Cairo Day #3

Am settling in nicely to the city and I explore confidently, slipping down the back lanes and sipping tea with the locals watching the football and picking up the lingo.
Today I decided to be a good tourist and go to visit Giza to see the world famous pyramids.
Mohammad my driver picks me up at 9am and we're off.
Where the city ends the desert begins and as we fly along the motorway we can see the pyramids luming behind the blocks of apartments at edge of the city.
At Giza its onto a horse (the first time in 20 years) and we trot off to the see one of the wonders of the world.
Passing the Sphinx that looks out over the city like a guardian never off duty.
The guide and I gallop off on our noble steeds up to the pyramids and I dismount and go and put my hands on the rocks that my forefathers help put there and take in the views. An impressive place it is but I still feel little for it and I get the impression it cares even less about me. I think that is the point of them, again a tribute to man's ego and our ability to care for nothing but our selves. It is not a place that is put there for celebration but to show you their majesty and power.
On to Sakara the oldest of the pyramids were Mohammad guessing I'm not a real tourist bribes the guard at the gate so we dont have to pay the entrance fee and I can see it from the car park witch is all I needed to see. Then on too Memphis where again I can see all the glory of Ramsis from the car park.
I'm more impressed with the land around that we pass. All the old farming technics are still in use and it really is like going back in time- the people working the fields and selling their wares. The land is surprisingly fertile due to the irrigation invented 1000s of years ago, the Nile feeds the land bringing life to the country. Almost all of the produce consumed in Egypt comes from Cairo, grown in the fields fed by the Nile. The whole country runs on this life giver.
Back in the city I head for dinner and I'm sat beside John a fellow Irish man. He is here on a tennis tour trying to get world ranking and we go and hang out for the evening, I introduce him to the sheesha and local teas. Then to bed and "The Black Dahlia" by James Ellroy. Is an amazing book about a notorious murder in LA in the forties told from the perspective of an ex boxer cop.