Tag Archives: pyramids

How the Egyptians built the Great Pyramid at Giza

Smithsonian Magazine’s site has an article on a theory on How the Egyptians built the Great Pyramid at Giza. Pyramidsmithsonian

Tackling an ages-old puzzle, a French architect offers a new theory on how the Egyptians built the Great Pyramid at Giza

I think this is from the August 2007 issue, but it might just be only on their web site.

StarGate Ultimate Edition – Review (Excellent #1)

So one of the things on my 101 in 1001 list is to make sure I own 50 excellent movies (if I don’t own then I need to buy them) watch them again and do a review on-line. By “excellent” it has to be something to have mostly wide appeal (I’m sure a few won’t) and I’m trying to have a range of the types of movies. I probably owned 15-20 I’d put in this category and I’ve probably already bought a dozen since.

Without question StarGate would be one of those movies. And since I’ve been thinking about it a lot since my trip to Egypt. The ultimate edition actually includes the original and the longer cut on two DVDs (and gobs of extras). It’s a great movie with Kurt Russel as the action hero and James Spader as the geeky egyptologist who thinks that aliens might have actually built the pyramids. The government has some items they dug up a few years back and are trying to decipher the writings on it and they bring in the ridiculed scientist to come help them make it work.

I can tell you why I was disappointed, I was hoping for more Egypt references but while I remember lots, this show did turn into seven seasons of StarGate SG-1 full of references so I guess that’s where I recall lots from, I just thought there were more in the original movie. There was a bit, I just hoped for more. Still a great flick, lots of action great scenery, some big explosions and some really great characters. And they really do have a good story tie into the creation of the pyramids. Plus he also finds what every geeky guy traveling across the universe needs, a beautiful woman who doesn’t realize what a geek he really is :)

Day 2 in Cairo (revisited)

This batch of 40+ photos from my second day of the trip consists of one album that jumps around a bit. Be sure to look back at the third week of April to see the original comments about the trip, I’ll try not to repeat myself too much.

  • Everything in Cairo seemed far away so we got to see lots of the town as we drove around: the homes (with laundry drying on the ledge and satellite dishes galore) and the awful traffic.
  • We also travel to the museum in Cairo which while it had wonderful artifacts was dusty, dirty and in need a major repair (I believe they are currently building a new one). In the museum no photos were allowed but outside was okay so I took a few of the outside and of Marilyn + Thelma (who were on our trip) and Asmaa (whom I met and chatted with at the museum).
  • Some more photos from around town as we traveled around and other odd places. Some sheep under the overpass, a few shots at the mall, a view of the pyramids as the sun sets and some kids with their camel and then back to the hotel for the night.
  • Remember: In any of the photos, if it’s water, it’s probably the Nile.
  • Day 1 in Cairo (revisited)

    So I’m putting together collections of photos from the trip. In an attempt to not overwhelm you (and myself) I’ll do one of these every few days highlighting a day (or maybe just a portion of the day depending on how many photos I took that day).

    This first day consists of two albums.

  • The trip from the airport which shows a lot of the city (Cairo is a city of 20 million people), some billboards and roads. The murals were along the walls of a military academy which was one of the first places we passed. This also contains my first glimpses of the pyramids and the Nile (if it’s wet it’s probably the Nile).
  • This has some shots of the grounds of the Mena House Oberoi hotel, my room, the view of the pyramids during the day and night and my first can of Coca-Cola in Egypt.

    You can view these photos here.

  • The Ship they Found at the Pyramids

    ShipsideoarShipstonepitSo as they were excavating around the pyramids they found a pit. The pit was covered with a row of cover stones that they say kept it hermetically sealed. Inside it they found 1024 pieces of wood and rope. After examining it they decided it was a ship and it was marked reasonably well on how to assemble it. So they did!

    They built a museum around the location of the pit’s original location so that you can see how and where it was originally found. They then proceeded to build an elevated museum around it and the full ship is assembled inside. It’s absolutely ginormous, the pictures do not do it justice at all. While they did use rope from the current day and age to assemble it, the original rope was in incredible shape.

    Continue reading

    Pyramids – Part III

    So the pyramids were absolutely mind staggering in the size and then I realized it wasn’t even the largest one of the three. Of course there were people all over the place trying to sell you water, soda and trinkets.

    One of the best parts was when I walked around one of the big ones and the crowd was dying out. As I rounded the corner one of the smaller ones came into view and there was no one around. It’s was just amazing as the sound dropped and I was able to walk around that side in awe. It was so peaceful as I walked along alone, it really gave me the opportunity to appreciate it more. I think it was the largest of the three at Giza so if you have an opportunity to walk around it give it a try before the sales people and other tourists start to wear you down.

    We didn’t go inside. The tour person didn’t recommend it, said the walls were pretty empty and it was a big empty room in the center. It was only $4 or $5 extra for one of them. I asked some people who were coming out and they said it was very hot and and they had to walk about 300 meters bent over pretty far and their wasn’t much too see.

    On the other hand I didn’t not go to the laser light show at the Giza sight and I heard it was great. Some people in our group said it was great and so did some others who stayed in the hotel so you might want to see that if you ever get there. It had just been a long day with lots of pyramids and I was too tired…

    The Pyramids Rocked

    The pyramids at Giza were Great! I uploaded some photos today (15 more) and some are the pyramids. I gotta catch a bus in 5 hours to get to my flight so I gotta hit the hay. G’nite!

    We saw the pyramids today!

    We finally got up close to the pyramids today. Amazing!!!!

    More later…