As much as I try to better myself, the truth is I am just not a museum person. I was terrified when my friend told me he visited the Egyptian museum 3 times. My guidebook recommended setting aside 4 hours for the complete experience. I couldn't leave Cairo without going to the Museum of course, but I was getting depressed thinking about it.

Luckily, I met another traveler with the same view of museums as me. My museum buddy and I barely lasted an hour and a half before the massive storeroom of antiquity was too much to bear.

Right before I left home, I explored the Egyptian exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For anyone who has been there... well, the Egyptian Museum isn't it. It isn't beautifully designed. Objects seem almost randomly placed. Only about 2/3 of the exhibits are labeled. Getting around is confusing, as different rooms (eras) look similar. The lighting is not very good.

But the actual exhibits themselves are amazing! The King Tut room is an absolute stunner, more gold than I could imagine in one place. The jewelry was by far my favorite of all exhibits, both in King Tut's room and elsewhere. The sheer number of items and the variety in the collection was overwhelming, but in a good way. Apart from the jewelry, I liked the models best, especially wondering if the modelmakers really believed that the model people would come to life or if model boats would grow to full size on the other side.

The Royal Mummy room costs an extra fee to enter, but it seems impossible NOT to enter. You're in Egypt, when will you ever see mummies of this age again? Some are still wrapped, some show their blackened skin, some still have hair and nails, and all of them are pretty fascinating. It's a quiet and peaceful place, but very small and you may have to shuffle in a line to see the different cases.

The Museum is open from 9am-6:45pm. You are not supposed to take photos but of course everyone does and the guards are not strict. We tried to arrive early before the doors opened to beat the tourbus crowds, but they are just unstoppable. We were still technically the first ones in but the groups were immediately behind. Although it seemed like a sea of tourists outside, once inside it was easy to find ourselves in rooms alone. Very different from the descriptions I heard from people who went later in the day—everyone's trying to get out of the afternoon heat, but then it's hot inside and very crowded. Admission is 20EP with a student ID, 35EP for the Royal Mummy room.

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