Once I finally got off the beast we decided to head inside the Menkaure pyramid. Tight spaces don't scare me, but I have to say going down the steep, narrow staircase into the depths of the pyramid did make me a bit claustrophobic. You get to the bottom and it feels like the air has been sucked out of the place, but you forget about this as you take in a space that is older than you can believe. You imagine the ancient Egyptians carrying in the body of the king along with all that is to be left as an offering, and you can't believe you're standing in the same place.
We ascend back to the top and we're off to pay the Sphinx a visit. We do the obligatory "kissing the Sphinx" photos and then wave to the Solar Boat as we hightail it to the Egyptian Museum. Unfortunately, they don't allow cameras inside so I have no pics to show you, but we did take one of the outside. This museum houses so many artifacts and antiquities. The ones I couldn't wait to see were the objects that had been pulled from King Tutankhamun's tomb. One of the few tombs that had still been found intact in the early 1920's.
With our visit there complete we finally had time for an actual meal. We had some great Egyptian food at a local restaurant and then made two more stops: a local essence and perfume maker (where everything is 100% pure, not diluted). Below, you can see a man blow a glass bottle into a perfume bottle. Then we went to a shop that sells real papyrus, not the stuff they try and sell you outside the pyramids (*whispering* that's banana leaves, beware, not the real thing).