Today was the day I got to see the gold mask of King tutankhamun along with his throne, sarcaphagus, and countless other artifacts. I was surprised to find that his mummy is not here, but back in his tomb at the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. Unfortunately the museum does not allow cameras inside, so there are no pictures taken of any of the wonders I got to see inside the museum. The picture of King Tut's gold mask is off of the internet, its pretty much what I saw, but not taken by me :-(
Getting to the museum was a task by itself even though my hotel is only a 5 minute walk. I must have spent at least 30 minutes trying to cross the street. Cairo has no pedestrian crosswalks nor do drivers care much for pedestrians. Even though the museum is such an iconic part of Egypt, there simply is no easy way of getting to it if you are walking to it. You have to dodge cars that seem to aim for you as soon as you put your foot on the pavement. Locals have no problem waltzing their way through hundreds of cars coming at them as they easily stand in the middle of the road waiting for cars to pass... I, on the other hand, still value my life very dearly and was too scared to stand in the middle of a freeway hoping to get to the other side. After about a good 20 to 30 minutes, I somehow miraculously made it across.
The museum itself is a wonderful old building in bad need or restoration. The entry fee is only $11, but you are charged an extra $17 if you wish to visit the Mummies Hall... which I did. You have to check your camera at the entrance and then go through metal detectors. Once inside, the place is literally PACKED with people. There are thousands of people looking in awe and amazement at the wonderful treasures the museum holds.Never being one to leave the best things for last, I immediately made my way to King tutankhamun's exhibit, which due to a lack of maps in the museum, took me a good 15 minutes to find on the second floor. My first stop was the one thing I had come here to see... the king's gold burial mask, which was held inside a plexiglas case inside a plexiglas room crammed packed with people oohing and aahing at this iconic symbol of Egyptian culture. I literally got goosebumps on my skin and felt a chill go down my spine due to the excitement at the realization of a childhood dream. After staring at the mask for a long time, I tore myself away from it and elbowed my way out of the room.
Among other highlights of the museum were the mummy of King Ramses III, the Narmer Palette (which I had to memorize in art history), and the throne of King Tut. The mummies hall only contain 9 mummies, and at $17 a pop, it is a bit expensive... but how often does one get to see mummified corpses?
One particularly interesting thing I have noticed in Cairo is the love affair with cats, they are EVERYWHERE. At the bazaar they roamed every alleyway and were in every nook and cranny. In the museum they roamed freely through the hallways and gracefully jumped from one place to the other and seemed to be right at home with nobody shooing them away. I guess Egypt must be heaven for cats and Egyptian's love affair with them is truly timeless since the age of the Pharaohs.
Tomorrow... THE PYRAMIDS!!
