This is our last day in Cairo, and we had nothing on our agenda except to get ourselves to the Egyptian Museum. So we all slept in till 7, no alarm waking us up! We lounged in the room, and were finally able to FaceTime with my mom.
Had a leisurely final breakfast in the hotel around 8:30 and just really tried to take our time and enjoy it. We headed back to the room, and everyone read and relaxed a bit more. Really felt so nice not to be rushed. The kids also found Monsters Inc on the TV in English. So we hung out till they finished it.
We left for the museum about 10:30, had the hotel call us a taxi. Not a seatbelt available for anyone! The museum was packed. Probably the busiest place we’ve been since the Valley of the Kings. But it was extremely large, so we could space ourselves out as we liked. The city is currently working on a brand new expansive Egyptian Museum that was supposed to open in 2019 I believe, but with Covid and from what we’ve learned life in Egypt, nothing is on time. So some things were missing, or boxed up. Lots of things just never were labeled, so you weren’t sure what you were looking at. But there was so much to see. It was like the final chapter in our Egyptian tour. We’d seen the temples, tombs, and pyramids, but they were all empty shells. Now we were finally seeing all the items that would have filled them.
Animals were mummified for several reasons, pets they wanted with them in the afterlife, animals they wanted for food, or animals they wanted to sacrifice and please the gods. There were also lots of ‘stuffed’ animal mummies. Not sure why you would present fake animal mummies but they were usually grass wrapped in linen and then the outside was preserved like a certain animal.
We did some shopping in the gift shop. It was wonderful looking around without anyone haggling us. Then we risked life and limb by attempting to walk across a giant round about to Pizza Hut. It’s crazy how much junk fast food we’ve had on this trip. But we’ve also had plenty of local foods. So we’re cutting ourselves some slack. It was also really delicious.
After lunch we flagged down a taxi cab and again no seat belts. It was almost non-stop horn honking all the way back to the hotel. It was the final confirmation for all of us that we were ready to leave this city!
Back at the hotel, we threw on our suits and headed for a final swim in the outdoor heated pool. R of course needed to read a bit more before entering.
After swimming for a nice long time, by ourselves of course. We came upstairs, showered, and ordered room service. So luxurious! Ty and I got everyone packed and then we snuggled down for a bit of Christmas Chronicles before an early to bed. Our ride is coming to get us at 1:30am. It’s time to start the several day journey home!
