide for the day Adrita who is more experienced than Reem.  We are armed with our standard protocol of masks, wipes, hand sanitizer and alcohol spray.

The Giza pyramid complex, also called the Giza Necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo, Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure, along with their associated pyramid complexes and the Great Sphinx of Giza. All were built during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt.

The Great Pyramid and the Pyramid of Khafre are the largest pyramids built in ancient Egypt, and they have historically been common as emblems of ancient Egypt. They were popularized in Hellenistic times, when the Great Pyramid was listed by Antipater of Sidon as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Built in 2580 BC, the pyramids are by far the oldest of the ancient Wonders and the only one still in existence today.

Adrita leads us to the Pyramids and starts firing questions at us.  We start with the mummification process.  “What organs were removed and preserved during mummification?” (answer: all of them except one) “What was the one organ left in the body?” (answer: heart) “What chemical was used for preservation?” (answer: salt). “How long was the body left in the sun to dry out?” (answer: 40 days). 

John, the master historian, is the rock star at answering the questions while Leanne is throwing in some solid answers.  The rest of us are kind of flubbing around and Adrita has no issue telling us we kind of suck. 

She moves on to the pyramids but the grilling continues. “How many pyramids are there in Egypt?” Yesterday, Reem had told us that there were 9 pyramids so Kyle rushes to finally get one correct confidently saying, “there were 9 pyramids!”  Adrita groans audibly with a sharp rebuke, “No!” It turns out Reem was referring to the number of pyramids at Giza while Adrita was asking the number in all of Egypt. (Answer – approximately 150). 

“Ummm…aren’t you supposed to provide the information before quizzing us?” Kyle grumbles under his breath earning an elbow tap from Leanne.  “Apparently she doesn’t realize yet that I’m the one deciding her tip,” Kyle whispers in Leanne’s ear.

We get our requisite picture in front of the Great Pyramid.  This is our 9th Wonder of the World including 5 Wonders of the Modern World (Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza and Christ the Redeemer), 3 Wonders of the Natural World (Mount Everest, Great Barrier Reef and Rio Harbor) and 1 Wonder of the Ancient World (Pyramids of Giza). 

Adrita tells Corey that “You look Egyptian.” She follows by saying that if she walked down the street with Corey, everyone would think he is her brother.  Corey is now wondering if he has some ancient Egyptian and ponders an ancestry.com test. From this point on, she switches from calling him Corey to calling him “Egyptian Man.”  When we are assembled in front of the Great Pyramid, she says, “You, Egyptian Man, jump for the jumping picture.”  Corey looks less than thrilled with his new nickname.

Next, we head over to take a camel ride around the pyramids. As the trip has progresses, it becomes a little harder to find new bucket items checks so we are excited as this definitely qualifies as a first. 

We are half-expecting the American animal activist from the elephant ride in India to pop out from behind the pyramid here berating us for riding a camel; however, no such luck as there apparently aren’t as many people concerned about the plight of the camels in Africa as there are about the plight of the elephants in Asia.

The camels are a little bit wild ones.  We mount the camel as they are sitting on all four legs but when they stand, we have to do everything we can to keep from being thrown off. We have two “camel” tour guides who led the pack of 7 camels single file towards the pyramids trying to keep the animals in line. 

We pose for photos down in front of the pyramids.  Leanne and Kyle linger for extra-romantic camel photos with our guide while some of the kids head off with the other guide.  When Kyle and Leanne resume progress, their camel guide apparently feels the need to catch up with the kids and starts whistling and whipping the poor camel who shoots ahead as if his behind is on fire. Leanne is shrieking and wailing at the top of her lungs threatening to pitch off the camel 10 feet down to an unhappy ending before the camel guide gets the hint and slows the camel back down.  

We next visit the famous Sphinx located in front of the pyramids. The Great Sphinx of Giza, commonly referred to as the Sphinx of Giza or just the Sphinx, is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. Facing directly from West to East, it stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The face of the Sphinx is generally believed to represent the pharaoh Khafre.  As the sun shines down on the proud majestic Sphinx, we stand in complete awe of this iconic figure that has been gracing this land for thousands of years. Oh, if this statue could talk! We snap our standard photos but this is one landmark one can never forget experiencing so we linger a little longer to soak it in.

Cut from the bedrock, the original shape of the Sphinx has been restored with layers of blocks. It measures 73 m (240 ft) long from paw to tail, 20 m (66 ft) high from the base to the top of the head and 19 m (62 ft) wide at its rear haunches. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt and is commonly believed to have been designed, sculpted, and constructed by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of the pharaoh Khafre (c. 2558–2532 BC). 

Very cool is the clan consensus as we get great pictures with this ancient wonder.

Next, we hit lunch.  The restaurant is fairly empty which is a welcome relief given the pandemic gripping the globe. The van has WiFi capability and we can actually parrot off the van’s WiFi sitting in the restaurant as Kyle furiously researches travel options, pricing different routes, checking State Department travel alerts, etc. Doesn’t exactly qualify as a fun meal but were doing the best we can under the circumstances.

After lunch, we hit the Egyptian Museum. We get a nice family photo of the 7 of us in front of the museum sporting our face masks for the blog. When we get inside, we call a bathroom break and everyone heads off.  The bathroom is on the 2nd floor so we have to traverse a large flight of stairs to get to the second floor. 

When wearing the face mask, one thing for certain is that as you exhale, the escaping air has to exit the mask at some place.  Depending on how you position the mask, the escape valve can be at a different point.  Kyle is returning from the bathroom down the large, steep set of stairs when apparently his face mask escape value forces the air directly up. 

