Kate - Oot 'N Aboot

The Blue Lotus

2007-06-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

We are off to enjoy an ancient Egyptian style meal prepared just for us at the Blue Lotus guesthouse. We are to be served the same foods depicted on the wall reliefs we saw in Saqqara inscribed 4,500 years ago.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Below is a picture of Bak and his infant daughter. They greeted us as we arrived at the Blue Lotus. Bak and his wife run the guesthouse mostly for visiting archaeologists working in the area. They rent a room and Bak's wife cooks for them. Our group was very lucky to have such an outstanding cook and host.

This is Bak's wife and daughter. I do not remember either of their names. Bak's wife is an incredible hostess, cook and bakes wonderful bread (more about that later). The baby is wearing kohl around her eyes. I was told that it helps to keep the flys away and makes eyelashes grow long and thick. It certainly makes her look exotic.

We spent some time, before lunch was served, getting acquainted with Bak and relaxing in his back yard. One thing Bak has been doing for several years is growing the real (and rare) blue lotus. The blue lotus is a symbol of modern Egypt and the government has to issue a special permit to grow this rare plant. Bak has several growing in his back yard. Here are some photos and a photo of some of the flowers dried and mounted on papyrus.

This is a shot of the pond in the backyard where the Blue Lotus are cultivated.

A close-up of a lotus blooming.

Lunch was outstanding and we all thoroughly enjoyed the food. My personal opinion was that it was the best meal I had the whole time I was in Egypt.

The room through the arched doorway is the kitchen. Bak's wife (and her sisters) had been cooking for hours before we arrived. Everything was fresh and tasted wonderful.

After lunch Bak took us on a tour of the surrounding farmland. We got a close-up look at things we had only seen in from the window of our bus. Bak is also a farmer and was able to answer many of our questions. Yes, that is the step pyramid you can see in the background.

A young farmer continuing a family tradition of tending to the land.

Generations through the millennia.

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Like on small farms everywhere in the world, everyone helps.

When we returned from our walk to Bak's house; we passed an outdoor beehive-shaped oven in the backyard. It looked just like the ovens we had seen painted on the walls of the tombs. As we stood around talking about it, Bak's wife came out, fired up the oven and baked some flat bread as we watched. She had baked all the bread we were served at lunch in this very oven. I got some pictures of her showing us how she bakes the family bread every day. What a great experience. I think she was a little overwhelmed with our enthusiasm over what she thought of as an ordinary event. She and her husband were so welcoming and hospitable. What could have been just an ordinary lunch was turned into a truly memorable event.

Palm fronds for fuel.

You can see the flat bread inside the oven. She would shift the bread to different areas of oven as it baked to take advantage of the different temperatures.

This is Bak's wife, her baby daughter and her sister (the same one that helped to cook our lunch). It takes more than one woman to run a household in rural Egypt.

This is a pretty good shot of the backyard and of us watching the bread baking.

We visited the 'Egyptian Perfume Palace' in Cairo that evening. I bought four different scents all are essential flower oils. Flower of Sakkara, Lotus Flower, Narcissus and Rose. All the bottles were wrapped and packaged so well that they all survived the trip in my suitcase without any leaks.

After the perfume shop we met up with the rest of the group that had chosen to spend their time sitting in a restaurant looking out at the great pyramid. You sure can't top that view. Below is a photo of Ehab and Ruth, they are the people that made our tour extra special. I can't thank them enough. Ruth and Ehab, I think I told you before we said goodbye, but this Egypt trip exceeded all my expectations and I had very high expectations.

It was a long day and we leave for Middle Egypt in the morning.

The Red Land and the Black Land

2007-06-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

"Concerning Egypt I will now speak at length, because nowhere are there so many marvellous things, nor in the whole world beside are there to be seen so many things of unspeakable greatness."

Herodotus the Greek, Fifth century BCE.

Herodotus, the Greek, was not the first tourist that came to Egypt and marveled; he was just the one we know about because his writing have survived from the Fifth century BCE. When he visited, Egypt was already over 2,000 years old. A Pharaoh stilled ruled, the pyramids were still covered in polished white limestone and the old religion was a part of everyday life.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

These are maps of ancient/old Egypt. The names are a mixture of Egyptian, Greek and Arabic.

This one shows Northern Egypt also called Lower Egypt.

This is Middle Egypt.

This is Southern Egypt, also called Upper Egypt.

When talking about the land of Egypt; you talk about the Nile River, the Red Land and the Black Land. Egypt has always been defined by the Nile River. From the very first beginnings of Egyptian pre-history it is always about the river. The river flooded annually (until the Aswan damn was built in the 1960s). This made it possible for the people along the river bank to grow crops along most of its length. Wherever the water touched, became The Black Land. Wherever the water didn't reach, stayed The Red Land.

Our group left Giza and headed South into the rural areas to see the Sun temples and the pyramids at Abu Sir. There are over 200 pyramids in Egypt and most of them are not on the Giza plateau (just the largest ones).

This picture was taken in Northern Egypt (also called Lower Egypt). I was standing a short walk into the desert, looking back towards the Nile. This gives you a good idea of the separation of the Red and Black lands. A very graphic example of: water = fertile soil, no water = desert. The dividing line is not fuzzy. Where the water stops nothing grows. The fuzzy sky is the result of air pollution from Cairo.

Below is looking away from the river. Just rocks and sand (I did mention that Egypt has LOTS of sand didn't I?) as far as the eye can see.

This is one field that we walked through on our way to the Sun Temple at Abu Gurab. These are date palms. The date palm is a very important part of rural life; they eat the fruit and use the rest of the tree for fuel, and building material. Because the date palms are so tall and don't shade the ground too much, other crops are planted under them; no waste of fertile ground that way.

This man and his ancestors have been farming this same land for THOUSANDS of years. It is likely that this donkey and his ancestors have helped those farmers for all that time. The crops have changed somewhat, there is more variety and the river doesn't flood anymore, but the people still plant, harvest and continue as they have for uncounted generations.

This picture shows a small village surrounded by fields. The buildings in the village are all crammed together to take up the least amount of space to save as much land as possible for planting. The soil is fertile and Egyptian farmers can get up to three crops a years from their fields. Most of the work is done by hand with animal help. Few farmers and/or villages can afford to own and operate tractors.

Below is a picture of a water wheel. The fields are all connected to the river via canals (some of which are thousands of years old). The water wheel (turned by donkey power) is the cheapest (and oldest) method of lifting the water from the canal into the fields for irrigation. This wheel is modern and is made of metal. Old idea, new materials.

