Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Going to Egypt pt II

What will Washington, DC, look like in five thousand years?

We've taken a short drive to Memphis, an ancient capital of Egypt. Enough of a drive outside Cairo for us to see how quickly the city ends and the hyper-green of Nileside cultivation begins.
We first meet Rameses II here. He'll be everywhere with us on our travels through Egypt. I like to imagine FDR instructing all those WPA crews to inscribe etchings and text describing Roosevelt's great presidency: his power, glory, and might; how he was favored by God; how his people benefitted from his special place so close to His right hand...on the side of buildings, bridges, and roads across the country. Not to mention Mt. Rushmore.

Anyway, Rameses II left a very fine statue of himself at Memphis.

Our guide, Amgad, has a masters degree in egyptology, which makes me wish even more that we'd brought our Mythos cards. C'mon! our little adventurers group of six has an egyptologist, a dilettante, a scientist, an occult shopkeeper, a writer, and, uh, me. How do I fit in?
Don, Amgad, Anna, Greg, and Glenn get oriented in Memphis.

There's not much to see really at Memphis, but our next stop, Saqqara, is a different matter.

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