"Ah, the Mighty ..." a Pyramids of Giza Travel Page by InfiniteVoyage

My fellow travellers and I hired a day-hire car with a driver from Intercotinental Hotel (one of them was staying in the hotel). Of course, we told the driver to take the most expedient route to Giza since metropolitan Cairo can get hopelessly clogged with traffic with exhaust fumes hovering around the cars. Anyway, on the way to Giza we were exhilarated to see the pinnacles of the two tallest pyramids from the highway. It was unfortunate that we couldn't just pull over to take a picture without causing traffic jams or breaking some law. We in the west are used to seeing skyscrapers jutting out of the horizon from the highway and not be enthralled by the sight; it was a completely different matter to actually see the ever famous pyramids doing exactly the same thing with the opposite emotional effect. What a sight.

Even before I stood near the base of one of the pyramids, the first word that came to mind was "Wow." You must understand that of all the ancient, or modern for that matter, structures I ever wanted to see these pyramids now in front of me topped the list. I was mesmerized and humbled. And, truthfully, I also got a little teary for one of my goals in life came to realization.

The pyramids are truly immense in size, shape, and age, not to mention the complexity of the unknown engineering principles used. These structures were the tallest man-made structures for several millenia (at least four THOUSAND years) and the ONLY surviving member of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World." (The Temple of Artemis near Ephesus doesn't count since practically the whole temple is gone.)

You know, it's funny to come to grips of the fact that we consider ourselves modern, sophisticated, and advanced while at the same time we can't even duplicate some of the structures, such as the pyramids, built by the people we call ancients. Talk about reality check. Perhaps, that could be one of the motivating factors why our engineers are trying to solve the engineering mystery of the pyramids. Not to mention the obvious benefit for our society.

Okay, the pyramids might not be the tallest man-made structures anymore but they still pack a wallop when one is standing right next to them. Not only was the overall structure huge, each block of limestone comprising the pyramids is equally big...and heavy. I found one that is almost as tall as I am. I took a picture of my partner one standing and another sitting in one of the "paths" of the pyramid from a distance. The end result was that he could literally have become a mere dot if I went just a little further out trying to get the entire view of the pyramid.