Downtown

It was one of those leaden limb mornings. Everything seemed to ache and full consciousness was so elusive but once we'd pulled the curtains and remembered where we actually were, enthusiasm rather than natural energy took over and once again, we were on a mission.
By the time we'd showered and breakfasted we were only missing the mad dog, an inadvisable addition at the best of times, before heading for that mid day sun and downtown Cairo for the legendary museum.

A bit of bartering and then Sayid was our cabby for the journey , or life if we liked. Pushing into the traffic, we headed out of Giza and across the Nile towards Cairo. It isn't far but the traffic is constant and chaotic, requiring a driving style that would see you banned in most countries. He was jovial and somewhat refreshingly, genuinely friendly. But having offered us the customary direct source for such niceties as replica papyrus, he quickly judged from our lacklustre demeanour that something else may be needed. For only one Egyptian pound a gramme and brewed of coarse by his family to their own traditional recipe, he could sort us out.

Not being sure if he was selling speed or some mystical pharonic aphrodisiac , exactly what we didn't want given our lack our lack of rest, we politely declined but parted the very best of friends

Cairo Museum is a treasury of riches.
There's just too much to take in and it's inevitable that after a couple of hours, you've become blasè. But we focused on our objective, the pyramids and scanned every room for any links to them.

Pyramidions, the tips of these magnificent structures are rare and having furthest to fall, are in the main, now just shattered fragments amongst the sands below. But containing as they do, all the relevant information about their respective pyramid, to us they are deeply lovely.

Having done our best to scan the 100,000 exhibits, the most striking thing that started to occur to us was the lack of pyramids. Be it sculptured relief, statuesque or modelled, visual depiction of pyramids is almost non existent.

Ancient Egyptians were terrible bureaucrats, recording everything, so why no pyramids? We scanned the genuine papyri, there is everything they ever did. Horses, cows, chariots, snakes, musical instruments, the lot but absolutely no blue prints for pyramids anywhere. Not so much as a rough sketch but it's an enigma and something for us to ponder over further.

Now slightly overloaded, we headed home just in time for rush hour. It's a miracle that we didn't hit anyone or be hit by anyone else, but somehow they all seem to cope. This is probably the only country where you could fail your driving test for insufficient use of the horn. But we made it back in one piece and in time for our first sunset in the presence of the mighty pyramids of Giza.