The grandeur of Giza

The first post in this series is here..

Our group met at the roof of the Hayat Pyramid View hotel for breakfast. It was cold outside and all the breakfast items were cold given it was in a room with open doors. We made the most of it and saw the run rise to face the pyramids. Caught the first light hit the great pyramids! It was fantastic.

When we first walked up to the roof, it was hazy! The moon was still up.

We took pictures before and after the sun came out..

Had a feeling this trip will be a good one just by the way she was smiling!!! 

The sun comes out and the clouds roll in and "magic"!

Then it was time to meet our guide for the day, Ibrahim. At first glance if you are not used to Arabic nations, the tone comes across as rude and our guides way of saying "excuse me!" everytime he wanted to grab our attention was interesting. He was a really sweet and caring dude!

The language and accents make up for an intersting social study! He was dealing with desis .. from US. So he was a bit flummoxed on how to deal with us. Should he be proud that we bargained for everything like Egyptians? Or should he be upset that being Americans who can afford things, we are still bargaining.. he literally was telling us that in a very roundabout way. He wanted us to tip the locals wherever possible. Tipping, how much and when was the topic of most of our group discussions! 

Ibrahim gave us the rundown and told us he was not allowed inside. He also told us that the big pyramid and the pyramid of the grandson had entrances to go in but it is the same experience. One was 20 USD and a longer line and one was 4 USD and a much smaller line. We opted for the shorter line given the interest of time! We went in and out through a narrow tunnel at a steep angle to see the bottom of an empty chamber and come back up. It was an intersting experience. How they moved things around in these angles and got giant granite boxes in and out is just mindboggling.

Everything about this place is just amazing. This was 3000+ years ago and they still stand inspite of all the regime changes and looting over the decades. Everything thas been stripped off including the stones over the years but what took them a few hundred years to build has lasted a few thousand.

One side has all the drama.. other side is bland ..

 

We as a species don't build anything this lasting anymore. All our glass, steel and sheetrock stuff won't last anything compared to this! 

At some point the room would have had a large granite box with the mummy and all its treasures. They were looted a long time back! What little things the locals and invading cultures didn't take, the Brits and French took to their museums! 

now there is an empty chamber with graffitti over a few thousand years! We suck as a species is what I kept thinking!

After we went in and out of the pyramid, some of us got to go on a camel ride around the pyramids. Our camels were named Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, Alex, Mickey mouse and Charlie!

Once the camel ride was done, we visited the Sphinx which was right across from our hotel. There was already a big crowd at the Sphinx thanks to some school excursions. We were lucky to get some photos without too many people around. We also got to see the place where they did the mummification near the Sphinx. 

There is a steele in front of the Sphinx which talks about the Pharoh's dream to clean the sand around it.. we learned that the sphinx probably predates the pyramids. That was a special ticket and given time we were just happy to walk around it and get a view! I cannot write enough words to make you realize how amazing this place is. You have to see it for youself. Do it while you can still walk long distances every day, do a little climbing on tall stones. In another 10-15 years this trip might be difficult for me! 

Was wearing my uniform BYSJ 60 day challenge shirt on multiple days. Surprisingly no one asked me what a 60 day challenge was in Egypt or Jordan and that is a first! 

A video highlight of our first morning in Egypt!

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After this it was time to drive off to our next stop across the Nile into Cario!

Falling water

On our second day of the Pittisburg trip over summer, we raced from Laurel caverns to Falling water. The reason for the race was that we had tickets for a fixed tour appointment. 

First, about Falling water. This is the house that made Frank Lloyd Wright, famous. The Kaufmann family commissioned him to build this house over a waterfall, with money that in today's equivelent if ~50M $. 

It is an architectural marvel that was nominated to be on the 8 modern wonders of the world. You have to see it to believe it. The whole thing is a layer of cantilevers hanging over a vertical concrete structure, above a waterfall. 

HDR processing has some advantages!

There was one problem. No cameras allowed on the trip. You could take pictures outside the house. We were asked to switch all cell phone camera's off as well. Given we had not heard about this place before, they could use the publicity is what I thought.... 

All the pictures were taken with the iPhone 6 and processed in Photoshop! 

The tour guide hyped the cost of repair and how badly the place was crumbling. The little one did not like the guide. She said "we have eyes, we can see how beautiful this is without him having to tell us".

The place speaks for itself. It is a true marvel. The attention to detail in every door, every window, every corner and how the furniture is built into the house, the views, the privacy and open ness where it matters, I could go on and on about this place.. 

Frank Lloyd Wright was way ahead of his time! Wish he was alive now... we would be seeing a totally different class of buildings! It was a good thing my sister-in-law picked this place for a vist. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you happen to go to Pittsburgh area, this is a must see! 

If you are an architecture buff or into engineering, you will love this place.