I really did see the tomb of King Tut - the boyhood Egyptian king of SNL skit fame by Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin - but I have no proof.
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo does not allow photography in the room that houses Tutankhamun’s tomb and hundreds of artifacts from his burial site.
But outside of that, Egypt is a paradise for photographers, ranging from the ancient Egyptians to the mosques and churches to the every day comings and goings of its citizens.
Before I bore you with my journalistic version of home movies, a note or two why I was in Egypt and what I encountered.
I was there with my son, Adam, who thankfully speaks Arabic and was told dozens of times by locals how well he speaks it. Several times I even got “you must be a proud BAba” - the Arabic word for papa.
Adam was given a grant by the University of Chicago - where he is in a master’s program - so off we went in order for him to do more research.
To sum up Egypt, especially Cairo, succinctly: It’s exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. You are in a taxi fearing for your life - everyone is auditioning for a part in the next Fast and Furious movie - while at the same time zipping past something as majestic as the pyramids.
Its marketplaces are stuffed with beautiful things but you never get a moment’s peace from the vendors, who will stalk you for a good 50 meters to buy their wares - especially me who was obviously an American and the only one in many spots because the tours don’t go to a lot of the places we went.
Despite the headaches - shoddy internet (I worked while there), the heat, the dust (it’s a desert) and the at-times overwhelming frenetic pace of Cairo - it was a fabulous two weeks.
And yes, I am one proud BAba.
When you walk into this section of the Mosque of Muhammad Ali it almost takes your breath away. No other mosque I visited had these types of lights. The mosque, which towers over the city, is part of The Citadel complex. TOM DESCHRIVER/TIMES NEWS
When you walk into this section of the Mosque of Muhammad Ali in Cairo it almost takes your breath away. No other mosque I visited had these types of lights. The mosque, which towers over the city, is part of The Citadel complex.
It was common to see bread delivered by bikes or scooters. A boy makes his run in the busy marketplace of Khan el-Kahlili.
When in Cairo eat like the locals they say ... in this case, it's stuffed pigeon. Not much meat on the bird, but it was tasty and the skin crispy and flavorful. Thank goodness for the big helpings of rice and vegetables or this would have been an extremely light lunch. ADAM DESCHRIVER/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS
The humus, left, and labneh at a Lebanese restaurant in Cairo were so good we went back a second time. And these were just appetizers.
Part of the entry way into the Mosque and Madrasa of Sultan Hassan. Mahmuk ruler Sultan Hassan had it built between 1356 and 1363 and it's one of the largest Islamic religious buildings in the world.
The Egyptian Museum has hundreds of sarcophagus on display. If you weren't royalty, like King Tut, you get stacked like this along a wall.
An oil lamp at the Nubian Museum in Aswan. We broke up our trip with four days in Aswan, which is about 500 miles south of Cairo. The Nubians were indigenous to southern Egypt and still live in the region. Many were moved north of Aswan when the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s, flooding their lands.
Temple Philae in Aswan is on Agilkia Island in the Nile a few miles south of Aswan city. The temple was moved to this island in the 1960s, a process that took almost 10 years, or it would have been under water when the Aswan High Dam was completed in 1970.
One of the walls in the Temple Philae.
After loading all these bags, these two guys deserved to kick off their shoes and enjoy the ride down a busy street in Cairo.
Sunset on the Nile from our hotel room in Aswan.
The Jokka necklace, of Sudanese origin, in the Nubian Museum in Aswan. The Nubians also occupied northern Sudan at one time. TOM DESCHRIVER/TIMES NEWS
The Al-Azhar Mosque and University in Cairo is the second oldest continuously run university in the world. It was built in 970. It is across the street from the Khan el-Kahlili market, making the area busy at all times of the day, especially at night.
The door to the library at the Al-Ashar Mosque and University in Cairo. The small plaque in the upper right dates the building to 1309.
Tagine is a traditional North African dish. Tagine is both the dish it is cooked in and the food itself. After putting all the food in, a lid fits tightly on the pottery dish and the food is slowly cooked. This is shrimp tagine, my son's meal that night, and I went with veal tagine. Both were outstanding.
The mihrab - ornamental niche in the mosque's wall - at the Mosque and Madrasa of Sultan Hassan. The mihrab points in the direction of Mecca.
Part of the Church of St. George - an Greek Orthodox Church - in the Babylon Fortress in Coptic Cairo. The church dates back to the 10th century.
A mosaic in the courtyard of The Hanging Church, which got that name because it sits atop the gatehouse of the Roman fortress that was built in the 9th century. The church is consecrated to the Blessed Virgin and is in Coptic Cairo.
The Madrasa and Mausoleum of as-Salih Najm ad-Din Ayyub near the Khan el-Kahlili market. Built in 1243, this is one of the most important architectural installations dating to the Ayyubid period. This madrasa - Islamic school, college or university that is often part of a mosque - was the first institution of its kind to teach all four schools of jurisprudence, replacing the Shi'ite curriculum that had been in place under the Fatimid Dynasty. Each of the four schools of jurisprudence has its own allocated area inside the madrasa.
Shawarma, think Greek gyros, is popular in North Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Beef on the left and chicken on the right. It's a great grab-and-go option for lunch.
Reviews said the food at Aswan Moon in Aswan was so-so, but the view was fantastic. So we stopped for a drink there before heading to dinner, which in Egypt you don't even start to think about until 9 p.m. - it's too hot to eat any earlier.
The Egyptians are aan extremely friendly and hospitable people, including our server at a rooftop restaurant, which featured live music, in the Khan el-Khalili market who was obviously working me for a better tip.