Egypt

Giza

	This needs no explanation. Truly one of the seven wonders of the world. In fact, it's the only one on Plato's original list. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Pharos of Alexandria, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes, Temple of Artemis, and the Ivory Statue of Zeus are no longer with us. These are the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure and were constructed in the period 2600-2450 BC depending on whose chronology is correct.		You all know what this is. There is so much misinformation about this thing. The nose was removed before the early 15th century as documented by the Arab historian al-Maqrizi. It was not Napoleon as commonly believed - Napoleon was obsessed with Egyptian antiquities and took everything he could find back to France. Just go to the Louvre or look at the obelisk on the Champs d'Elysees.
	You all know what this is. It's me! The Sphinx is not nearly as big as people expect. I was always tremendously interested in ancient Egypt, so I knew what to expect. Nevertheless, the pyramids themselves more than make up for it. Khufu's is taller than a 40 story building.		Here I am standing in the Sphinx temple at Giza. The sphinx and the pyramids were far older to Julius Caesar than he is to us. Amazing.

Saqqara, Dashur

This is the step pyramid of Djoser (Zoser) who ruled from 2630-2611 BC. Although basically a stack of mastabas, it inspired the "true" pyramids of later rulers. The pile of rocks in front of the step pyramid is Userkaf's pyramid. It may look small, but its around 150 feet high!

It's me again, about 50 feet up the corner of the Bent Pyramid of Sneferu at Dashur. This one's about 345 feet high. The angle of the pyramid changes about halfway up from 54 degrees to 43. There were incompetent engineers back then as well it seems. He didn't like the result, so he had them make another one (The Red Pyramid) about a mile away. Most tourists don't make it out to Dashur, but it is well worth the trip!

Abu Simbel

This big guy is one of the four giant statues of Ramses II (the great!) at Abu Simbel. This place is right near the border with Sudan and you've got to take a sketchy plane ride to get to this place. Ramses basically built this giant temple in the middle of nowhere, just to prove that he was the man.

Two of the massive statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbel. His mummy is on display at the Egyptian museum in Cairo. I got to see him - no pictures though.

Karnak, Luxor

	This is some market in a backstreet of Luxor.		Here I am in the ruins of Karnak Temple.
	In the shadows of Karnak at sunset. There were so many plainclothed security guards with automatic weapons everywhere. In some places (the Egyptian Museum in Cairo for example) there is one guard packing massive heat every ten feet or so.		This is a statue of the falcon, symbol of the god Horus. I'm in Luxor temple here, I think. My pictures got jumbled out of order, so now I don't know which of the 50 temples this statue belongs to.

Kom Ombo, Edfu

	Daybreak on Edfu temple. Or is it Kom Ombo? As you may have guessed, I visited countless temples and did not take very good notes! In any case, a truly impressive and ancient edifice.		The sun creeps over the horizon, illuminating the ancient carvings.
	I don't even remember where this is! Whatever it is, it's cool. Actually, it might a temple near Philae in Southern Egypt. The temples at Philae were operating until the time of Justinian, who closed them down forever. The language that had been spoken for 3000 years was lost until the Rosetta Stone was discovered and deciphered.

Miscellaneous

	The fabled Colossi of Memnon. Another misnomer. These are statues of Amenhotep III. Ok, this picture only has one of the statues in it. In antiquity one of the statues would make a moaning sound at dawn and dusk, supposedly Memnon greeting and bidding farewell to his mommy, Eos the dawn goddess. The Roman emperor Septimius Severus fixed the statues around 200 AD and they stopped making the noises.		Looking over Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple at Deir el-Bahari. The masterpiece of the architect Senenmut! That's the place where all the tourists got gunned down a few years ago. I have to say though, hiking in Deir el-Bahari was one of the coolest things ever. There are tombs everywhere. Hundreds of them, all the way up the mountain. The Valley of the Kings is nearby. There are no pictures from there unfortunately (not allowed).
	One of the botanical gardens on the Nile. I'm on an island near Aswan.		Here I am in one of the old mosques of Cairo. Funny thing, the colors are so strange that it looks like I'm fake and just pasted in. The tomb of Muhammad Ali is nearby.
	A detail of the ceiling of the mosque.