This farmer is harvesting his crop. The walls of ancient tombs show pictures of farming tools that look just like the one he is holding. If it works, why change it. You can see the village in the background.

This is a shot of a barn. It is more of a three-walled animal shelter than the American barn style. The animals just need shelter from the sun for most of the year so this works best.

Here are some farm animals. These are not cows, these are water buffalo. They are used to pull plows, I think they are milked also.

Don't you just love this face (I like water buffalo much better than camels).

The farm animals are not pets, but they are considered part of the family and are treated well and given really good care. The animals in the city on the other hand live a very hard and precarious existence.

This gentleman, explaining about the site, is the archaeologist in charge of the AbuSir and Sahure sites. There is lots of reconstruction work going on. The black flagstones we are standing on were the original floor for the sun temple next to the pyramids.

These are the pyramids at AbuSir. As you can see, they are not in as good a condition as the ones on the Giza plateau. There are local villages within walking distance and the residents discovered many generations ago that the limestone casing stones for the pyramids produces a very high-quality lime if it is burnt. Almost all the casing stones have been reduced to fertilizer, cement or whitewash.

We had special permission from the Department of Antiquities so we were able to go inside these pyramids. They are in an area protected by the military. This is the entrance to the one we went in. Below is another shot from the inside.

Here is Jessamy with her headlamp. A very 'handy' type of light, as it leaves your hands free.

You are looking up at another room inside the pyramid in this shot. I didn't climb up to take a look because the air was stuffy and smelled like bat urine. I decided I would rather go back outside for some fresh air. (Jessamy climbed up the ladder to look and she said that there was nothing interesting to see, just bare rock walls.)

This is the alabaster alter of the sun temple.

You can see the pyramid right behind the ruins of the sun temple.

We made a stop to see the few remains of the ancient capital city of the Old Kingdom, Memphis. In ancient Egypt Memphis was call Ineb-hedjf which means White Wall. In the Middle Kingdom it was called Ankh-tawny, That-which-binds-the-two-lands (probably referring to Upper and Lower Egypt). Memphis was the adminstrative and religious center for the Old Kingdom and Ptah (pronounced P Tah) was the chief god.

The ancient Egyptians built their temples, pyramids and monuments of stone but their houses were all built of mud bricks. No one in Egypt lived in a house of stone, from Pharaoh to the humblest peasant.

Below is one stone memorial from ancient Memphis. This is an alabaster sphinx about 26 feet long. It is believed to represent the pharaoh Amenhotep III, about 1375 BCE.

This amazing sculpture is a fallen colussus of Ramesses II. When standing it was 43 feet tall. Ramessess II ruled Egypt for about 67 years. That was plenty of time to have many children (over 100) and have carved many, many, many statues of himself. Ramessess II lived life on a very grand scale. His monuments are all large as are most of his statues. He left evidence of his rule all up and down the Nile.

With the discovery of a valley of the kings tomb, built for just those of his sons that died before he died, we know that he outlived at least 16 of his sons. It was his 13th son, Merenptah, that succeeded him as pharaoh. Records from various sources list the names of at least 52 sons of Ramessess II.

We will see much more of this 'larger than life' pharaoh as we travel farther south.

This is a close up of the head of the Ramessess II collussus. The statue was felled by an earthquake.

The day is only half over, but this is enough for now. I will continue later.

The most amazing musuem in the world

2007-06-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

After all the excitement of the pyramids we spent a day visiting the Cairo Egyptian Museum of Antiquities and the Khan El Khalili Bazaar. No one is allowed to take pictures inside the museum and all video cameras have to be checked before entering.

I, of course, bought the largest museum book I could find full of the most pictures. It was a good thing I bought it as I was leaving because it weights 10 pounds (yes, I did put it on the scale).

We all gathered in front of the museum building (built about 1890) while we waited for Ehab to get our tickets. There are lovely fountains full of lotus flowers all across the front of the building (I thought I had taken photos, but I can't find them anywhere.).

Then the big moment came, Ehab ushered us into the museum. I was on instant sensory overload and stayed that way the entire time. How to describe what it was like for me to be standing in front of things I had only dreamed of seeing in person. Everywhere I looked there was another statue or piece of Egyptian history that I had only read about and seen in books or on TV. I kept turning this way and that, trying to see everything at once. Ehab was telling us about what we were looking at and I wanted to listen and I wanted to run over to see what was across the aisle too. It was exhilarating and exhausting and frustrating.

The frustrating part was the museum itself. There is not near enough room in the building to house all the items the government has excavated. Most of what is on display was placed there in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Not much has changed since then. A great many of the items displayed have nothing to identify what they are and those that have labels are type-written and the paper is so old they are yellow and cracked with age. All the labels I saw were in English which was great for me but must have been frustrating for non-English speakers. I was told that there are warehouses full of more artifacts and that the basement of the museum is stuffed full of boxes and crates that have no labels and are so old no one knows what they contain anymore. A new museum is being built out by the pyramids and should be open about 2010. I was told the museum employees joke about excavating their own basement and discovering new treasures.

We wandered through over four thousand years of Egyptian history in four hours. I stared awe struck at scuptures perfectly carved in the very hardest of stones by master artists. I read an article by an American artist that had been carving in marble and stone for over 20 years. He talked about how difficult it was to carve hard stone like granite with modern tools of steel and other very hard metals. He marveled that the stone carvers of ancient Egypt could carve so perfectly with only copper and stone tools. He mentioned that these artists would carve even the parts of the statues that would not normally be seen just as detailed and perfectly as the the more publicly-seen parts. I was able to examine up-close-and-personal many of these statues and they were all perfect. Most showed the highest level of artistic talent and skill. Some were absolutely breathtaking.

We, of course, spent some time looking at the King Tut exhibit. We saw the gold face mask, gold coffin cover and gold jewelery. It was all impressive. The gold face mask was smaller than it looks in pictures and the colors were brighter. The jewelery was interesting in that there was a lot of it and some looked surprizingly modern. Another thing to make note of is that while the ancient Egyptians valued gold highly, they valued silver even more. Silver was very rare in Egpyt. They had gold mines in the Egyptian desert, silver had to be imported.

One fun thing Ehab pointed out was a display of King Tut's personal items; one of which was his underwear. It was made of linen and ragged with time. It is those kind of things that bring a sense of the humanity of history for me. Though Tut was worshipped as a god, he still wanted to have clean underware in the after life.

