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Published: November 29th 2007
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Hi everyone,
Well, moving right along with the blogs........thank the Lord for very high speed internet! Gotta love it!
So you see that we left Nairobi, and flew to Luxor, Egypt (I'm learning a lot about geography also; my nephews, Ben and Evan, would be very proud of me!!!!!!)
Arrival in Luxor was very smooth and handled very efficiently. Quite the contrast, as we drive down the streets of Luxor, compared to the very, very bumpy rides on the roads (and I use that word loosely) of the Samburu Game Reserve! I think I shook off at least 5 lbs there, ha ha!
Luxor is, at a glance, gorgeous. It's bright, clean, quiet and a bit exotic (palm trees, and all). Traffic is fairly sane. The weather is gorgeous (although I will be grateful to finally hit the clean, crisp air of Prague........the heat and humidity have taken its toll on me!).
We head straight to our hotel, the Sonesta St. George (www.sonesta.com/luxor). Rooms are not bad. Mine smells like an ash-tray (again!) so I have them "freshen it up" for me. There really is no such thing as a non-smoking room in Egypt! And I
continue to wonder why hotels, for the most part on this trip, have pillows that are like small, hard, rocks!????? Why is that?????? It's not like we are all Geisha girls from Japan and have to sleep with our heads somewhat suspended. Very bizarre to me. Makes for a crappy night's sleep. But hey........I'm in Egypt! Lucky me!
After we check in, there is a fabulous dinne ron the hotel pontoon, overlooking the Nile and West Bank. It's a beautiful night and, lo and behold, I actually had to go back to my room to get a sweater! It was a bit chilly. (yes, I know........I am never cold, but, well, it was a tad on the cool side even for me!). The dinner setting was breath-taking. Tables were beautifully decorated with a black and white theme, gorgeous flowers, candles, etc. There were local musicians playing as entertainment but I will admit the music was a bit hard to take! Volume was much too high (couldn't hear ourselves talk to each other........even with Doug Ripley's continued efforts to play around with the speakers, ha ha!) and it wasn't exactly Rod Stewart-type music. But, once again, hey........we're dining on the
Nile! Dinner was fabulous. We had soup, a beef dinner, and a flaming Baked Alaska for dessert. It was an early night for all, after having had a long travel day.
The Luxor area of upper Egypt was the Thebes of the ancient Egyptians - the capital of Egypt during the Middle and New Kingdoms. Today, it is famous for its temples and the nearby Valley of the Kings. Just south of the famous Luxor Temple, is the Old Winter Palace Hotel - used early this century by Lord Carnarvon as work proceeded on West Bank excavations and preliminary work on the tomb of Tutankhamun.
At the northern end of town is the sprawling Karnak complex of temples built over a span of 1500 years. It is famous for its main Hypostyle Hall with 134 massive columns. The Temple of Karnak is the greatest place of worship in history.
We spent our day touring all of the above. The Valley of the Kings was our last stop for the day, and I must admit it was an incredible and amazing tour. The tombs were ordered by the Kings of the New Kingdom to be carved into the
rock-faces of the valley so as to be safeguarded against grave robbers. Each is composed of several rooms and corridors leading to the burial chamber.
I could take lots of photos around the Temple of Karnak; photos at the Valley of the Kings were limited. The work at all of these places will amaze you; most especially, the colors that were used on some of the carvings. Who in the world had such great vision? How in the world did people do this work? What were their living conditions like? It's mind-boggling! The pictures will tell all! (there are 40 pictures here, so be sure to click on the No. 2 at the bottom of the photo page). The blog for Luxor/Cairo will be a 2-parter!
This was a LONG, HOT, FULL day........so many great things crammed into one day. I hope I captured the essence of all of this in the photos that are included here.
Sit back and enjoy!
(Good night, Mom. I love you lots!)
Happy Pat
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Michael-Ann
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The English Patient
Hey, those pictures remind me of that movie, The English Patient. Have they pointed out where they shot it? Egypt looks interesting to me. M-Ann PS: yes, why are the pillows hard? It's got to be healthy?