Giza

I went to see the pyramids at Giza this morning. They're very large and very difficult to take good pictures of, but I've done my best. Here again I'm not going to say very much historical or factual, but here it's primarily because I've really got nothing to say beyond what everyone already knows about the pyramids. They are very large. They're an engineering marvel. Behold.



1st pyramid (this is what the Egyptians call it. Europeans have given it all sorts of Cheops-related appellations, but this is nonsense. 1st pyramid is a much better name) with a member of the tourism police riding around on a camel in the foreground. While the tourism police do have a real purpose, and are not supposed to just add to the local flavor, I'm convinced this guy was put on a camel to please the tourists. He certainly didn't look happy to be there.



More of the same. I believe this is actually the 2nd pyramid, though. These guys were also in a foul mood about being put on camels, and rode a tourist down for trying to pose with them. I unfortunately didn't get a picture of that.



The obligatory picture of me with pyramids in the background. You can see the city right behind them. The picture's a bit small, but you should hopefully be able to make out the solid layer of smog descending on the city.

The Sphinx has been overphotographed to the point of cruelty, and there's no picture I could take of it that would meaningfully add to the collection. This is not to say that I didn't take any pictures of the Sphinx, but I'm not going to put them here. The remains of the temple at the feet of the Sphinx, however, have only been used as framing around the Sphinx's feet, and it's time for that to change.



The interesting thing to note here is the snug fit of the stone blocks. The Egyptians had no metal tools at this point in time, so they were fitting rocks together by hitting them with other slightly harder rocks until they broke correctly. I exaggerate only slightly. Using this method they managed to make stone blocks that fit snugly (seen everywhere in the picture) and in many cases wrap evenly around corners (indicated by the arrow).