After over-dosing on antiquities I staggered out of the museum (remember I was now carrying my 10 pound picture book) we had a late lunch and were off to see the Khan El Khalili Bazaar (generally referred to as 'the Khan'). I dropped off my book at the bus before we headed into the Khan.

The Khan has been around as long as Cairo. It is still crowded with narrow alley-ways and all the stores smashed next to each other. It is still a community of vendors/storekeepers whose families have done business for generations in the same place. One thing that has changed over the centuries is that most of the customers are tourists now, not locals.

The single most important thing to remember when shopping in the Khan (or anywhere in Egypt for that matter) is that you HAVE to BARGAIN with the seller. Any seller wants to bargain, you are not expected to pay the asking price. If you pay the asking price I am told you have deprived the seller of the enjoyment of bargaining.

When we were in Egypt, the Egyptian pound was worth about 17 cents American money. Sometimes I felt a little guilty about paying so little for things I purchased, but our tour leader kept reminding us that the seller would not sell anything for a price he would lose money over.

The Khan is noisy, crowded, full of exotic smells and lots of voices in lots of different languages. It was rather intimidating at first. All the sellers are very agressive and will sometimes gang up on poor naive American tourists. Lucky for me we had our resident security guard (Mahmoud is with the secret service and carries a very large automatic pistol) to keep them at bay. Mahmoud is also about 6' 2" tall and took his job of guarding us very seriously.

Below is a photo of myself, Mahmoud, Rodger, Sarah Louise and Charles. Rodger and Sarah Louise are from Melbourne, Austrialia and Charles is from Florida, USA.

A few hours before we arrived in the Khan, some water pipes had broken and some of the alley ways were flooded. The store owners were prepared (this had happened before it seems) and laid down wood boards so shoppers could cross the water without getting wet feet. The water didn't seem to slow the shoppers down.

We shopped till we dropped and then headed to the cafe to wait for the bus to come and pick us up. While we waited several street vendors stopped by to sell us various 'stuff'. One was this woman selling beaded head coverings. Several of us bought one from her. The baby slept the entire time.

We headed back to the hotel. This is a shot of the registration desk at our hotel. This statue is a full size replica of the guards found in King Tut's tomb (no real gold on this one though).

Tomorrow we visit the sun temples at Abu Gurab and the pyramids at Abu Sir. We are to have ancient Egyptian style lunch at the guest house of an Egyptian family that our tour guide, Ruth, knows.

I must mention the traffic in Cairo

2007-03-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

A couple of words come to mind when I think of the traffic in Cairo, demented and insane. I will expand on that theme.

First story: We arrived at the Cairo airport about 10:30pm on a Friday. We were met by a representative from the tour and had no difficulties with any paperwork or inspections. Our representative took charge of everything and we trailed along behind him doing exactly what he said to do and we were outside in the desert air of Egypt in about 15 minutes after we picked up our luggage. Then the fun began. We climbed onto the hotel airport shuttle and took off. It felt like at least 2 or 3 of the 4 wheels were on the road at the same time most of the time. We learned that there are two speeds for motorized vehicles in Egypt, bat-out-of-hell and stopped.

Because it was late at night, there weren't many other vehicles sharing the road so our driver took what looked like a couple of short-cuts. One was the wrong way down a one way street and the other I am slightly confused about but it involved weaving between orange cones. All this done at breakneck speed. We were slightly disconcerted but then we hadn't driven in Athens traffic yet.

We met up with four more people from our tour at the hotel the next morning and most of the rest of the tour arrived from the airport in the afternoon. We climbed on board our bus and were off to see Cairo. The city population is 17 million. 17 million people all crowded into a city one thousand years old. Cairo was a large city before the automobile and very few streets are built to accomodate the automobile. We passed many streets (?) lanes (?) alleys (?) that were only wide enough for animals, pedestrians, scooters and motorcyles.

Automobiles share the road with: other cars, buses (big and small), motorcycles, scooters, donkeys (with and without carts), horses, camels and pedestrians. At first I was horrified, there are no stoplights, few stop signs, no one uses turn signals, everyone is constantly changing lanes (instead of using a turn signal they honk their horn when passing) and very few headlights at night. I did see a couple of traffic cops at very large intersections and the drivers were very good about paying attention. All policemen, including traffic cops, carry weapons (including the kind with bullets) so that may be a motivation to cooperate.

Pedestrians have to be quite agile and really pay attention. Nerves of steel would also help. I think that the scooter and motorcycle drivers don't have any nerves. I watched them weave in and out of lanes of traffic, up onto the sidewalks (did I mention agile pedestrians) sometimes carrying heavy loads or several people on one scooter.

I did not personally witness any accidents. I did see some close calls and one miracle. I also saw lots of scrape marks and dents on the sides of cars we passed. The current attitude seemed to be that everyone drives like that, so just join in. My personal recommendation to any American traveling in Egypt, don't rent a car unless it comes with an Egyptian driver.

Oh yes, the miracle. Here is the situation: we are traveling in downtown Cairo in our bus. We are on a main street that is 3 lanes wide in each direction. We are on the inside lane where there is raised curb area (for pedestrians safety I suppose) that separates the east bound lanes from the west bound lanes. I am sitting next to a window looking at the traffic going the opposite direction. A young man steps off the curb into our lane, he trips and falls flat on the street directly in front of our great big bus. Gasp!! The miracle is that our bus driver was not looking to the side and changing lanes, he was looking in front, saw the man fall and managed to stop the bus with inches to spare. The fallen pedestrian was laying in the street literally nose to tire tread. The young man staggered to his feet, waved at the driver and limped off. The look on this face as he passed said, "I can't believe I am still alive". (Footnote) No one crashed into the back of our bus when we slammed to a stop.

The drivers in Cairo may be demented and/or crazy but they sure can handle a vehicle.

Boats and a Sphinx

2007-02-21T16:47:00.000-08:00

Below is an excavated model of pharaoh's 'Solar' boat. Like the full size boats it is constructed of cedar wood (you may have heard of the 'Cedars of Lebanon'). These boats, small and large, are remnants of that long ago forest remembered only in legend.

This is not an exact replica of the full size boat that was found in the 1950's, but it gives you an idea of the shape. This model is about 6 feet long. As you can see this from the shape, this is a boat for sailing on a river.

The real boats are about 140 feet long.

