Egypt can make my brain hurt. We saw this:
… and we were surrounded by this:
I found myself very fond of the sight of a distant mosque among palm trees, a lone camel grazing near the Nile, the sand becoming lush fields jutting against the river. I loved the sense of turning a corner and stumbling across another ancient ruin.
My enthusiasm diminished when there was far more trash than splendor or when I had to look straight ahead and ignore all the sensations of the suq to minimize harassment. I have no regrets (other than accidentally using Dwayne’s toothbrush and catching his cold!) of our North African adventures. Egypt was absolutely worth doing, but now that it has been done, my Amelia Peabody* itch has been thoroughly scratched.
*Amelia Peabody is a turn of the century lady-ish Egyptologist, created by Elizabeth Peters. While a fun read, they are best listened to as narrated by Barbara Rosenblat. The series is most noteworthy because of all the books I’ve read (and since childhood, that number is certainly in the many thousands), her son, Ramses, is my absolute favorite literary crush. Peters also created the longest and slyest literary joke I’ve ever come across, as she cross-references herself and Amelia in another of her series. Amelia and her family spend lots of time in the turn-of-the-century Valley of the Kings, Karnak, Cairo, Thebes (present-day Luxor), the Egyptian Museum and the Egypt wing of the British Museum (where we also toured in 2019), while working along and against other real-life Egyptologists.
Needopedia 