EGYPT - JOURNEY INTO LIGHT.
Day two starts at sunrise, with 22 pilgrims standing between the paws of the Sphinx, his dull limestone eyes brightening noticebly with the rising sun. We stand in awe as Re, spreads his golden light across the desert. Inscrutable eyes watch as a black scarab beetle slowly makes his way up the huge paws. Named by the Greeks, part animal, part man, the Sphinx, Guardian of the skies, remains silent, watching, long after we have gone.
As we leave this sacred place, I see a stone sticking out of the sand. I am compelled to pick it up, only to find. it fits my hand perfectly. When I get home, I am told by an archeologist friend that it's an ancient stone tool.
Behind the Great Pyramid is the tomb of Meresi Ankh, a princess who lived more than 2,640 years before Christ. The tomb, 1,200 years older than the Valley of the Kings, is in remarkably good shape, with wonderful reliefs and wall paintings in their original colours.
Nearby, in the shadow of the Great Pyramid, is a modern glass building. This is the home of the solar boat, unearthed fairly recently by Americans digging nearby. The boat was found unassembled, lying in a great pit. The wood is well preserved and the boat has been reassembled.
On entering the boat chamber,we are met by a guide who mistakes us for Italian tourists. He starts to tell us the history of the solar boat in that language. He seems so excited by what he is telling us, with gestures to match this wonderfully musical tongue, we haven't the heart to tell him we don't speak Italian. When he is finished, we just smile broadly, thank him, and give him his expected Backsheesh.
"Gratzi! Gratzi!"
When one thinks of Egypt, the first thing that comes to mind is the pyramids. What is surprising is that the pyramids were named not by the Egyptians, but by the Greeks. It is believed that, as a joke, they named them after the triangular shaped loaves of bread, called pyramus, which are still being baked today. However, the word in Greek literally means "fire within." The Egyptian hyroglyphic for the pyramid is Mera, which means an instrument for accending to the sun.
It's late afternoon and time to explore the Great Pyramid of Khufu. We enter through a rift in the front face, cut in the ninth century by Al Mamun, caliph of Cairo. The original entrance is farther up the pyramid's face. This passage takes us into a long, narrow, dimly lit ascending passage, with ceilings so low we must walk bent almost in half. We follow the ramp beneath our feet up the long incline until we reach stairs, then up to the Grand Gallery. The Grand Gallery is 157 feet in length, 62 inches wide at the bottom, 41 at the top and has ceilings that are 28 feet high. We continue upward untill we reach a small tunnel at the end of the passage. It is so small we must crawl to get through it. We find ourselves in a large rectangular room made of huge granite blocks. The masonry is so perfect there's scarcely a space for a hair between them. We are in the King's Chamber.
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