When this boat was found, it had been disassembled and put in a stone storage pit. It took years for a team to reassemble it (at first they didn't know it was a boat). There are no metal parts, only wooden planks, wood pegs and rope. The boat is held together by weaving the rope through holes in the wood planks and tightening it. When the boat is put into the water, the wood swells, the rope shrinks and there are no leaks. There is evidence that this boat was actually used on the river, as various parts show normal wear. This shot is looking from the middle of boat towards the bow (front). The cabin would have been used by the pharaoh to keep out of the sun and would be filled with cushions, rugs and all the comforts of home or palace.

You can see the gangplank on the left in this shot. The gangplank was one place that showed normal wear on the end that rested on the dock. You also get a better look at the oars and decking.

This is the stern (back) of the boat. Isn't it graceful. Egyptians used double oars to steer their boats instead of a rudder.

This is the bow.

Not in too bad of shape for being 4,500 years old. Unlike the cedar forest, this survived for us to marvel at.

This shot of the under side gives you an idea of the size of the planks. You cannot see, because the thickness of the planks conceals the holes, but the rope is threaded through one plank to another. I have read that originally a single (very long) rope was used to tie the entire hull together.

Here she is and the angle of the sun is all wrong. I don't know why the Sphinx is generally referred to as she when the head is supposed to be the head of a man.

This stela is placed between the paws of the Sphinx and tells the story of Tutmoses IV and the Sphinx. The story goes: As a young man (one prince among many) he was out hunting in the desert. He came upon the head of the Sphinx sticking out of the ground (the entire body was buried in the sand) and sat down to rest in the shade of the head. He fell asleep and had a dream. In his dream the Sphinx told him that if he freed the Sphinx from its prison of sand he would become Pharaoh. Prince Tutmoses immediately set a crew of workers to clear away all the sand from around the Sphinx and the rest, as they say, is history (written of course in stone).

It is easy to see in this picture that the head is one kind of rock and the body is another kind. The head is a hard stone and the body is limestone, much softer. The pretty new stones covering the front legs and paws are another attempt to stop the deterioration. The broken nose has not been found. Some pieces of the broken beard were found and shipped off to the British Museum. The face still has some traces of red paint.

A close up shot of the walls surrounding the Sphinx enclosure. Geologists, that see pictures like this, say this type of stone erosion is due to water (lots of water falling from the sky) not wind. Egyptologists disagree because the last time there was large amounts of rain falling on the giza plateau was 10,000 years ago. That is many more years than the 4,500 years they claim is the age of the Sphinx. Neither discipline will admit they might be wrong so the dispute continues.

More later.
Kate

Inside the Great Pyramid

2007-02-09T17:10:00.000-08:00

The Great Pyramid is the most gigantic piece of architecture in the world. Consider the size and precision with which it was built. Imagine all the unquestioning resources of an entire country at the command of one man. I think that makes Pharaoh Khufu one of most powerful men that ever lived. Powerful men do not always leave lasting monuments. This man and his family left some pretty amazing ones.

The Great Pyramid has an ancient name, it was called "Khufu's Horizon".

The second pyramid was built by Khufu's son, Khafre and was called "Khafre is Great".

I would like to somehow convey the fascination and power I felt when standing on the ground next to these remarkable monuments. While I waited for our turn inside the pyramid to arrive, I thought about time. I heard a saying once: "Men fear time, Time fears the Pyramids". I have read that these monuments were built to outlast all of mankind. Interesting that the ancient Egyptians believed that there would come a time of the end of mankind. A time that only stone could survive. I wonder what brought them to that conclusion?

The white building on the right is the solar boat museum. Pictures on that later.

A couple of notes about the special access passes our tour group was able to get from the government.

As a tour group, we had private access to the Great Pyramid from 11:00am to 1:00pm. No other tourists were allowed in during this time. Our tour leader had also arranged to have the lights turned out from 12:30pm to 12:45pm. We had 15 minutes of total darkness while we sat in the Kings chamber. The acoustics are great by the way.

We also had special passes for private access to the Sphinx for one hour. No one else was allowed in the Sphinx enclosure during our reserved time. It helps when the people in charge have all the right connections. Like anywhere, in Egypt it is about who you know.

Here is Jessamy getting ready to enter the pyramid. She will be climbing down into the subterranean chamber (commonly called 'The Pit'), deep below ground level. She is wearing a headlight as the lighting is poor in the Pit. It is a very tough climb as it is very long and there is no ventilation, so I am not going with her. I will go only to the Queen's chamber and the King's chamber. The passage to the Queen's chamber has to be climbed bent over as it is only about three feet high. About half the climb to the King's chamber is done bent over. Once you reach the Grand Gallery you can stand up.

Here is Jessamy in 'The Pit'. The chamber is unfinished and not well lit.

Jessamy in the Queen's chamber. All our tour members that made the climb into the Pit met up with the rest of us at the Queen's chamber. Those of us that did not go to the Pit were sitting and meditating. The tired climbers took the opportunity to stretch out and get some fresh air. Unlike the Pit, the Queen and King's chambers have ventilation shafts for plenty of fresh air. Actually I think Jessamy was meditating not napping.

This is a shot of the Grand Gallery on the way into the King's chamber. There were lights strung along the way so it was not totally dark, just dim. The climb is fairly steep so the handrails really helped. The ceiling is a corbelled ceiling. That means that each layer of stone for the ceiling sticks out into the room a few inches. This means that the ceiling is very tall and slowly gets very narrow. It can support a great deal of weight though (that is important inside of a stone pyramid).

That small opening in the corner of the room below is the entrance to the King's chamber. I am sure that the king would have approved of everyone having to enter his burial chamber on hands and knees.

As you can see there are no decorations of any kind on the walls, floor or ceiling. The acoustics were great. They were great in the Queen's chamber too.

This is a shot of what is left of the red granite sarcophagus in the King's chamber. It is really very smooth, inside and out. The lid had been missing since antiquity. I was able to climb inside and laid on my back with eyes shut for a while. Jessamy took pictures but I don't have them yet. The sides are about waist high on me (about 2 1/2 feet) and the inside was about 1 foot longer than my 5 foot height. It was fairly narrow, I think a man's shoulders would stretch from side to side. Not much room for fancy coffins and such. Khufu must have been of small stature. The stone is smooth and very pretty with all that red in it.

While we were taking turns inside the sarcophagus some us sang and chanted. Did I mention that the acoustics are great?

