Stanley Visits an Oasis

Recently, Stanley went to visit an oasis.  Egypt is in the middle of the desert, which mostly looks like this:

It is very hot in the desert, and there is usually no water.  This means that plants and animals have a very hard time living in the desert.  Sometimes, though, there are parts of the desert where water comes up from under the ground.  When there is enough water coming out of the ground, plants and animals can live near there.  A spot like this in the desert is called an oasis.

Stanley went to visit a very big oasis called Siwa.  This oasis is so big that a whole town can live there:

The trees you see are all one kind- palm trees that grow dates.

The yellow things on the tree are dates that aren't ripe yet.  When they are ripe they turn brown and very sweet.

All of the buildings in Siwa are built out of palm tree wood and mud.  This is a picture of the hotel that Stanley stayed in:

If it rains a lot the mud used to build the houses will melt away.  Since it hardly ever rains in Siwa this is not usually a problem.  These buildings on the hill were built more than 1,500 years ago:

In all that time there has only been enough rain to break down the mud walls a little bit!

The people in Siwa lived there a long time without any visitors.  They didn't have any roads so they didn't need cars.  Even though they have a road now, most people still use donkeys to get around.  Stanley got a ride with this donkey, can you see him?

Siwa has a big lake which gives the people all the water they need.  There are some spots in the town where even more water comes up from the ground.  There are swimming pools built over these spots so people can go swimming.  Here is Stanley cooling off in one pool called Cleopatra's Bath.

While Stanley was in Siwa he went out into the desert to see some more things.  He stopped at one place that looked like white salt was sprinkled all over the desert:

We Stanley got closer, though, he saw that all the white spots were actually sea shells.

The shells are from a very long time ago when the desert was covered with an ocean.

Next, Stanley visited a tiny oasis that looked like a little lake.  The water was very nice and the desert was very hot, so everyone got to go swimming again.

Last, Stanley visited another tiny oasis that had hot water coming out of the ground.  There was a little pool to swim in the hot water, but Stanley did not want to swim in hot water in the middle of the summer!

The desert was a very interesting place to visit and Stanley hopes to go back sometime soon!

Stanley Visits Giza

Giza is an area in Cairo, the capital of Egypt.  Giza is famous for having the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx.  Stanley got to visit Giza a couple of weeks ago.

These are the three biggest pyramids in Giza.  They were build for three famous pharaohs, Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. 

The most famous of these pyramids is the Great Pyramid of Khufu.  In this picture it is the pyramid all the way to the left.  It is the biggest pyramid of all.  The stones used to build this pyramid are bigger than a full-grown man!  Since Stanley is a only boy, the stones are all much bigger than him.

People can go inside this pyramid, but no one can take pictures.  Here is Stanley by the main entrance for the pharaohs:

Underneath where Stanley is you can see where people go inside now.

Next to the big pyramids are some smaller pyramids built for the pharaoh's queens.  You can tell that the queens weren't very important because their pyramids are small and falling apart.

Next, Stanley visited the Sphinx.  A sphinx is a mythical animal that has a lion's body and a human head.  Most people think the head of this Sphinx was carved to look like the Pharaoh Khafra (the one with the second biggest pyramid).  The Sphinx is very big so you can barely see Stanley standing next to his paw. 

Nobody knows why the Sphinx was built, or why the Sphinx does not have a nose.  Some people think the Sphinx was meant to represent a god, and some other people think the Sphinx was just a way of praising the pharaoh Khafra.  The Sphinx is about 4,500 years old and it has not had a nose for at least 1500 years.  What do you think happened to his nose?

Stanley Visits Saqqara

Today Stanley went to visit the oldest building in Egypt called the Step Pyramid.  It is 4,660 years old!  Pyramids were built for very important Egyptian kings, called pharaohs.  When a pharaoh died he was put inside the pyramid with all of his special things.  Egyptians believed that the pharaoh would come back to life in another place, so they wanted to make sure that the pharaoh would have everything he needed in his new life.

Near the Step Pyramid are some other places where older pharaohs were buried.  The Egyptians wanted to build pyramids for these old pharaohs, but it took them a long time to figure out how to build a good pyramid.  This is one of their first tries:

This pyramid was for a pharaoh named Unas.  It was a beautiful pyramid, but it mostly fell down in an earthquake. 

The Egyptians tried to build a good pyramid again:

This pyramid was built for a pharaoh named Userkaf.  It lasted better than the first one, but it still wasn't quite right.

At last the Egyptians figured out a way to build a good pyramid.  Since they knew it was good, they also built other things around it. 

First, they built a fancy entrance gate:

Stanley could just squeeze through the wall at the gate:

Then, there is a long hallway with columns on both sides.  These columns are supposed to represent a bundle of plants tied together:

After walking through the hallway you see a large courtyard (now it is covered with sand).  All the way at the other end is the famous pyramid:

This pyramid is called the Step Pyramid because the parts of the wall look like steps on a staircase.  It was built for a pharaoh named Djoser.

Stanley got to get close to the Step Pyramid because it is still very strong.  You can see scaffolding on the outside.  There are people trying to make this pyramid even better.  They started at the bottom, where you can see they are doing a good job fixing it.

No one gets to go inside this pyramid.  The pharaoh Djoser was buried so deep inside that there is not enough air for visitors to breathe. 

Stanley is excited to see more pyramids!

Flat Stanley Visits His Neighborhood

Today Flat Stanley went to visit his new neighborhood called Maadi. 

Here is Stanley getting ready to go.

Everybody in Maadi lives in apartment buildings.  The buildings all have walls around them with gates to get in.  Most of the time there is a guard at the gate to make sure only the people who live there can get in.

Sometimes the buildings are very nice, with plants all around.

Sometimes there is just dirt around the buildings.

It is difficult to find the way around Maadi because there are very few street signs.  Sometimes the street sign is on a wall:

Sometimes there is nothing at all to tell you where to go!

Finally, Flat Stanley found the church that he will go to.

In Egypt people go to church on all different days.  Stanley will probably visit this church on Friday evening.

Flat Stanley Begins His Journey

Flat Stanley is going on another trip!  He started the trip in the United States of America.  Two boys named Luke and Stephen brought him to life in Pennsylvania.  Then, Luke and Stephen mailed him to Maryland.  He will spend a few days there before he begins a very long trip to Cairo, Egypt. 

Flat Stanley is excited to see Egypt and all of the fun things there!  What do you think he will see?