SLIDES 0320-0333
Cairo, August 1965
In some ways, we've come full circle here, as we arrive back at the subject of that early posting I made when I first started with this scanning project (http://m-a-w-h.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/cairo-1945-1965-2010.html) and I first found the evidence of my Grandparent's trip to Egypt.
The faces of the tourists and the souvenir salesmen may have changed but, apart from the Pharoah's barge and the huge car park, and the inevitable progress of erosion and decay, it all looks much the same as when I went, and still just as astonishing.
It appears that my Grandparents were far braver than I was and actually did the whole "Posing on camels" thing (I expect that it was more "expected" in those less cynical times), and I don't imagine that my Grandfather was in quite such a sulky mood as I was. Our tour made a feature of arriving early to "beat the crowds" and then trapped me inside a bus listening to a history lecture as all those other coaches rolled up, rather than letting me out to photograph the very soul out of the things.
That said, I still photographed the hell out of it (I love digital...!), and my Pyramid photography "Tip of the Day" (should you ever be in Giza) is to stroll away to the far corners and take your pictures there, because fewer people seem to bother doing that and you get much clearer (i.e. "People-free") pictures.
Mind you, the "Ones That Got Away" can still haunt you. I remember being just a second too late for the perfect moment shot of the row of Japanese women with a row of colourful parasols with the three Pyramids lined up against the horizon behind them.
Ah well (he sighed philosophically), it was a pretty grey day, anyway...
Timeless. I can understand how you feel about that parasol shot. The waiter in the fez looks happy..
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