Growing up in a country whose cultural peak arguably was two millennia ago afforded me the opportunity to see a lot of old things. The Parthenon, the temple of Zeus, the theatre of Epidavros and all sorts of ancient ruins that constantly popped up in my back yard. But I do believe the most ancient thing I've seen was in the neighboring country of Egypt.

Yay! When I was seven my family took a trip to Cairo, now Al Gahirah, to visit the Pyramids and the Valley of the Kings, ride some camels, take photos by the Sphinx and ride a riverboat down the Nile. It was pretty sweet! We started at the Assuan Dam and sailed north toward the Mediterranean.

Along the way I remember stopping at a site where there were two "bottomless" holes. One of them was filled with water and the other was empty. The empty one terrified me. I thought I was going to trip and fall in and never die but keep falling forever and ever. It also terrified my mom who kept me at least five feet from the rail at all times.

When we returned to Cairo we visited the zoo. The zookeeper put carrots on my head and a giraffe ate them. It was so cool! Also it was very slobbery. Another thing I remember is going to a bazaar and entering a shop where we smelled a lot of perfumed oils and my sister and I got to choose a perfumed oil. We also got gold necklaces with our names written in Arabic.

My family got to visit the Great Pyramids and wander around inside them. We saw King Tut's tomb (which is where we later got the idea to name our pet canary) and had to crawl on our hands and knees for a while because the passages were so small (= high anxiety for young Corinna). During the same trip my family got trapped inside an elevator for hours which exacerbated my recently developed claustrophobia.

Despite the small spaces, it was a lovely holiday that remains a fond memory!