Today we managed a sleep in and then all went off to the Egyptian Museum for the morning. I chose to go off by myself and Siobhan and Yngvar decided to come with me. Before we left the hostel Yngvar showed me his feedback form and under "Local Guide" he had written "It is more interesting to listen to Kristina from the group", what a sweetheart.

I had a look in the atrium which always displays new things each time I was there, I am sure Siobhan was not as into the Early Dynastic pottery as I was, and was probably standing there evaluating my sanity. We moved on and I pointed out the giant statues of Amenhotep III and his wife Tiye, on the way to the Amarna room. For the third time I stood there in front of the huge statues of Akhenaten and marveled at one of my heroes.

Yngvar had been looking forward to seeing the royal mummies so we all paid the extortionate 100 EGP to go in. We went in the first room and I saw Siobhan almost wince at the mummy of Seqenenre Tao II, one of the last kings of the 17th Dynasty who died in battle trying to liberate Egypt from the Hyksos invaders. We looked at Seti who again, just looked as though he were sleeping and finally on the face of Ramses II, obviously an old man with white hair. The newly identified mummy of Hatchepsut was also on display, and for the first time I gazed at the face of the woman who had the nerve to take the throne of Egypt.

I could see Siobhan and Yngvar thought it was worth every piaster we had paid to go in. We left the first room and I told Yngvar and Siobhan there was a second room which not many people realise.

We went across the hall to the second room and sure enough it was empty and we had our own private audience with the pharaohs. On the way in was the mummy found in KV 55 which had "Akhenaten" labeled on it. Never would I have thought this mummy would be displayed or that I would ever see it. I stood there for ages looking at the body that may have once been Akhenaten and almost felt moved to tears. Next to him was a mummy labeled "Wife of Akhenaten", surely they must have meant Kiya, they couldn't possibly mean Nefertiti, such a discovery would have made headlines around the world.

Some of the mummies in the second room I had not seen before, I was most impressed with the mummy of a 21st dynasty prince, who still had false eyes and looked like he would get up and ask me to let him out of his glass coffin at any moment. Finally I paid my respects to Ramses III, who over the past weeks and the past year I have gained much respect for. This was the man who built Medinet Habu, the most impressive monument built by a single pharaoh and who successfully defeated the Sea Peoples. It was hard to imagine after writing my thesis on the Sea Peoples, that this man in front of me had actually seen their ships descend on the Delta and witnessed the destruction they were capable of.

Yngvar seemed really interested in mummies, so I insisted he visit the animal mummy room, which I think he thought was really cool. He seemed quite impressed by the mummies of the Crocodiles and the huge Nile perch. I also showed him the mummies of a dog and a baboon, these were found in a tomb of a person and at first glance appeared to be alive and playing together.

Next we visited the ever impressive Tutankhamen exhibit, I started firstly with the gilded shrines the coffin was found in and then the solid gold coffins and the famous death mask. It wasn't too crowded so I pointed out the weakness in the mask on the left cheek, the same place Lord Carnarvon had received a mosquito bite, which became infected and subsequently killed him.

The last thing I showed Siobhan and Yngvar was the throne of Tutankhamen, which shows him and his wife worshipping the Aten, but both have names with "Amun" instead of "Aten". On the way out I went to check on the Stela of Queen Merit Nieth, sure enough it was in the same spot as it was last time. Unlabelled and shoved in a corner, only now each corner of the room contained an Early Dynastic stela, I went around the room reading the early cartouches, the name of Peribsen was amongst those I could read.

We left the museum and sat around outside waiting for the others to show. I had to get my Aussie passport out of Pumba and needed Aarons key. I then met Siobhan at the Hilton and walked to the truck. I got my stuff and said goodbye to Gertie. I stopped off on the way back to the hostel for some Kentucky Friend Camel and then had a nap for the rest of the afternoon.

We had our last group dinner at Felfela restaurant, which was a bit mediocre, but it was a nice environment. We attempted to go out for drinks afterwards, but couldn't find a pub, so we ended up in café Riche, which I didn't particularly like. I stayed and chatted for a bit before going home to bed.