This was the BEST place of all!!! We arrived in Alexandria at 7am. We had reserved a private tour with www.memphistours.com however, when we arrived we were placed on a tour with a family of 8 adults. We were going to request to be changed to a private cab, except there was an added person to our tour bus….it was an Egyptian bodyguard. He wore a silk suit, silk tie, nice shirt and had a machine gun underneath his suit. He carried a locked briefcase which we suppose carried more ammunition for the machine gun!!! Since there are safety in numbers, we stayed with the group 
Our bodyguard went everywhere with us, never smiled and would not allow anyone to take his picture. Welcome to Cairo!!!
We had a 3 hour drive to Cairo. Cairo, which means “the triumphant”, is the capital and largest city in Egypt and Africa. It is the most populous metropolitan area in Egypt and is also one of the most populous in the world. The city is 82 square miles and has a population of 21 million!!! To put that in perspective, New York City is 305 square miles with a population of 8 million!!! Both Cairo and New York City have a nickname of “The City that Never Sleeps”.
Now lets look at the driving in Cairo. Imagine this: New York City on a busy day, multiply the traffic by 10, take out ALL traffic lights/stop signs, Remove all street lines to designate traffic lanes, and add in people running for their lives attempting to cross the streets at random places and the occasional 9 year old child riding a camel or horse through the traffic. You need to see it to believe it!!! And, very few accidents. If you want a drivers license, just write to the government and they give you one……no test to take….no manual to study. If you are involved in an accident, the police decide who is at fault and that person pays for damages (or doesn’t pay)….no lawyers, no insurance!
Now, the poverty. Visiting Cairo makes one very grateful that they were born in the USA and for anything that they currently own. There is trash everywhere in the streets of Cairo. There is a canal in the street about 4 feet wide with muddy water and God only knows what is in it!!! The USA ghettos would look like upper class homes in Cairo. We saw a bus that holds about 50 people that had probably 150 people on board. The saddest thing was looking at a 5 year old with his face pushed into the bus window becasue it was so jammed with people. Imagine, a hot day (110 degress) on that bus with absolutely NO ROOM to move. We couldn’t imagine how you can get off at your stop!!!
The sites were phenomenal!!! We got to see the “Step Pyramid” of King Djoser, Teti pyramid and the tombs in Sakkara, colossal statue of Ramses II, Giza Plateau which is home to Egypt’s signature attraction of the Great Pyramids…one of the seven wonders of the world…..including the Great Pyramid of Cheops, middle pyramids of Chephren and the little pyramid of Mykerinos and the mysterious Sphinx, the Father of Terror for the ancient pharaohs. We had a buffet lunch at a very nice restuarant with some Egyptian delicacies.
Due to all of the traffic, we left the tour sites and went directly to our dinner River Cruise on the Nile. There were belly dancers for entertainment Our bodyguard and tour director Mario accompanied us to the dinner cruise and picked up us afterwards. The “City that never sleeps” still had mega traffic and stores still open, it was 11pm!!
We arrived at our recommended (thank you Bridget!!) 5-star deluxe hotel called the Mena House. It was superb. We took a picture of the slippers that were placed on the floor next to our beds. There was a fabulous buffet breakfast with the freshest fruit I ever had!! A wide assortment of cereals, cheese, jelly, pastries, etcetc AND you ate looking out at the pyramid!!!! HIGHLY recommend this place
So, day two of the tour we saw: Museum of Egyptian Antiquities with over 120,000 masterpieces including King Tut; Citadel of Saladin; Mohammed Ali Alabaster Mosque; Ben Ezra Synagogue. No tour would be complete without a visit to the Carpet factory, Pyparus factory (yes, we did buy something here) and the aromatherapy/perfume factory. We made it back to the ship with only 45 minutes to spare, they leave without you if you are late 
So here are some of the pictures……