Below is a shot looking back at the entrance to the Kings chamber as I was leaving. I had originally thought that being inside would be oppressive (all those many tons of stone piled over your head). I was wrong. I didn't feel that way at all. Maybe part of it was the mystic, part excitement, (My God!! This is me really inside the Kings chamber of the Great Pyramid!!!) But part of what I felt was neither of those, it was a feeling of being centered and grounded. My experience with pyramids is limited and maybe that is the nature of a pyramid.

I am out of steam for now. Next is the Sphinx, solar boats and run-away horses. I did mention the horses didn't I?

Until later,
kate

The BIG Pyramid(s), Outside Adventures

2007-02-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

The most famous of Egypt's pyramids are located on the Giza plateau (south west of Cairo). This is a shot of the Giza plateau. Remember I mentioned the guards (with rifles), here are two in the foreground and one in the background on a camel. Egypt has learned that not all tourists are to be trusted.

As Cairo grows, it spreads out onto the desert and encroaches on the ground around the pyramids. No where else in the world can you stare at the one remaining wonder of the ancient world while you are munching on KFC nuggets. I decided to skip that experience.

This is NOT the great pyramid. The easiest way to tell is that this one goes all the way to the pointed top (called the apex). This is the second pyramid, built by Khafre (son of Khufu who built the great pyramid). It is nearly as large as his father's pyramid and still has some of the limestone casing stones at the top.

Imagine, all the pyramids on the plateau, encased in smooth, highly polished white limestone and the apex covered in electrum (a mixture of gold and silver) catching the first rays of Ra (ancient name of the sun god) as he rose over the Nile in the east. No wonder the men who caused such as these to be built were worshipped as gods.

THIS is the Great Pyramid. Khufu (the Greeks called him Cheops, they didn't speak Egyptian) was the grandson of Djoser who built the step pyramid at Saqqara. Remember that the step pyramid was the first large stone structure ever built anywhere. To go from that beginning to this in 100 years staggers me.

The long white building on the right, at the base of the pyramid, is a museum built for a solar boat found buried at the base of the pyramid. Pictures on that later. Just a note about sand and rocks. Please notice that the ground upon which these very heavy stone monuments sit is not sand but stone. Stone solid and deep enough to carry the weight of about 2,300,000 stone blocks that average about 2.3 tons each (there are some blocks in the kings chamber that weight about 50 - 80 tons). These builders chose carefully when they decided to build here. They wanted these building to outlast humans. So far, so good.

A close up of some of the stones in the Great Pyramid.

Looking up the side of the Great Pyramid, the blocks get smaller as you get closer to the top.

One short Oregonian standing at the foot of the second pyramid (note the casing stones at the top). No one is allowed to climb on any of the pyramids. Guards with rifles are a strong deterrent.

Jessamy and I at the foot of the Great Pyramid. The white stones are modern. CORRECTION!! These white stones are NOT modern, they are the original white limestone casing stones. They are still white because they have spent most the past 4,500 years covered in sand.

A couple of guards hanging out. If they see you take their picture you have to pay them a couple of Egyptian pounds per picture. You can see that I was sneaky and they are both looking away. All the guards in uniform are with the Antiquity/Tourist Police. There are other police and security people around but they are plain clothes. You can still tell who they are because they are wearing coats or suits to hide their very large automatic pistols.

OK, here are the camels. Jessamy said, "Mom, you have to ride a camel, it will be fun." "Mom you will enjoy it." "You can't leave Egypt without riding a camel." Lots of people go to Egypt and never climb on a camel. Unfortunately, I was not one of them. I told myself, "Self, you can do this; no camel is going to get the best of you." "You have been on the back of many horses, one unwilling cow and a couple of donkeys; how hard can it be?"

Look at this face. Would you buy a used car from this camel? Would you trust your 60 year old bones with this face? Really, look at this animal. It looks like it was assembled by a committee. I know why they put all the colorful rugs and blankets on his back. They are trying to distract you from the fact that this is the most obnoxious excuse for transportation ever devised.

Camels are big. They are tall even when sitting down. There is no graceful way for me to get up onto a camel. I was told, this is your camel, climb on. You notice that there are no stirrups (the camel saddle being invented before stirrups and not changed since). For persons with short legs this poses a challenge. I managed to throw my body across the camel and pull myself across the blankets by holding onto the little (very little) wooden posts sticking up from the saddle. By wiggling around and thrashing with my legs I managed to get one leg over the saddle and hang onto to the front pegs. Just as I was getting a good grip, the camel straightened his hind legs and the camel boy says to hang on. The problem was of course that I was falling forward over the neck of the beast, the boy finally takes a look at me and starts to scream for me to lean back as far as I can. So I lean back as far as I can just as the camel raises his front legs. Now instead of falling head first over the front end, I am now in danger of falling back over heels off the tail end. This was not a good beginning.

The camel boy is shaking his head and muttering in Arabic. Sometimes it is good to only understand English. At least I am up on the camel. Now it is time to get my picture taken. Neither the camel nor I am thrilled with this photo opportunity (no I don't have a copy of the picture). Next we get led away and tied to two other occupied camels and start our ride through the desert. We were the last to join this little trio and beast is crabby about having camels in front of him so he starts to crowd against one camel so he can smash my left leg against his bony body. That doesn't work as well as he likes (I managed to swing my leg up out of the way and pointing straight out front) so he decides that it is a better idea to try to shove my foot up the back end of said camel who objects. I am busy trying to get parts of my anatomy out of harms way when the camel boy finally strolls back, smacks beast with a rope, shouts appropriate Arabic words and beast settles down to behaving like a good little trail camel for unsuspecting tourists. Meanwhile Jessamy is out in front having a grand ole time bopping around the desert and loving her very well behaved camel. I am busy thinking that I still have to get off beast in one piece. Disembarking from beast was almost anti-climatic.

I survived my ride on Beast as you see.

In spite of the camel episode, we are still friends.

Here is Jessamy on her camel (I am sure that this camel's name translates as "Oh, another tourist, I just love tourist's.").

This is the entrance the tourists use to the Great Pyramid. It was made by a caliph in the ninth century looking for treasure (he didn't find any). Next time we will go inside the pyramid, visit the solar boat and visit the Sphinx. All in all it was a busy day.

Until next time.
kate

Saqqara - 4,600 years old

2007-02-02T11:36:00.000-08:00

The picture below is of a reconstruction (using many of the actual stones) of the funeral temple of Pharaoh Djoser who built the step pyramid. The step pyramid is the oldest stone monument in the world. It was constructed about 2,600 BCE which makes it 4,600 years old.

