We spent a recent morning in The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities! The museum is located on Tahrir Square, the physical center of Egypt's revolution. After walking through barbed wire fencing and past lots of armored tanks and soldiers we made our way to the entrance of this grand, salmon-colored building.
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| Daddy's work is not too far away, so he was able to join us. |
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| We took a few photos outside knowing that we would not be allowed to take pictures inside. |
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| Notice the heavy security on the other side of the fence. |
My main objective was twofold: see King Tutankhamun's mask and also see the royal mummies. I can't decide what I found more amazing to see - King Tut's mask with my own eyes or to be in the room with him all alone. Crazy! After telling my in-laws that we were going to the museum they remembered that their visit was with 75,000 other tourists...ours was more like 75 tourists in the whole museum. We viewed the Royal Mummies alone as well. My 3-year old was hiding her eyes under my sweater because the mummies scared her. One of my 5- year old daughters needed a verbal confirmation from me that the mummies were really dead before she felt safe. We were there on April Fool's Day. Although tempting, I thought it best not to play any kind of mummy joke on my girls because of their young ages. Each mummy was resting in their own glass case. Ramses II is thought by some to be the Pharaoh in Moses' day. Not long ago I got to see some incredible artifacts dating back to his era and in his honor. I blogged about it here. It really is amazing that the mummification process keeps the body so well preserved all these years...don't get me wrong; they looked really bad (blackened corpses always do) but to still see finger nails, teeth, hair - WOW! We saw a few Queens, Hatshepsut perhaps the most famous of them, and Maatkare even had a mummified pet baboon in her glass case.
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| Ramses the Great - in the flesh! |
I was sad to learn and see evidence of the theft and vandalism that took place during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. A child mummy was damaged, repaired as best as they could, and back on display. A variety of artifacts and mummies were taken or destroyed.
Practical Observation: When visiting the bathroom, I was taken by the contrast of life in Egypt versus life back "home" in the States when I was handed a few squares of toilet paper from the bathroom attendant (although we did not have to pay to use the bathroom, oftentimes you do). I have gotten used to bringing my own toilet paper with me since most public bathrooms do not have any. Another tourist came in after me and was given her ration of TP. She asked for more since her daughter did not get any. Then while in the stall she needed more TP. I went to find the attendant letting her know that the woman needed more TP . . . such an annoyance. In a place like a museum or restaurant where one pays to be there, you would think that TP would be included. Another thing that confuses me is that some bathrooms will not have TP in the stalls but will have tissue-like paper in a dispenser for you to dry your hands. If you have ever tried drying your hands with tissue then you know that it creates a mess. Needless to say, we have gotten used to air drying or wiping our hands on our shirts. Sometimes the little things, like clean and fully stocked public bathrooms are greatly missed once you do not have them.
I don't want to end this post on a negative note. It really was an extraordinary day. I was able to witness with my own eyes ancient artifacts that many people would love to see but may only watch in movies or read about in books. It's no wonder why the likes of Lara Croft and Indiana Jones pursued their respective careers.
