Back to Giza

One of my good friends from the States arrived in Egypt this morning for a week-long visit. I was amazed that she was awake after the long trip from Denver, but we decided to take advantage of her lack of jetlag and kick off her trip with a visit to the pyramids at Giza.

Even though I'd already been to Giza once (see that post here), I really enjoyed going back. I realized there was a lot that I missed on my first trip and it was nice to be able to look at some of the same things in greater detail.
There was a temple near the Great Pyramid that I hadn't visited on my first trip to the pyramids. It was the first time I'd seen any kind of stone carvings like you often picture inside the pyramids since the inside of the Great Pyramid (which I saw last time) is bare.
Even though I'd been in the Great Pyramid, we decided to go inside the Pyramid of Khafre, which is just behind the Great Pyramid. My friend went in first (we had to go one at a time so the other one could hold the cameras, which weren't allowed) and came back out just a couple minutes later saying the passageway was too claustrophobic. I hesitated for a minute but decided to go in anyway. I made it down the first passageway and started to understand what she meant. The passage was really small and I think it was even more unnerving that it was slanting downwards, rather than up like the passageway into the Great Pyramid. I'm not sure why that would make a difference, but it was something I noticed. The next section was flat but as I approached the third section of the passage, which was an incline, I stopped to let several people pass. It was a group of Egyptians including several girls who told me "Mish kwayez! Mafeesh oxygen!", meaning "It's not good! There is no oxygen!" That made me a little nervous but after they passed, the passage was clear so I decided I'd continue until there really was no oxygen. Thankfully, that point never came, so I made it all the way into the inner chamber. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected once I was there. The shape of the chamber reminded me of a church, for some reason; it was rectangular with a high pointed ceiling. After looking around for a few minutes, I returned and met my friend outside.
We then walked down the hill toward the Sphinx. On the way, of course, we passed numerous men who wanted to sell us a ride on their camels. Although we refused every ride, we still managed to snap a couple pictures of the camels that were all around.
Walking down the hill also gave us some views of the pyramid complex that I missed by being in a car last time.
Of course, at the bottom of the hill, the Sphinx was waiting for us. We made it just in time to take a few pictures before the complex closed for the day.