Egyptian Museum and Bab Zuweila Mosque

Today we got up early to take a bus into Cairo to visit the Egyptian Museum and see a few mosques. We got into Cairo around 11 and from there had to traverse 4 lanes of traffic to walk to the museum. It was insane. So scary, but the adrenaline rush felt awesome once we crossed safely and were still alive and on our feet.

Once we got to the museum we bought tickets for the entrance fee for under ten dollars. The place is very popular to Egyptians and tourists and it was interesting to see how unconservative some tourists were dressing. Tank tops and short-shorts in Islamic Cairo - not so attractive. My friends and I had dressed in loose pants and 3/4 length shirts and were wearing scarves in preparation for our visits to the mosques.

Once inside we were able to see the mummies! They were so cool and well preserved - some had hair still and teeth!

After visited the museum, we ate more koushary (seems to be a staple in Egyptian cuisine) and took a taxi to the msoque, Al-Azhar. Prayers and service were still going on though, for another 40 minutes so the 5 of us went exploring around the area. We stumbled upon a souq or local bazzar and then were able to see an old synogogue and go into the mosque, Bab Zuweila. Bab Zuweila was amazing. We climbed to the roof top to take pictures and could see most of Cairo. After all that exploring and walking around, however, we were all exhausted and decided to just sit inside somewhere, drink water, and eat some food before catching the bus back to campus. We decided to eat at a Pizza Hut, which unlike in America, consists of waiters and waitresses. All and all, a tiring but good day. We may go back to the Museum to explore more and we still need to visit Al-Azhar and eventually the Citadel.