Today, I felt a little selfish. Many people have heard of these particular 'Wonders of the World' but will never have the experience of seeing them in person. I not only saw them less than a year and a half ago, on May 9, 2014, but we returned to see them again today too. It just seemed as long as we're in Cairo with an extra morning, why not walk around them again?
I think we, as humans, are attracted to superlatives. The biggest and oldest are surprisingly seductive ideas. Touching an enormous, quarried stone around the base and knowing it was cut by humans 5,000 years ago is intriguing. Yet even a single number like that can be deceptive. I've most probably already said this in the blog, but it still fascinates. We generally think of the time of Christ as our benchmark of measuring time; it is 2015 after all. Yet when Jesus walked the earth, the Great Pyramids had already been standing for a thousand years more than the time between him and us. That certainly makes my goal of eight or nine decades on earth seem pretty inconsequential.
We did go back today and I enjoyed it much more this time than last. The reason was, although we saw only a dozen or so other tourists, we saw hundreds and hundreds of Egyptian school children. It might be because tomorrow is their weekend day off. It seemed as though many may have been on class trips from a substantial distance. Regardless, it was fun to see the life and energy they brought to the site. Sadly, tourism has dropped to such low numbers many were curious to talk and take pictures with us. Alas, the younger generation not only runs around with smartphones, but their own selfie sticks as well!
We had asked our hostel to get a driver for us. He came at exactly 9 o'clock. This made the trip out to Giza easy. He waited there for more than two hours while we again walked around all three of the largest monuments of human achievement. We happily avoided the chance to ride on a horse, in a carriage, or on the back of a camel.
I am so glad Jay convinced me that we should go and visit the Great Pyramids again. Tomorrow we have a full day around town, but plan on taking a midnight train to our little, rented villa in Luxor.