When visiting the step pyramid you enter through the funeral temple, this makes it easier for the ticket takers to get out of the sun, and we get to walk on a wooden pathway instead of wade through the sand. (Did I mention the sand? There is lots of sand in Egypt, it is all over the place). The wood roof is a modern addition. Many thanks for the shade. (Did I mention the sun? There is lots of sun in Egypt, even in the winter.)

This is our Egyption guide, Ehab. Ehab has a degree in Egpytology and speaks very good English. He traveled with us the entire tour. Ehab was born and raised in Cairo and is a city boy through and through. Because Ehab has worked in the tour industry for years, he has a remarkable network that enabled him to get us into places most tour groups never get to see.

He also taught us some useful words in arabic (i.e. no in arabic is: la). To make sure you are understood you walk away from the vendor shaking your head saying la la la la la la la la la la, etc. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes he had to rescue me. Sometimes the security guard had to rescue me. (Did I mention the security guard? We also had police vehicles in front and behind our bus when we traveled. More about them later.)

But I digress. Also in this picture is the Step Pyramid. It is in pretty good shape for being 4,600 years old.

Just a nice picture of the step pyramid with the beautiful blue sky (did I mention the sand?).

Yours truly standing in front of the step pyramid. The nice tidy wall behind me is modern. That is as close as anyone is allowed to get. No one is allowed to climb on the pyramid (the guards carry rifles).

A close up of some of the weathered stones in the pyramid. Most of the stones are limestone.

Jessamy is taking a picture of some wild dogs that had made a den in the pyramid rocks and several of the puppies were peeking out at us.

See reference to puppies from above. These dogs are wild but never behaved in a threatening way toward anyone. We would see families, male, female and puppies together. When begging for food they just sit down and stare at you; if you don't give them any food they walk away. They never allowed people to get any closer than 5 or 6 feet. I think the guards fed them because they looked healthier than other dogs we saw elsewhere in the country.

More parts of the funeral temple reassembled.

Until later.
kate

A most unusual musical group

2007-02-01T16:39:00.000-08:00

After spending the afternoon at the Alabaster Mosque, we dropped our suitcases off at the hotel, hopped into a taxi and headed off to the pyramids to see the Sound and Light Show. The show was rather boring but the taxi ride there and back more than made up for it.

Headlights appeared to be optional; there are no traffic lights and motorized vehicles share the road with an assortment of pedestrians, bicycles, donkeys, horsedrawn carriages and camels. No one uses signals, they just honk their horn as they pass by. The main object seemed to be to pass whatever is in front of you as fast as possible. I just shut my eyes and braced myself for the crash. Surprize, surprize, no crash. We made it there and back in one piece. I must say that the streets of Cairo were never boring.

This is picture is rather dark. Of course it was night time and I am not an expecially good photographer, but if you look closely you can see the head of the Sphinx in the center. As the narrator told his story the lights would change color and move between the pyramids, sphinx and a slide show on the long wall in the front.

When the show was over we headed back to meet up with our taxi driver when we walked by this rather unusual musical group. If you look closely you will see that this is a bagpipe ensemble.

I just love Egypt!

I wonder if there is a pharaoh tartan?

This band was the most excitement we saw at Giza except for the runaway horses making a break for freedom a couple of days later.

Until next time.
k

Cairo, Alabaster Mosque

2007-01-31T16:07:00.000-08:00

This is generally referred to as the Citadel. It looks like a medieval fort, which it was, but now it is the Mohammed Ali Mosque also called the Alabaster Mosque. It was built about 900 years ago. Non-believers are allowed inside when it is not being used for worship.

The marble floor was very cold on my bare feet so I was very glad to step onto the 900 year old carpet. Everywhere is color, stained glass windows, carpets, decorated ceiling and walls.

This is a view from outside the Citadel, looking South over Cairo. Cairo is a city of 17 million people (and growing). It didn't matter which way you looked, the city was all around as far as the eye could see.

Here is Jessamy outside of the mosque.

I am having trouble getting the hang of putting photos in this blogg. I suppose I will get better the more I do. Tomorrow I will put up the pictures of Saqqara; the step pyramid and the Teti pyramid. If I remember correctly it was at the Step Pyramid that some guy offered Jessamy 50 camels to marry him.

Back home, all in one piece

2007-01-31T15:50:00.000-08:00

The one time I went to a internet cafe in Egypt and logged on; it was so painfully slow that I decided it wasn't worth the time and effort. Therefore, I will do my blogging from equipment that can handle what I want to do.

From here on out I will just post pictures and comment on what the pictures bring to mind.

Kate

On line at last

2007-01-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

We are still in Cairo. Tonight is the first chance I have had to get to the internet cafe.

We have see the inside of several pyramids from the Old Kingdom (4,600 to 3,500 years ago). We were able to spend 2 hours inside the Great Pyramid without any other tourists. The director turned off the lights for 15 minutes while we were in the Kings chamber. Total blackness. It was great! We got a special permit to go inside the Sphinx enclosure and spent 1 hour with just our group. All the other tourists had to stay outside the fence (nah, nah, na, na, nah).

We went to see the Alabaster Mosque that over looks the city. We took our shoes off and walked barefoot on the original carpets from about 900AD.

Our second trip was to Saqqara where the oldest stone structure in the world is - the Step Pyramid. You can't go inside but we went inside another pyramid that was only about 100 years younger. It was a long shaft about 3 1/2 feet tall. Even I had to walk bent over.

Yes, I took a ride on a camel. Camels are very tall, very very tall. The camel boy failed to tell me that my camel was going to stand up and to lean back, lean back as far as I can. So there I was hanging on for dear life when all of a sudden this very tall camel straightens his very long hind legs. This was not a good beginning. The camel boy then roped three camels together and mine decided that his purpose in life was to shove my left foot up the hind end of the camel in front of him. Getting off the camel was almost anti-climatic.

We took time to look at the solar boat. It is 4,500 years old and still looks river-worthy. Cedar planks last a long time.

Yesterday we went to the Cairo Egyptian Museum. Words fail me. I was on input overload the minute I stepped inside.

I will be out in the desert of middle Egypt for the next few days and will not be able to log in until we get to Luxor. I am going to try adding some pictures.

kate

Egypt itinerary for Kate and Jessamy

2007-01-01T11:15:00.000-08:00

This is our itinerary for our time in Egypt.

