This was our 'Egyptian Museum' day. We woke a little earlier than usual and after a quick breakfast walked down to the museum past the morning street people who sell corn on the cob or sweet potato for breakfast. As we approached the entrance of the museum, a well dressed man asked us where we were from. He told us he was a teacher from Alexandria and wanted to speak to us so that he could practice his english. We figured no harm done. After chatting a little, he said that the museum was soon to be closed in the morning because it was packed with tour groups. We should rather visit the 'government bazaar' where prices were fixed and things were cheaper. He was about to divert us across the street to show us the way when Lauren mentioned that friends of hers who had recently been to Egypt had been caught by exactly the same ruse. We left him in the middle of the road and went on to the museum.
Once there, we deposited our cameras ( you're not allowed to take them in to the museum) and went to get our tickets. The ticket man first game me a little uphill about student cards, then I realized I would need to get money from the bank (this time there was an autobank close at hand). As I thought that this was inside, I bought myself a ticket and then returned for the 3 others (120LE). When I checked my change, there was 20 in 5s, he had short changed me 50LE. Of course when I returned, it was there on the counter. There was another man at the counter who had the same problem. He said to me that 'the old boy probably has some problem working out change properly'. I felt far less lenient on the man who was clearly trying to rip me off. What shocked me was that this was a government official in a responsible job trying to regularly rip off tourists.
We went in to the museum and started to look at the exhibits. Lauren was very keen for a guide, but not Fiona. Eventually I agreed to get one. Its hard to pick a guide. You basically have to take the first one that approaches. The correct way to do it is to get a group of them together and individually test their knowledge and ability to communicate. Of course this would never happen in Egypt. The one I chose seemed OK. I negotiated him down to a set price for 1 hour but he clearly wanted to make a quick buck or tow in addition. He seemed very keen to take us to the mummies - this room requires another ticket of 100LE each which we felt was overkill. ' you won't see any more in Egypt' he said - of course we did.
The museum is made up of two floors of exhibits. The ground floor consists of the Old, Middle and New kingdom galleries and the upper floor is dominated by the Tutankhamun galleries and his sarcoffagus (which consists of a huge outer coffin and a number of inner ones). Our guide bypassed the ground floor and took us upstairs. When we got to the room containing Tut's death masks, we were left to view them by ourselves while he staid outside. This was not really that much of a problem as the rooms were well labelled and we could take our time viewing the incredible sights as well as his jewelery. He did seem to know a fair amount about some of the stuff on the upper floor but we were finished there before his hour was up. At this stage he suggested that we go the gift shop. I toldk him that I wanted to see some of the ground floor rooms. He showed us a couple until his time was up. When I paid him, he claimed that there had been a mistake and that I should pay him more. I paid him what I owed him plus a tip and we spent the next two hours enjoying the rest of the exhibits on our own. All in all in spite of the guide, it was a well worth while day.
After some discussion on how to get home, Lauren took us on the scenic route. After that we relaxed for an hour or so before going to a restaurant recommended by Mohammed. The restaurant was called El Tahir and the food served was coucherie. We settled on a 5 person serving which arrived in a very large container.
This consisted of macaroni noodles, rice, spagetti (cut short) and was topped with fried onion rings and a chick pea/lentil mix with a (real) tomato sauce. They also provided a rather ugly bottle containing a sauce of lemon/garlic and ginger mixed with water and a hot chilli sauce. The restaurant was packed which was not surprising as our main course cost us only 36LE for the 4 of us and the whole evening (including a small desert - not great!) came to around 75LE which include a 10LE tip.
We returned for our evening whisky and had a bit of a difficult night with gun shots in the early morning - not sure if they were related to the unrest or not.
Once there, we deposited our cameras ( you're not allowed to take them in to the museum) and went to get our tickets. The ticket man first game me a little uphill about student cards, then I realized I would need to get money from the bank (this time there was an autobank close at hand). As I thought that this was inside, I bought myself a ticket and then returned for the 3 others (120LE). When I checked my change, there was 20 in 5s, he had short changed me 50LE. Of course when I returned, it was there on the counter. There was another man at the counter who had the same problem. He said to me that 'the old boy probably has some problem working out change properly'. I felt far less lenient on the man who was clearly trying to rip me off. What shocked me was that this was a government official in a responsible job trying to regularly rip off tourists.
We went in to the museum and started to look at the exhibits. Lauren was very keen for a guide, but not Fiona. Eventually I agreed to get one. Its hard to pick a guide. You basically have to take the first one that approaches. The correct way to do it is to get a group of them together and individually test their knowledge and ability to communicate. Of course this would never happen in Egypt. The one I chose seemed OK. I negotiated him down to a set price for 1 hour but he clearly wanted to make a quick buck or tow in addition. He seemed very keen to take us to the mummies - this room requires another ticket of 100LE each which we felt was overkill. ' you won't see any more in Egypt' he said - of course we did. 
The museum is made up of two floors of exhibits. The ground floor consists of the Old, Middle and New kingdom galleries and the upper floor is dominated by the Tutankhamun galleries and his sarcoffagus (which consists of a huge outer coffin and a number of inner ones). Our guide bypassed the ground floor and took us upstairs. When we got to the room containing Tut's death masks, we were left to view them by ourselves while he staid outside. This was not really that much of a problem as the rooms were well labelled and we could take our time viewing the incredible sights as well as his jewelery. He did seem to know a fair amount about some of the stuff on the upper floor but we were finished there before his hour was up. At this stage he suggested that we go the gift shop. I toldk him that I wanted to see some of the ground floor rooms. He showed us a couple until his time was up. When I paid him, he claimed that there had been a mistake and that I should pay him more. I paid him what I owed him plus a tip and we spent the next two hours enjoying the rest of the exhibits on our own. All in all in spite of the guide, it was a well worth while day.
After some discussion on how to get home, Lauren took us on the scenic route. After that we relaxed for an hour or so before going to a restaurant recommended by Mohammed. The restaurant was called El Tahir and the food served was coucherie. We settled on a 5 person serving which arrived in a very large container. 
This consisted of macaroni noodles, rice, spagetti (cut short) and was topped with fried onion rings and a chick pea/lentil mix with a (real) tomato sauce. They also provided a rather ugly bottle containing a sauce of lemon/garlic and ginger mixed with water and a hot chilli sauce. The restaurant was packed which was not surprising as our main course cost us only 36LE for the 4 of us and the whole evening (including a small desert - not great!) came to around 75LE which include a 10LE tip.We returned for our evening whisky and had a bit of a difficult night with gun shots in the early morning - not sure if they were related to the unrest or not.
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