We found a hotel right outside the front gates of the pyramids called Mena Inn Pyramids where we stayed for three nights. It had everything we needed and the courteous staff even upgraded us to a room with pyramid view for no extra charge. A traditional Egyptian breakfast was served free of charge to the room every morning as well.

We arrived at 9 am local time and decided to take a nap, but not too long as we needed to adjust to the 10 hour time change. We woke up around 3:30 pm (oops a bit long) and went for a walk down the street out front and found some local food. Falafel for 3 LE each. This became our staple as well as the meat on a stick from the same place.

The following day we set out for the morning to visit the pyramids and Sphinx. We paid our 160 LE to enter the gates and we were greeted by several guys asking us if we wanted a camel or horse ride. We declined peacefully and they continued to follow and barter while we kept saying no. We walked to all of the sites with men coming up to us often asking about the camel rides.

We decided to go to the furthest pyramid first as it also was the only one you could go inside for free. But to our disappointment when we got there it was closed due to falling rock inside. So we decided maybe we would pay the 100 LE to get into the second pyramid. We arrived to no line up and we asked to enter. We were then informed that we would have to go back to the front gates to buy a ticket. That wasn’t happening as they were quite a ways away. Continuing on now to the largest pyramid there were also three small temples that you could crawl inside of and move a bit below grade. They were free of charge as well excluding the random guy being a forced guide expecting to get a tip. I found that you couldn’t say hello back to anyone or they would bind onto you and then expect money. I almost felt we were being rude but just kept saying “no thank you” to all. One fellow we just gave money to, to leave us alone, mentioned that our tip was too small.

The girls had such bad jet lag that they slept the whole day away while we walked and toured. They are not going to remember any of it!

Tyson also had to get some lab work done while we were in Giza so we set out on foot to find a lab. I had google mapped it prior so we knew kind of where it would be. We had to stop at a pharmacy and ask for directions as it was quite hidden. Down some side stairs into a basement, up a rickety box of an elevator where you could lose a limb if not careful and into a dark hall that had foot step stickers to the lab. After some rough communication and a doctors note from home Tyson was sitting in a chair with a needle in his right arm. Sure hope this goes well. We paid 150 LE and the results would be ready the following day.

The next day a driver arranged through the Inn drove us into Cairo and on to the Egyptian museum. A cost of 160 LE for the museum or 300 LE including the mummy rooms we joined the masses. Long line ups to get in through the metal detector and then once on the grounds another metal detector to enter the doors to the museum. Egypt, being an incredibly family loving place, had us detour around the safety measures and continue on with our day.

After a couple hours in the museum the driver took us to the “Go-Bus” station to purchase our tickets to Sharm El-Sheikh for the following day. For 500 LE the driver took us out for the day and also made a stop at the medical lab for results and then back to our hotel. So far Tyson’s arm is still how it should be and the blood work results are where we want them to be.

Next stop Sharm El-Sheikh and diving on the Red Sea coast…

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