We had a free day today, we we started our day out at the Cairo Zoo since Regan had great memories as a kid visiting this zoo. The funny thing about the zoo is that we were the only Americans there. Tons of tons of Egyptians with their families not there to see the animals, but to have a picnic. They would spread a blanket on the ground and put all of the food they had hauled to the zoo to eat on the blanket.
Regan actually had 2 baby crocodiles that lived in his bathtub as a kid, and he said they looked just like these. I cannot even imagine having those as pets!!!
Seeing live chickens inside the snake cages was not cool...
We were able to hold a Baby Lion! I still cannot even believe it. Regan was not surprised at all. I felt so bad for the baby lion because the Egyptian was making it keep its head towards the camera. Negotiating the price of the picture since we couldn't use our phones was more difficult than holding the actual lion. The fur was much tougher than I thought it would be.
From the zoo, we went back to the pyramids to really get up and close to the stones.
When we first went to the pyramids with our tour guide, we weren't able to get right up to the pyramid stones so I really wanted to spend some time seeing how big it really was.
The exact number of stones is estimated at 2,300,000 stone blocks weighing from 2-30 tons each with some weighing as much as 70 tons. I just could not fathom how the Egyptians built these pyramids 2500 years BC!!! That means they have been standing for more than 4,000 years!!!
This is to show you the size of most of the limestone blocks making up the pyramids. There are 3 big pyramids in Giza. One for each of the 3 kings; King Cheops, King Cheprhren, and King Menkaure which are guarded by the rock cut statue, the Sphinx.
No climbing...We still did anyway.
There are 3 smaller pyramids for the 3 wives of the pharaoh.
Everywhere we went, Egyptian kids would ask to take pictures with Regan! It was hilarious how they thought he was a rockstar from America with his blonde hair. When he spoke arabic with them, they were shocked!!!
Watching the camels at the pyramids get up and down was so fascinating to me! They are so tall so it is quite amazing to see how they move.
From the pyramids, we got an uber to take us to the stables Regan had memories of going to when he was a kid. I still can't believe we found them because our uber had to go in tiny streets and back alleys to get to the stables. Once we were there, we found the one Regan remembered from his childhood. He told the owner that we wanted to take a sunset horse ride in the desert. He negotiated the rate of $20 for a 2 hour sun set ride with a guide. Not too shabby!
When we first started on the horses, we were in a really dirty ally way with trash everywhere! Regan and I were wondering where we were going since we couldn't see the desert. Then, the wide sandy desert was right there. We saw a dead horse which was not great, but other than that, we could not believe that we were riding horses in the sunset with the pyramids in the background.
We rode the horses a ways in the desert, and Regan galloped fast down the sand. I trotted because I was trying to hold my backpack!
Our guide was so awesome to take pictures for us even though he didn't speak English.
Once we were to the top of the sand hill, there was a make shift hut with drinks and of course a random cat.
We were far enough away from the tourists and were the only Americans/tourists riding horses in the desert.
After the 2 hour ride, we returned the horses and couldn't believe how amazing our sunset horse ride in the desert overlooking the pyramids really was!!!
We went to the sound and light show at the pyramids. It was surprisingly cold in the evening and we were so glad we had our jackets. Egyptians all wear full on coats and hats since it is their winter. The high was 70 degrees and the low was 50.
We ended our night eating Kosheri, the Egyptian national dish and rice pudding. It was so yummy and cheap. This whole meal cost us $3.
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