We find the gate for the flight to Cairo -- we think. It is not marked, but from the appearance of most of the people waiting for the flight, we think it is the right gate. They all look Egyptian and the family from the previous flight (the girls with the cowboy hats) is among them. Mister goes up to the counter and asks about our flight and is told that our boarding pass will be issued as we board --?? This confuses me and so after a brief wait, I go up and ask questions myself. Apparently, we have already been issued seats and when we get to the gate, we will receive them as we are boarding. Okay. Mister heads off to get a few Euros and some soda and chips. 
There are tables and chairs in the boarding area, so we sit and visit for awhile and Mister tries unsuccessfully to call the Pyramid View hostel. He tries several times and finally asks some of the other people if the numbers are correct and if he is dialing correctly. They assure him that he is, but he still gets either an Arabic recording, wrong number, or nothing. The flight is delayed (we will come to realize that anything related to this trip will run on Egyptian time -- always late) for an hour before we board the plane. As we go through the automatic gate (like a subway) a ticket spits out with our seat numbers on it. It is a 4 1/2 hour flight and the plane has absolutely no entertainment of any kind. Interesting. It is VERY quiet. Lunch is served and we are fascinated by the actual dishes and silverware that we are given.We try and rest (Mister has no problems sleeping as usual -- I am so jealous). I notice that we are now flying over land and so watch as we come close to Africa. AFRICA!!! Wow. I cannot believe that we are here. I try and take some pics as we close in on Cairo. I can see the Nile river and Mister awakes just as the Pyramids come into view -- too cool. As we get closer to Cairo, we watch out the windows and take pics -- it is remarkably all the same color.
The first thing we notice is that there are not really any differences in architecture -- the same buildings everywhere. We land and arrive at the gate without any problems -- not sure why I expect there to be issues. We take our time heading to customs and take pictures along the way and make a bathroom break. Mister watches the bags and I go first and as I enter the restroom, an attendant hands me tissue and into the stall I go. At the sink, the attendant puts soap in my hand and I wash and then she gives me another tissue to dry with -- not a paper towel, but bathroom tissue. Then she holds out her hand. It is my first experience with "baksheesh" which is a blatant request for a tip. I didn't take any money in the room with me and so I shake my head no. I go out to Mister and he takes his turn. While he is in the restroom, I notice that a male attendant comes running out for tissue and soap from the cart out front. He goes in to take care of Mister, apologizing the whole time. Is there a shortage on paper and soap??? Very strange.
We head to customs and are directed to a banking window where we can exchange money and get Visas for entry into the country. The Visa costs $30.00 and doesn't require any paperwork, just money, too funny. Mister exchanges $200.00 and gets 1,204 Egyptian Pounds -- this could be fun! After passing customs without any issues, we are inundated by cab drivers. Mister asks one of them to call our hostel, but he gets the same issue that we did. They are relentless and so we finally just sit down and talk to make plans. We decide to give the one guy a chance and ask him to drive us to the hostel anyway. He takes us up to a desk to pay and then the guy there tries to talk us into one of his hotels -- he gets really pushy and tells Mister that "she deserves 5 stars" which we both just laugh at. We try and push things along and he just wants us to sit and have tea and work things out. Mister finally gives them the address and agrees on a price. We leave the desk and the terminal following who we think is our cab driver. 
He asks several times to take my bags and I refuse the first few, then finally relent and let him carry. We get to the cab and he turns us over to another guy who is the actual driver. We load into the car and the guy who walks us out wants baksheesh -- Mister says no. We know that the hostel is located right at the base of the Sphinx and give that information along with the address to the cab driver. We head off to Giza. We drive down what we find out is a new road, with shops and piles of bricks and sand on the highway. 
The drivers are crazier than the ones in Peru and we didn't think that was possible. There is a ton of "new" housing right next to the road which is part of the Mubarak push that was stopped with the revolution. The driver leaves the highway onto a heavily congested road and soon stops in front of a hotel. We tell him that it is not our hostel and he looks confused. Turns out it was one of the agency's hotels -- ugh. He calls to get directions and no one is able to help him. He starts driving towards the pyramids as we keep talking about the Sphinx. He stops at another hotel -- nope, another one of theirs. It's getting ridiculous and taking forever to get to our hostel. We stay strong and start directing him, what's wrong with this picture?! He stops and asks for directions to the Sphinx We catch our first glimpses of the pyramids from the taxi window so we know we are close. After multiple calls to who-knows-who, we drive down a narrow road filled with horse carts, camels and people sitting on the sidewalk.
I see the hostel sign and Mister gets out and is met by Franco who takes him up the stairs and shows him the room while I wait in the cab to make sure the place is okay.Mister looks at the room - it is old and hot, but looks clean enough. He comes back down and gets me and settles up with the cab driver and we head for the room. Another hostel worker turns on the a/c and opens the curtains for the most incredible view of the Sphinx and the Pyramids.
Franco has told us there is a roof deck and so we head up there to take in the view completely.
It is almost dusk already (it gets dark early here) and Franco tells us that we can see the laser light show each evening from the deck. Cool.
We hear the evening call to prayer (at sunset every night) stream out from all the nearby mosques and there is a local one right in front of the hostel. I can see into the windows from the deck and watch as the men enter.
We settle in and watch the light show -- it is so amazingly beautiful. The story of the Pyramids is good and we both learned a ton. It lasts about 45 minutes and keeps our attention the entire time. We are so excited just to be here.
After the show we stop at the room to discover that the a/c is not blowing cold air. Mister fixes it, and Franco leads us next door for dinner at The Great Pyramid. We are the only ones in the restaurant and as we sit down, the light show starts up again.We discover that is is on twice a night, the first time in English and then a different language each night after that. Tonight is French. Mister orders a mixed grill dinner with 3-4 sides, bread, and tahini for dinner. Everything is good and Franco comes by as we finish and helps with the bill -- tells us we are tipping too much. The owner tells us that if we come back again, he will give a discount. We head back to our room, shower in the shared bathroom (although no other guests in the hostel tonight), and crash. It has been two days and we are beat.
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