The Valley of Kings and a Queen

Chapter 24

The next day, we try to attempt to play the part of your average tourists. Luckily, the Cairo Museum is within walking distance from our hotel, so we begin our stroll there after breakfast.

"I'm pretty sure we take the next left," Henri says holding a map stretched between his hands, "or actually, maybe right?" His brows furrow as he attempts to decipher the correct route for us to take.

"You're holding the map upside down," Olivier chides.

"Sorry, that I'm not an expert navigator," Henri retorts.

"Well, that ways north, and you have the map pointing south, and-,"

"Not everyone can be as brilliant at everything as you are," Henri says facetiously, "and if you wanted to navigate lad you could have just said so."

"Thanks, but no thanks, I'd rather not be in control," Olivier concedes.

"That means you'll have to trust me then."

"Well, just turn the map upright then," Olivier remarks motioning for Henri to spin it around properly. The rest of us keep walking down the street behind them, we can't be that far away, and I can't imagine we'll miss it when we arrive.

"It's my job, so let me just do it my way," Henri says, turning the map closer into him and away from Olivier's peeking gaze.

"Olivier just stop being such a clever clog and just take the dang map and lead us in the right direction," Annie cries out, ripping the map from Henri's grasp and throwing it in Olivier's direction. We all just laugh surprised by Annie's sudden outburst. "What?" She asks, confused by our laughter, "someone had to do it."

Olivier then takes the lead, weaving us down and around different streetways. The city vibrant with color and alive with energy. The walls to buildings are painted with sophisticated works of art depicting important famous figures and scenery. We pass by marketplaces stocked with scarves, statues, gems, and whatever else is laid out, ready for sale. We even pass through the Tahrir square, the historical center of downtown Cairo. Apparently, the square is one of the most famous in Egyptian history dedicated to their recent revolution that has shaped their nation. Honestly, I haven't the faintest clue what has happened in Egypt the last decade or so besides seeing some news coverage stateside of civil unrest leading to riots and demonstrations that seemed to cause violent clashes between the government and the protestors alike. Though the media only shows us what they want us to see, so who knows the full story.

"Okay, so if we take this next right, we'll be there," Olivier says, lost in the map.

"We know." I say.

"You asked me to lead, and now you're getting all snobby about it."

"No, I mean we can see it from here," I say as Olivier begins to look up from the map.

"Oh well, looks as though we made it there."

A salmon building juts out over the rest. There's a long pond out front filled with water lilies and blue lotus apparently to represent the Upper Nile while the papyrus reeds growing in the center are there to represent the Lower Nile. Thank goodness for Grey, he's our free personal tour guide.

"Oh baby," Grey whistles out clearly impressed by being surrounded by such beautiful architecture and flora that bring to life his fantasies about ancient Egypt. Luckily Grey snagged us all tickets online the night before, so we don't have to wait in line. We stroll right through the entrance handing the security guards our tickets.

It only gets more breathtaking when we go inside. It's as though we unlocked a time capsule, stepped through and headed back to ancient times. We first head through a rotunda consisting of monumental sculptures from various eras. We head left into the Old Kingdom Galleries the dynasties that ruled from Memphis and constructed the pyramids. There's various "false-doors" from tombs and statues of deceased influential figures.