Cairo & Giza: Seeing Egypt for the First Time
We've finally made it. Egypt. Cairo. The Nile. The pyramids. All the places I've dreamt about since childhood are suddenly right in front of me, and it feels surreal.

Settling Into Old Town
Our apartment in Old Town Cairo makes us feel like we're in the center of Egyptian life. From our window we hear everything: car horns, the call to prayer, the 24/7 city.

Shops stay open late into the night, bakeries pull fresh pastries from the oven all day, and tucked-away restaurants serve amazing spreads of food.

On the Nile
We thought we'd just walk along the river, but we were drawn to a boat ride on the Nile. A booth, a ticket, another fee, and suddenly we were on a boat cruising the Nile. Loud music, palm trees swaying, houses painted in red and white - it was chaotic, high energy, and beautiful all at once.

What struck me most was the music being played on boats and in vehicles. Not the Western pop we often hear abroad, but actual Egyptian music that people sing along to.

Food That Surprises You
One morning, plates of food arrived at our table without us even ordering. Falafel, baba ghanoush, eggs, fries, pita bread. The falafel was the best we've ever tasted: crispy, warm, bursting with flavor. Later, I tried hawawshi, a kind of Egyptian stuffed bread, sort of like a hamburger.

At many places here, eating feels less like ordering from a menu and more like being welcomed into someone's kitchen.

The Citadel
Standing at the Cairo Citadel, built in the early 1200s, we took in the views. We were so surprised to see the pyramids (at a distance) for the first time.

The Pyramids of Giza
We moved to a hotel in Giza to get a room with views of the pyramids. Seeing the Sphinx for the first time and catching sight of the Great Pyramid was overwhelming.

The next day, we made our way to the actual Giza Plateau to see the pyramids up close and even go right inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Chris's dad, at 80 years old, climbed inside with us. The passageways were tight, hot, and claustrophobic, but the adrenaline carried us through.

Around the pyramids, hieroglyphs carved thousands of years ago stared back at me. As a kid, I used to stamp hieroglyphs into notebooks to make up stories. Now, I was standing in front of the real thing.

Walking across the Giza plateau, the sheer scale of the pyramids left me speechless. Smooth stones at the top hint at how they once looked, 5,000 years ago.

The Grand Egyptian Museum
The newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is breathtaking. The grand staircase rises with statues and artifacts, King Tut's treasures glitter in gold, and even the boats excavated near the pyramids have their own museum.

We dropped our bags in the free luggage storage and wandered for hours. By evening, the crowds had thinned, and we had entire halls almost to ourselves.

Looking Ahead
Cairo and Giza have already given us more than we imagined - food, history, pyramids.

Tonight, we board the overnight train to Aswan. We can't wait to see what comes next.