After a good night sleep in our beautiful hotel and a hearty breakfast (who eats that much for breakfast usually :) ) we boarded 'our' bus again, this time heading to the famous Egyptian Museum. There was again a lot of traffic, which as our guide explained, was due to the fact that this day was a national holiday. No school today and the government employees all had a day off. They are celebrating that in 1973 on the 6th of October, the Israelies had given the Sinai area back to Egypt.

We were not allowed to make pictures in the Museum. Despite the crowd, we had a great time and entertaining explanations from Reda, our guide. There is so much history in Egypt. Much has been preserved from thousands of years ago. We saw old, old statues recovered from tombs and pyramids. Many places have been robbed and were discovered empty. The second floor of the Museum is filled with the possessions of King Tut, who died at the age of 18. It is unbelievable how many valuable possessions were buried with him, supposedly to serve him in his afterlife.
Our lunch was delivered to the bus, two Egyptian sandwiches, one filled with a mixture of black beans and the other with 'who knows what'. It tasted pretty good, but I wonder if it was this food that gave many of us problems later on.
In the afternoon we went to Old Cairo, where we visited old Coptic churches. We went to the Hanging Church, which was build on top of another old church. Much is made of the fact that Joseph and Mary with the baby Jesus fled to Egypt to escape from Herod's wrath. We walked through small, narrow streets of the old city.  While we were alone with the Christian guide Reda (the Muslim busdriver and security guard stayed at the bus) we were told about the persecutions of Christians in Egypt.  They don't get hired for many jobs and education is granted only to Musims, etc.


Our guide also brought us to a few souvenir stores where presentations were given. We saw how papyrus was made and were enlightened to mysteries of medicinal oils and perfumes. We were also told how bad tourism was in Egypt lately, to encourage us to make a few extra purchases.

Our evening devotions were held in the outdoor restaurant area. We reflected on our stay in Egypt and the work of God that was done in this area. We also sang praises to our God (and yes we had an audience). Then it was off to bed, expecting a wake-up call at 4:30.