The problem?  His glasses get completely fogged up and he misses a step and subsequently plunges down the concrete stairs. Kyle lands on the stairs on his knees with his kneecaps exploding in agony before pitching the rest the way down the stairs to the mid-level landing. 

Kyle is screaming out in agony but the rest of the crew is down at the bottom with Adrita talking to them about the Egyptian statue in front of them. The guards coming running over and help Kyle down the next flight of stairs to the lobby area where he collapses on a bench.  “I think I’d rather risk getting the Coronavirus than crawl through the streets of Egypt with two broken kneecaps,” Kyle moans out. 

Our guide Adrita, even though she is experienced, seems to be freaking out a little bit.  She starts insisting that I go to the hospital. “Wow, hold on, wait just there, no way! I’m not risking ending up with two broken kneecaps AND the CORONAVIRUS by going to the hospital.  FORGET IT.  Not going to happen.” Adrita looks duly stressed out but has no choice as Kyle insists we soldier on.

We are led through a tour of the Egyptian Museum with Kyle hobbling along and Adrita constantly looking worried.  At least she has stopped grilling us with questions sensing Kyle is no mood for her theatrics that took place this morning. 

The highlight is 3 rooms dedicated to artifacts found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb. Leanne has had a little bit of a fascination with King Tut since childhood.  This evokes a story for the kids. In 2008, Leanne hears the news that King Tutankhamen’s traveling tour will be exhibiting in San Francisco for the year.  We plan an entire vacation driving up to San Francisco so Leanne can fulfill her childhood dream of seeing King Tut. 

Everything is going splendidly until we reach the end of the exhibit, aka the BIG REVEAL as we walk into the final display room with a grand glass case showing King Tut’s….liver.  Seriously, I’m not shitting you.  We drove 500 miles, used up a precious vacation, waited in line 2 hours, spent 2 hours touring side exhibits to see his f**king liver in a jar. We’re talking psychological scars from that one. 

So Leanne being here is serious redemption material from 2008.  Although technically his mummified body is in Luxor, his golden mask, his body sarcophagus and all his possessions are on display here in the museum. Leanne is practically jumping out of her skin, Coronavirus be damned.     

We are dropped off at the hotel where we have an hour before getting picked up for dinner and the sound and light show at the pyramids which are actually only a short distance from our hotel.

Reem takes over the night duties from Adrita and takes us to a restaurant in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza.  The dinner is clearly meant for huge tourist groups to eat before the show with huge, long tables running the length of the restaurant. However; the restaurant is almost empty and the only other groups have spread themselves safely away from us. 

The waiter massively bungles our food and drink order leaving an ornery Kyle short an appetizer and diet coke. Well, maybe “massively” is Kyle’s interpretation as he seems to be the only one who got short-changed at dinner. 

John has set a goal of performing on all 7 continents.  He has already logged 6 continents with Carnegie Hall Solo (North America), Seoul, Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo (Asia), Sydney Opera House (Australia / Oceana), Helsinki, Finland (Europe), Antarctica (Cruise and Orny Island) and Bogota, Columbia (South America). Add to that a dozen or so other impromptu performances to Buddhist monks (Myanmar) to Patagonia hotel guests (Argentina). The original plan called for us to return to Africa for a month after the Middle East and South Western Europe.  We are signed up for a weeklong volunteer experience in Zambia, Africa in June with John performing for the volunteer organization and have tentative plans for a formal concert in South Africa too. 

However; that plan is now seriously in jeopardy so we need to improvise on the spot.  Leanne and John coordinate with the restaurant manager for an impromptu concert. The setting is actually ideal as John is situated in front of a gigantic window overlooking the pyramids which are now illuminated in neon colors in the dark.

We tally the 7 Huebner clan, 10 other tourists and 20 restaurant employees. 37 people in total and open to the public in front of the only remaining Ancient Wonder of the World and we are so DEFINETELY counting this as his Africa performance thus completing a major personal goal of performing on all 7 continents. It’s a tough enough order for people to visit all 7 continents but for a 17 year old to do public music and opera performances on all 7 is a monumental accomplishment.  To say we’re proud would be a vast understatement.

As we enter the area for the Light and Sound Show, Reem informs us we are sitting in the VIP section.  Kyle is a little miffed as Reem only gave us one price option without quite making it clear that there was a cheaper non-VIP price ticket available. However, as Leanne quickly points out that we are the only ones in the VIP section and thus a seriously safe distance from the next tourist, Kyle agrees that it was well worth the VIP price.

The show is quite entertaining. Lights illuminate the different pyramids, the Sphinx and projected pictures of the Pharaohs and their relatives.  A dramatic voice booms over the loudspeaker system pronouncing that the Egyptian Pharaohs found a way to ward off death and prolong an everlasting afterlife. Random neighborhood dogs howl in the background as the emphatic pronouncement of how the ancient Egyptians cheated death through their airtight pyramids roll on. The booming voice sounds like you might think God might sound if he decided to do a Light and Sound Show in Cairo — or anywhere for that matter.   The entire show is a little too unnerving in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.  Do we need to gather all our earthly possessions and hunker down in an Egyptian pyramid tomb for when the damned Coronavirus finally catches up with us?

Safely back in the hotel or as much as can safely presume given we have no idea, masks or not, whether the Rona Rona virus secretly found us today or not, we fall into a restless sleep. We pray to God it didn’t.