Museum? Snoozeum!

To be completely honest, Egypt doesn't really tickle my fancy (and please forget the fact I just used the phrase "tickle my fancy"). First, they speak a different Arabic here that causes taxi drivers to cock their heads in confusion over what I say and really lessens the albeit small amount I understood in Syria and Jordan. Cairo also doesn't seem to have much of a character to it. It's just a big city. I liked Damascus much more.

So yesterday I side aside a chunk of my day to tour around the Egyptian Antiquities Museum. Everything I read leading up to this trip said it was a must-see stop in Cairo. The museum has over 250,000 pieces of history on display from the very small to the very very large. The sheer number of artifacts was impressive. It was very cool to be walking through thousands of years of history. But I unfortunately didn't enjoy my time spent there. Let me tell you why.

1. Admission is $10. Can't you get into the Louvre for less than that? I mean, you kind of have to pay it because you have to see the museum, but isn't that a little excessive?

2. There's nothing to explain the process of obtaining a guide. I was approached by a couple of men asking if I needed a guide. Of course, if you're approached by a "guide" in any other country you run as fast as you can. These guys aren't legit and are just scamming. Were these guys at the museum legit? I don't know. No one told me. I did ask one guide how much he charged and it was the equivalent of $20 an hour. Considering most spend 2 hours browsing, no thanks. Not for me.

3. If you don't elect to hire a guide, you're on your own. No brochures, no maps, no direction. There is one map in the entrance but you sort of have to walk away from it to see anything in the museum, so it's not much help.

4. Only about 15% of items in the museum are labeled in any way. If they are labeled, it's in Arabic and English and the English is pretty suspect.

5. It's hot in the museum. No A/C. Everyone is walking around fanning themselves with beads of sweat all over. Not only hot, but dusty and dirty.

6. Not that I minded that much, but all the artifacts are just laying around and anyone can touch them. Of course, there are big signs posted everywhere that say "Don't Touch" but what do you think that makes people want to do? Touch, of course. And when it's so accessible, why not? I could have sat in a sarcophagus if I wanted. The huge museum only has a handful of guards and hundreds of people. There's not much they can do.

7. A popular attraction in the museum is the Mummy Room. Where they keep, well, the mummies. I had read in a book beforehand that there is an extra admission fee to the Mummy Room of 20 Egyptian pounds or about $4. Imagine my shock when I get there and see that the actual admission fee is not 20, but 100 pounds or $20. What?! I know some of you (including my mother) would say "Aw, you should have just paid it. Mummies!" But when you read the Arabic and realize they only charge Egyptians $2 to get in, you have to take a stand on principle and refuse. I mean, what sense does it make to charge twice the price of admission to the general museum for one room in the museum? I guess people pay it, though. Just not this guy.

Can you imagine how expensive a trip to the museum could be for a family of four? That would be $40 for entrance fees. About $40 for a guide for two hours, and $80 for entrances to the Mummy Room. $160? Does that not seem like too much to you? Now, I realize these are artifacts that you can't see just anywhere. And, in their defense they are truly beautiful pieces of work and must be viewed. I just think it's a sham with the prices they charge.

Ok, I'm done ranting. I actually had a great evening last night thanks to some cool CSers in Cairo. We all met up for dinner at a place called Sequoia. It was a really spectacular restaurant situated outdoors right on the Nile. We all ordered a sheesha and sat around and talked until 2 in the morning. For those of you who are curious, my new favorite sheesha flavor is lemon mint. I feel like I could get out of bed in the morning and smoke that and not need to brush my teeth. Quite refreshing. And as always, quite the eclectic group of people at the dinner. Me, two grandmothers from Georgia, a New Yorker, an Egyptian-American, an Italian and two Egyptians. We're meeting again tonight for some karaoke. I'll see if I can't get video of me singing some Amr Diab or Nancy Ajram.

Tomorrow I've hired a driver to take me to the Pyramids and Sphinx. That's what I've come for. I'm excited.

I've gotten some great questions so far from you all. I'll answer each and every one of them in a coming blog, but until them, keep sending questions!