Day 1, Sat, January 6: Citadel, Mohammed Ali Mosque. Optional: Sound & Light Show at the Giza Pyramids.

Most of the tour group arrives about noon on Saturday. Jessamy and I will arrive Friday night from Frankfurt. We will meet up with the rest of the tour at our hotel about 1:00pm.
We begin with a panoramic view of the whole city of Cairo from the Citadel. Here we also visit one of the most beautiful mosques in the city, the famous Mohammed Ali Mosque, also called the "Alabaster Mosque."

Our hotel, the Sofitel Le Sphinx, is located right near the pyramids. We can relax in our hotel's lounge and gaze out at the Great pyramid before dinner, or take in the Sound & Light Show at the pyramids.

Day 2, Sun, January 7: Saqqara - Step Pyramid, Teti Pyramid with Pyramid Texts, Old Kingdom Tombs. Imhotep Museum. Options: Carpet School, Papyrus Institute.

We begin our tour with 4 days of sites from Ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom (2,575-2,150 B.C.). Leaving Giza we drive southward through fertile farmlands to the Saqqara complex where we see the Step Pyramid, the early versions of the Book of the Dead called the "Pyramid Texts" in the Teti Pyramid, and some interesting tombs (where we see scenes of daily life during the Old Kingdom). Saqqara contains artifacts and structures from all eras of Ancient Egyptian history, so it is a rich area for discoveries.

Also here at Saqqara we have the pleasure of seeing the newly opened Imhotep Museum. A beautifully laid out modern museum, there are a number of wooden statues from the Old Kingdom that are particularly memorable. All the items on exhibit were found here at Saqqara and have not been on public display before.

Evening: Visit a carpet school and see the different types of carpets - wool, camel hair and silk. Visit to a papyrus institute/shop. See how they make the papyruses, as well as purchase your own.

Day 3, Mon, January 8: Giza Plateau. Pyramids, Sphinx, solar boat museum, camel ride. Options: Gold shop.

An early start today to spend a full day on the Giza Plateau and see the most famous pyramids of all! We begin with Khafre's pyramid, the middle "2nd Pyramid". In Ancient Egypt this was the pyramid that was called "The Great."

Afterwards we will drive up to the panorama which overlooks all the pyramids. There are camel rides for the adventurous.

Next we see the Solar Boat (almost 5,000 years old!), on display in its own museum built around where it was excavated beside the Great Pyramid. It was the oldest boat in the world until they started excavating another one near Abydos recently. (That one is not out and ready for viewing yet.) The solar barque (boat) was the vehicle that carried a person into the next world.

There is a separate ticket for the Great Pyramid, but it is included in the tour for those who would like to go inside. We are applying for a special government issued permit that will grant us a private entrance to the Great Pyramid (for just our group and with all 3 chambers open to us) and a visit inside the Great Sphinx enclosure. We have every reason to believe that we will receive this permission, as we have on our previous tours. However, we cannot guarantee this because government policies can change unexpectedly.

Our next visit is to the Sphinx. Afterwards we see the Valley Temple beside the Sphinx. This temple is built in HUGE stones, too large to move, and yet they came from southern Egypt in Aswan, and they fit tightly together, even now, more than 4,000 years later.

Day 4, Tues, January 9: Cairo Egyptian Museum, Khan El Khalili Bazaar.We begin a bit later today so that we have time to enjoy the hotel facilities a bit and catch up on some sleep. At 10 AM we leave to travel into downtown Cairo to see the Cairo Egyptian Museum. The whole progression of 3,000 years of Ancient Egyptian history is represented in this overstuffed museum. Your guides point out the most famous pieces and then there is free time to look at whatever interests you most. The treasures of King Tut, the Royal Mummy Room, Middle Kingdom papyruses, statues from all periods… how can one see it all? It is impossible, so you can return for another visit at the end of our tour if you choose. Those who want to be there the minute the museum opens in the morning can leave early and meet the rest of the group when we arrive late morning.

Optional: Royal Mummy Room at the Cairo Museum. Cost: 70 LE (about $12 US).

After a late lunch at a well-known restaurant in Downtown Cairo, we take in the Khan El Khalili. People often say this medieval bazaar is like entering into the world of the Arabian Nights. The narrow winding alleyways with their cobblestones, the small shops overloaded with goods spilling out into the walkway… Of course if you don't like to shop you can sit in a café with Ehab, watch the Cairo intellectuals chat, and even try smoking the shisha (apple flavored tobacco in a water pipe).

Day 5, Wed, January 10: Sun Temples at Abu Gurab and Abu Sir. Memphis. 2nd visit to Giza Plateau.Optional: Perfumery, grocery store.

Today we travel out into the rural areas again outside the city, this time to visit the Neuserre Sun Temple at Abu Gurab and also the Sahure Sun Temple where we also see the pyramids at Abu Sir. This is a rare opportunity, as these sites are rarely visited by tourists. It is by special permission from the Department of Antiquities that we are allowed to visit. We walk through the mango groves of a small village to get to the site of the ancient sun temple, Neuserre (Dynasty 6). The central alabaster altar of the sun temple sends out and receives "hotep" blessings in all 4 directions.

We can see in the distance on one side the three Giza pyramids, and on the other side the three pyramids at Abu Sir. This is our next visit. They are presently doing renovations to this area, so it will be exciting to see what has taken place.

While we are in the area, we stop to see what remains of the ancient city of Memphis, the "City of the White Wall," capitol of Egypt during the Old Kingdom. Because it was mostly built of mudbrick there is little left to see now, but there is a remarkable statue of Ramesses II on display and a large alabaster sphinx, as well as a number of other smaller artifacts.

Afterwards, we enjoy an Ancient Egyptian style meal prepared just for our group at a nearby guesthouse, the Blue Lotus Lodge. We are served the same foods that we saw depicted in the wall reliefs at Saqqara, inscribed 4,500 years ago!

In the afternoon we have time for a second visit to the Giza plateau. Free time to visit anything that we did not see during our first visit. Perhaps the Queen's pyramids, or some of the tombs.

When we return to our hotel in Giza it is time to pack our bags for the journey to Middle Egypt.

Evening options:Visit a perfume oil shop and sample the oils made of the flowers here in Egypt. These oils are what are used by perfumeries all over the world to make the expensive perfumes we are familiar with.

Day 6, Thurs, January 11: Dashur - Red and Bent Pyramids, Pyramid at Meidum.

