Pyramids

Our group of twenty left the hotel (which  is literally in the shadow of the Pyramids) by bus at 8. We arrived at the Giza Plateau in a few minutes and, no surprise I guess, there were very few visitors. We stood in front of the Pyramid of Khufu ( the largest one) taking it in for quite a while. I had a similar feeling to that of seeing the Grand Canyon. I knew what to expect but it was still unexpected. The size, the age and the ability to get close made the experience almost overpowering. After a while, we went INTO  the pyramid. A passageway opened up about 1,000 years ago by tomb robbers gives access to the path used by the builders and then sealed from above. The first part—the part opened by the thieves-- is very low ceilinged and one must walk about 500 feet (maybe more) bent over in order not to bump one’s head. Bob Friedman or any tall person would be very uncomfortable. Once one reaches the original passageway one walks up an incline of at least 60 degrees but there are modern  steps with wooden slats to catch any person who starts to fall. This passageway leads to the burial chamber.

The burial chamber is not underground; it is about 2/3 of the way up the Pyramid. It is a dark austere room with no decoration completely faced with granite which was shipped down the Nile from Aswan 600 miles to the south. The rest of the pyramid is made of limestone. The original sarcophagus is still there after 4,600 years but nothing else. The room is harmoniously proportioned and feels like a good place to spend eternity.

I walked around the other two Pyramids on the Plateau; these have underground burial chambers and do not allow access.

Two other outstanding visits today: the Solar Boat Museum and the Sphinx.

The Solar Boat was only discovered in the mid Twentieth Century and is now re-assembled and housed in an I M Pei glass enclosure. It is reminiscent somehow of both the Louvre entrance and the Temple of Dendur at the Met (which Pei did not design). Personally, I was stunned by the size and beauty of the boat. The pit which held the boat is practically up against the side of the Pyramid and one gets a great view of the middle course of stones in the Pyramid.

Our group was given special access to the Sphinx. Visitors today can only view it from the banks of the trench in which it sits but we were able to go into the trench and actually touch the beast. Four  Thousand Six Hundred Years of facing the world. There is nothing like this anywhere.

In the afternoon, we visited the modest recently discovered tombs of some of the artisans who worked on the Pyramids. They were interesting but we were literally in the desert with major Hamsin winds blowing and it was uncomfortable and even painful.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to visit the Museum in the early morning before the big demonstration begins. I will be cautious. Afterwards we go to Saqqara for more Pyramids and Old Kingdom Tombs. I remember Dan and Karen Taylor telling me that after the Old Kingdom, the rest of Egypt was a little  bit of an anti-climax. I hope they are wrong.

(Karen, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Coolidge are on the trip and she (Nancy, not sure?) says the Beacon Hill Times hasn’t been the same since you sold it.