There are a million Pyramid web pages on the Internet, so on this page we are just going to include information from our visit to the pyramids during our recent trip to Egypt. [Here is a link to perhaps the best of the Pyramid sites: NOVA's Pyramids Site] Tracy and I were in Cairo as coach and chaperone to the ACS students participating in the Mike Ross Screaming Eagles Track and Field Invitational. Here then are our impressions of the Great Pyramids.
 

Here is a view of the Great Pyramid complex, which contains 3 main pyramids (Khafe is shown here) and 6 pyramids in all. Approaching the area from a dusty road in Maadi on the outskirts of Cairo, you just turn the corner and there the pyramids are, with the city backed up to them. This picture reinforces the common notion that the pyramids are a camel or jeep ride into the desert. Instead, they are are now in an urban setting.
 

Click here for an image of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid at night
 
 

Turning 180 degrees from the Sphinx, you can see Cairo (right) slowly encroaching upon the Ghiza complex. However, looking to the immediate left, it is apparent that you are also right on the edge of the vast Sahara Desert.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The first structure visitors encounter as they walk directly from the Kentucky Fried Chicken/Pizza Hut up the hill to the Ghiza complex is the Sphinx. Looking a little the worse for wear (no, it is not true that Napoleon's artillery blasted off the nose during target practice), the Sphinx remains an impressive sight. I once read in a Scientific American article that the shape of the Sphinx (roughly a figure eight when seen from above) is a shape that mimics the erosion pattern of stone formations in the Sahara desert. They argue that its shape, along with the direction in which it is facing, has contributed to its longevity.
 
 

Click here for a picture of us at the Sphinx
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

As you reach the Ghiza plateau, the three primary pyramids come into view.
 
 
 
 

Click here for a view of the three pyramids at night
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Here is Khafe, the largest of the pyramids. It is interesting that only the top seems to have withstood the effects of erosion, as there is a layer of stone at the top of the pyramid that is missing from the remainder. As we rounded the corner, we encountered a group of lovely Egyptian school children on a school trip. They were eager to practice their English with us, and they posed for a group portrait. Just a little further down we encountered one of the many camel ownersfound in the Ghiza complex. Although we declined a ride, we did get pictures of both the owner and ourselves with the camel. I wonder how many people have worn that turban? (and when it was last washed?) 



 
 

Click here for a picture of

• Sheik Dale. . .
• Tracy and Dale at the Pyramids