Day (as opposed to night) at the Museum!

Friday, January 13, 2023

 

Up this morning around 8 am to another lovely day!  As Cairo is a very dusty place, had a nice soak in the tub just to be dust-free.  (Of course, I really don’t need an excuse for a soak; just sounds like I’m accomplishing something!)  Up to breakfast around 9 – thank you, Executive Lounge! – and out the door heading to the Egyptian Museum by 10.  Uber works really well here, and it’s not far across the river to the museum. In fact, the Uber charge for one of our trips was something like $0.73!  Incredible! 

 

Zoomed through security and into the museum in just a few minutes.  Most of the gardens are currently under renovation – and as we’ve just had our yard re-landscaped, it’s really nice to see it being done somewhere else!  We, however, have no palm trees that we know of, and there are lots of palm trees here.  (Note:  We passed the Giza Zoo yesterday, coming and going to the Pyramids, and it looks really green and lush and lovely!)  

 

Exterior courtyard of the Museum

Entryway statue

Narmer Palette, first dynasty

Back of Narmer Palette; first dynasty; 

                                                  showing Narmer's military victory. 

Grand atrium entrance

As we did the majority of the upper floor yesterday, we decided to just start at the beginning and follow along the suggested route.  Today there were lots of tour groups in the museum, but as we had lots of time, we were able to just wait until a room or space had cleared in order to see what we wanted at our leisure.  One thing is for sure:  The entirety of the museum is in flux, because of the imminent opening of the GEM at Giza.  As a result, it looks like there are quite literally packing cases of things scattered hither and yon throughout the ground floor, both incoming and outgoing.  We were thinking that some of the incoming things may be new additions that are being repatriated back to Egypt after being illegally smuggled out of the country in the first place.  And then, of courses, there are artifacts that are being moved to Giza.  In looking around the galleries today, someone (Mariette, the original curator of the museum) did a really incredible job of getting lots of these false doors and carved panels into place in the first place!  The tonnage alone of the artifacts lining the walls is incredible, and many of them are still showing their original coloring.  (Don’t you wish your house paint would last 5,000+ years?)  

 

Prehistoric round face; possibly worn as mask

Ivory handled knife; flint blade

Stele believed to be for one of the first queen's

Mask with holes to be worn during festivals

Limestone statue of Zoser, 3rd dynasty

Our Lonely Planet Egypt guide book did a very good job of pointing out highlights of the museum, most of which (but not all!) we were able to find.  They have such an amazing collection – collected across the entirety of Egypt, we definitely have quite a few photos for today.  One observation, though: the museum building itself is very old – 1902 opening, and when one considers modern museums today, this one is sadly behind the times.  The ceilings on the ground floor are very high, and as a result, good lighting is essential.  Unfortunately, there is very little artificial lighting here, and there are some artifacts that are in fact positioned in the dark.  Unlike more modern museums, there are no lights within the display cases.  The explanatory notes – when they exist at all – look to be as old as the item on display.  Then, for ventilation, the windows are opened – resulting in dust everywhere; the glass cases themselves really need a good cleaning.  

 

Alabaster offering lion trays

Statue of Khafre; builder of second pyramid of Giza

Close-up of King Khafre

Black schist triads with pharaoh Menkaure (3rd pyramid) in center

I love the way Horus would protect the pharaoh by wrapping his wings around him

4th dynasty couple; note mustache!

Montuhotep II, first ruler of the Middle Kingdom

Sandstone chapel of Tuthmosis III's son, Amenhotel II

Pink granite statue of Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut, the female pharaoh

"Heretic pharaoh" Akhenaten

Akhenaten's wife Nefertiti

Coffin lid of Akhenaten

Akhenaten and family receiving gift of the Re (sun)

Additionally, there are very few guards anywhere in the museum – except, for instance, in the Tut Exhibition areas, where no photos are allowed.  What this results in is tourist touching things.  Robert had to hurry me out of one room, as some obvious non-Egyptian had his hands all over a carved false door.  There was no plastic covering it, and he was touching everything, everywhere.  The rule-enforcer in me had a very difficult time with this – it is posted everywhere saying DON’T TOUCH THE ARTWORK.  Makes me really furious to see these things being handled; and no one to protect them!  (Sorry for the rant…)

 

One of two stones resembling Rosetta Stone; complete in 3 languages, Hierglyphs, Demotic & Greek

It took us about 3 hours in the museum today to complete our tour.  We think now we have actually and fully seen the museum.  (When we were here 20 years ago, we were with a guide.  And while he did talk about various things and was very interesting, I never felt we got a really good look at things; we walked past SO much that looked intriguing!)  Out again through the gift shop, and into the courtyard.  We were able to have a nice sit down and Cokes; just to help us get through the afternoon!

 

Note on smoking:  Wow!  I have suffered from allergies for years, and truly, have a difficulty with cigarette smoke.  I guess I had forgotten that smoking is EVERYWHERE in Cairo (and, I’m imagining, the rest of Egypt!)  This morning at the museum, one of the tourist policemen was smoking directly under a no smoking sign!  Oh well!  Before non-smoking went into effect in Europe, our method was to open restaurants when we were looking for dinner.  As we’re used to eating early, it then generally wasn’t a problem.  And if it became one, I would usually ask politely if the person would mind NOT smoking, and we were usually happily accommodated.  Guess here we will have to look at the way the wind is blowing and sit at the edge of the seating area, instead of inside it.  

 

We picked up our Uber right outside of the museum entry, and in just a few minutes we were at Arkadia shopping mall.  To be honest, it looked a tad forlorn, and a number of places were closed.  (Quite a contrast from the fantastic malls we ran into in Turkey.)  We were, however, able to find a small supermarket and pick up some essentials that we are needing for the trip.  (Going carry-on has that effect.)  From there, it was just a short 5-minute walk back to the hotel, which was nice.  We tried without success to use an HSBC ATM (which allows 8,000 Egyptian pounds withdrawal), so may just have to stick to our own little ATM machine downstairs here.  At least we know that one works!  Fortunately for us, while we did have to cross some side streets, we didn’t have to try to make our way across any big streets with raging traffic, and successfully made it back without any personal run-ins with vehicles, carriages or camels!

 

Back in the hotel about 3:30 pm for a rest up before dinner.  We didn’t really want to nap, so that we would hopefully sleep all night tonight, as we have signed up for a car and driver tomorrow to take us to Sakkara and a few other sites.  Very much looking forward to it – but our pick-up is scheduled for 7:30 am so it’s going to be up and out much earlier than these past few days!  Just hope the Lounge is open so that we can get breakfast!  (Will find out a bit later, when we go up for pre-dinner drinks and snacks!)

 

So, more later!

m

xxx