Today we had breakfast for the first time together, and then headed off on our first trip as a group- to the Cairo National Museum. Today seemed a lot better, because we went to the highlights only, and Sharif, our tour guide, explained a lot of the history behind them. One of the highlights of this trip was the Mummy Room, which had about a dozen preserved mummified pharaohs and other royals, such as Tuthmosis III and Ramses II.

After the museum, we headed off to the first major site of the tour- Giza. I was so excited, I could hardly control myself. We arrived at about lunchtime, and it was HOT!!! There is such a dry heat here, that really takes it out of you, but funnily enough, I've had a couple of days in the hot sun, but so far, no sunburn.

The Pyramids at Giza (Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinos) are enormous up close- it is so hard to understand how people could build these things thousands of years ago. We got to climb on the large pyramid (Cheops) and each stone was about as high as me. Afterwards, we went and looked at the second one (Chephren), but then we got to go inside the first one- the tunnels are very small and steep, and my legs are hurting for days after it, but it was amazing to be inside one of these things. The path lead up and up into the main burial room of the great Pharaoh.

Next up was another amazing experience- a camel caravan. Just behind the three Pyramids, dozens of camels and their keepers are waiting to take everyone on a trek into the Sahara Desert. Going behind the Pyramids meant we had a better shot of getting all three in a line. The camels themselves were funny- sometimes they would walk normally, sometimes they sped up and got stuck trying to overtake, and other times they would just walk you into other camels and people!! Our camel driver was kind enough to take photo's for us all (for a small fee, of course) and we all got some great shots.

The day was far from over. Next stop was the Great Sphinx. Sitting just to the side of Cheops, it is a magnificent site. We couldn't get in front of it, but a ruined temple and a pathway enabled us to get close and snap some great pictures.

After all this excitement, it was time to settle down to a (very) late lunch at an authentic Egyptian restaurant. Everyone ate and ate, since we'd had such a busy day, and the food was pretty awesome too. From there, we went on to a Nubian Village, and visited an authentic Arabian House, where they make perfumes and oils, many of these mimicking the expensive and popular perfumes and aftershaves.

Last stop of the day was Giza train station, where we boarded our overnight train to Aswan. The train wasn't much to look at, but after a few drinks in the club car (and a few more just to be safe), we had so much fun. The little sleep we got was good, but having to wake up every other hour because the train driver slams on the breaks, was getting old- especially when some people who were sleeping on the top bunk thought they would get thrown from their beds.