At 11:00 pm last night we took our last wild ride through Cairo at about 90 miles an hour. It had been an exciting trip full of new sights and stories, but I was glad to see the city from the back window of the car for the last time. I was tired and ready to head home. We boarded our plane bound for Paris, France and took off minutes later to leave behind the golden lights of Cairo. We landed in Paris and it was raining with 61 degree temperatures. It was so cold compared to the 110-120 degrees we [View Full Entry]

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This morning Missy and I went to the Savoy Market in Luxor to buy some souvenirs to use in our classrooms. We had some long bargaining sessions with several shop owners and came out with many items of interest that will help us set up great Egyptian displays. We quickly headed back to the hotel to ride the bus to the airport to catch our flight to Cairo. We traveled to the airport and boarded Egypt Air which our tour group had renamed "Egypt Scare" after the terrible landing we had when returning from Abu Simbel. Our tour group of explorers [View Full Entry]

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After our visit to the Karnak Temple, we took an amazing ride by horse and buggy through the local village and market. Our drivers were two twelve year old boys who liked to drive fast and wreckless. I repeatedly asked them to slow down, so I could get better pictures, but they replied, "Ferrari" and laughed. I thought we would end up killing a few people before our ride ended! We did not have an inch to spare as we drove wrecklessly through their market. I felt terrible from disrespecting their space, but the Egyptians didn't seem to mind, and the [View Full Entry]

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Today we left our fabulous Nile Cruise and headed to our hotel in Luxor. Luxor is a lovely city that is clean and beautifully manicured with the Temple of Luxor in its center and the Temples of Karnak at its edge. On the way to the hotel we stopped at the Luxor Jewelry Market. It was a great shopping excursion. The store had beautiful creations made of gold and silver in the form of many different designs representing ancient Egyptian culture like the key of life, the Eye of Isis, cartouches, and the sacred scarab. We traveled to the hotel where [View Full Entry]

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At 5:30am this morning the alarm clock went off and it seemed as if my head just hit the pillow. We left for the Valley of the Kings at 6:30am to arrive before all of the crowds. The mountain at the top of the valley has a pyramid shape and the ancient egyptians believed that it was a sign identifying sacred ground and that they should be secretly entombed there. We were told that eventually they will close all the tombs and take people through a “recreated” exhibition, since the breaths of the tourists, subterranean water damage, and the climate are [View Full Entry]

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We left Aswan the night before and cruised to Kom Ombo. We enjoyed seeing the countryside when we woke with fishermen and farmers hard at work. Kom Ombo is 40 kilometers (28 miles) north of Aswan and since earliest times, has received visitors who have traveled through the Libyan and Arabian deserts from Sudan. The town of Kom Ombo was built on a high dune overlooking the Nile and gained importance during the Ptolemic age as it protected the southern border of Egypt and in the Roman period was a military station. Following breakfast we began the day with a visit [View Full Entry]

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We got up early to head for the new dam and Lake Nasser. The "old" dam was built by Sir W. Wilcock on behalf of the British authorities in 1898. It was constructed from granite quarried in the Aswan area and the official opening took place in 1902. Mayer told us how the United States refused to help Egypt with money or construction of the dam in the 60's, but Russia jumped at the chance. Of course they could not give them money, but they helped engineer the dam. There was a beautiful lotus monument to show Egypt's appreciation to Russia. [View Full Entry]

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We left our hotel early for the Aswan airport to head to Abu Simbel. Mayer explained that you have to go by plane or military convoy escort on a bus. Apparently, there has been a history of terrorism and tourists have been robbed and held as hostages by the Sudanese on their way through this secluded part of the desert. I felt better that we would be traveling by plane. We did have a little mishap at the airport again. One of group members accidentially left some maniucure scissors in her bag and the airport police were very upset. We could [View Full Entry]

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I managed to get a little sleep, and I was very glad to wake up because that meant I had survived the night! Michele and I were both glad the sun had finally came up, so we could get a look at what we were passing by on the train. We could not believe our eyes when we looked out the window. It was as if we were transported back into the Bible. Time has seemed to stand still here. It was beautiful and simplistic, but I could not imagine living this way! Our breakfast arrived to our cabin, and guess [View Full Entry]

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Today was the day I had been waiting for: Cleopatra, The Catacombs, and The Library of Alexandria. We boarded our bus early and was shocked to see a special forces officer, who was packing numerous weapons around his belt, boarding the bus with us. All kinds of questions entered my head. Had a threat been made against us? Was Alexandria this unsafe? I already felt uncomfortable here much like an outsider or a second class citizen. I was able to ask Mayer what was going on in private, and he said when they did not have an assignment, they would escort [View Full Entry]

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