Waiting for us right off the ship was a convoy of buses and other vehicles including our tour van to take us 3 hours to Cairo and Giza. Our tour guide claimed we'd find the scenery pretty impressive. I beg to differ. I was rather shocked. I hesitated to document the pollution with my camera because I didn't want to come across as a crazy American. Now, I wish I would have taken pictures of the horrific scenery of trash along the drive. It really surprised me to the point that I couldn't talk in the van. Some areas seemed so poorly maintained and had such horrible living conditions.
Nevertheless, it didn't stop us from having an incredible 2 days in Egypt! I do have one suggestion if you ever travel to Egypt or Israel and that would be to bring a roll of toilet paper. After chatting with some friends here, I learned to come prepared, and I left almost empty handed as a result of the nonstocked restrooms.
Our tour started in Memphis at the ruins of the temple of Ptah.
Here we found the Alabaster Sphinx of King Amenhopis II (above) and the fallen statue of King Ramses II (below).
A view of the River Nile with Cairo in the background:
Alabaster Mosque of Mohamed Ali in Cairo:
Inside the mosque the kids thought it was funny to wear these blue slippers over their shoes.
We made it to the pyramids! This one is the step pyramid of Sakkara. It was for King Zoser, and is one of the first pyramids ever built.
The kids are with our tour guide below.
These are the famous pyramids at Giza:
Looking up along the side of the pyramid:
Another angle:
Someone (our photographer) had a little too much time on his hands since he opted not to go inside the pyramid. After the warning about the space being cramped, he decided to stay outside and snap a few more pictures than we actually needed. It's a good thing too. His 6'7" frame would have been miserable in the tight quarters of the pyramid. Descending along the ramp to the interior, my 5 year old was the only one walking upright. The rest of us were hunched like 90 year olds with osteoporosis. After making it through the sloped hallway, we ended up in a large room with a rock type of tomb. That's all we saw, but we've been inside a pyramid now and I can cross that off my bucket list.
It doesn't get any better than this in Egypt! Can you just tell by the look on her face that this was our most memorable experience?
R and J with the Great Pyramid of Giza in the background. This is one of the 7 Wonders of the World.
Our travelling buddies: Amy, Lauren, and Aaron
Our photographer:
The whole gang from Belgium:
The Mighty Sphinx:
Before heading back on the ship, we visited the Papyrus Institute where they still make papyrus today. This Egyptian lady demonstrated the task. 
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