We check out of our hotel this morning and leave Giza to begin this very special opportunity to see Tel-Amarna and Middle Egypt. We travel south to Middle Egypt. At this time only about 15 people a week visit the sites in Middle Egypt (not like the thousands that visit Giza each day), so this is quite an opportunity.

We begin with the rarely visited pyramids at Dashur and Meidum. These pyramids are dated as even older than the pyramids at Giza!

In Dashur we spend time inside the Red Pyramid (nearly as large as Giza's Great Pyramid) and then have the opportunity for an unforgettable walk across the open desert to the Bent Pyramid. The desert is rich with inspiration and the vastness is exhilarating. The Bent pyramid was a key center of worship during the Middle Kingdom, and was much more important than Giza at that time. It is the only pyramid to retain most of its original casing stones.

Afterwards we travel further south to the even older Pyramid at Meidum. As we get our first look at it from a distance, this pyramid is strangely beautiful. It has a very arresting quality, even though its sides have slid down and it is not in a good condition. Inside, we can touch some of the wooden timbers used in its construction. Imagine touching wood that is more than 4,000 years old! This is also the area where the famous statues (on display in the Cairo museum) of Rahotep and his wife were found.

We continue on through the rural areas of Egypt to the town of Menya where we find the best hotel in Middle Egypt. Located directly on the Nile, we settle into our bungalows and begin to lose the feeling of being in the 21st century, moving into a time when things were more simple.

Day 7, Fri, January 12: Tel-Amarna

Today the whole day is dedicated to the site of Tel-Amarna, a city built by Akhenaten and Nefertiti during the New Kingdom. We visit some nobles tombs with wall reliefs unequalled anywhere else in Egypt. The pictures appear alive and even as though they are moving. We also visit the Northern Palace, one of the markers of the city limits (a huge stone with hieroglyphics), the Southern Palace and the tomb built for Akhenaten. There may also be new areas that have been excavated since our last visit in March 2006. Each time we visit there is more to see.

Day 8, Sat, January 13: Tombs at Beni Hasan, "Speos Artemidos." el-Ashmunein - the "City of the Eight," Tuna el-Gebel.

Our visits to sites from the Middle Kingdom (2040 - 1640 BC) begin with the tombs at Beni Hasan. The nobles' tombs portray scenes from the daily life, and are well preserved, full of color and quite fascinating. Acrobatics, dancing, and military sports are emphasized. But there are also scenes of making flour, baking bread, weaving cloth, and even a husband and wife on their wedding night! There are many animals portrayed - both those that were domesticated and those that were hunted.

It is near Beni Hasan that we find another interesting site, the "Speos Artemidos," a rock cut temple for Pakhet, an aspect of the lioness goddess Sekhmet. It is here that the female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, made her declaration denouncing the Hyksos and telling of her mission to resuscitate the temples of Egypt.

In the afternoon we visit el-Ashmunein (Arabic), Hermopolis (Greek), Khmunu (Ancient Egyptian) or the "City of the Eight". It was the main cult center of Thoth (Djhueti, Tehuti), god of Wisdom and writing, patron of scribes.

We also visit Tuna el-Gebel which was the neocropolis of Khmunu. All in all, a very exciting day. Return to our hotel in Menya for overnight.

Day 9, Sun, January 14: Abydos Seti I Temple, Osireion, Ramesses II Temple. Today we check out of the Aton Hotel and travel further south to visit Abydos. We will arrive midday as the convoy of buses with tourists coming from Luxor is leaving. The temple is all ours for the afternoon.

Abydos was the place of pilgrimage during ancient Egyptian times (like modern Mecca) and still holds much of the mystery of the past. The site is associated with the god Osiris and is said to be the place where the head of Osiris is buried. The temple we see at Abydos was primarily built by Seti I during the New Kingdom. Additions were made by Ramesses II. The raised wall reliefs are some of the finest art in all Egypt.

There is another temple in the back of the Seti I temple about which there is controversy. Many think it dates to the Old Kingdom or earlier, others date it as New Kingdom. This temple is known as The Osireion.

We also may be able to explore the rarely visited Ramesses II Temple, located a short distance from the Seti I Temple.

As we continue south to Luxor we drive through Nag Hamadi, where the scrolls were found that contain some of the Gnostic gospels (The Gospel of Thomas is one of these).

When we arrive in Luxor we will be glad to climb into the comfortable beds at our 5-star hotel, the Sofitel Karnak Resort. Located right on the Nile, if you get up early you can go out by the pool and watch the West Bank hills turn to pink in the early morning light. This hotel was built just a few years ago and has many options. Maybe a good time to check your email?

Day 10, Mon, January 15: Karnak Temple Complex, Luxor Museum.

Here in Luxor we begin our visits to the sacred sites of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC). The splendors of the Karnak Temple Complex fill our day today. Luxor was the center of government during the New Kingdom and each Pharaoh wanted to leave something impressive at Karnak. The largest temple complex in Egypt, we see multiple temples, obelisks, great gates and the famous hypostyle hall - unequalled to this day.

Also at Karnak, we visit the fascinating Open Air Museum where we view the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut (Karnak's original Holy of Holies), Senwosret's White Chapel with its famous finely-carved hieroglyphs (Middle Kingdom) and other magnificent pieces.

You will have a guided tour of the Open Air Museum and the main temple precinct. This will be followed by free time for you to explore any areas that interest you here. During your free time you may choose to do a meditation with the fiery lioness, Sekhmet, in her chapel.

We have a late afternoon/evening visit to the Luxor Museum. There is a special exhibit room of a cache of statues found in near-perfect condition. They were buried under a courtyard at the Luxor Temple and found only recently during renovations. There is also an impressive new wing, just added a short time ago, with a mummy exhibit.

Day 11, Tues, January 16: Denderah, Luxor Temple. Evening options: Karnak Sound & Light, shopping in Luxor.

A morning bus trip via our own private A/C bus to the Temple of Hathor at Denderah. Both the hawk/falcon god Horus and his feminine counterpart, the cow goddess Hathor, are continuously present throughout Ancient Egyptian history. Just as the kings identified with Horus (the king was called "The Living Horus"), the Queens identified themselves with Hathor, as the Great Goddess.

Denderah was the site of worship of the Goddess Hathor since the earliest times. The present temple was built during the Ptolemaic (Greek - 300-30 BC) era and is patterned after an older Hathor temple that stood there. More than any other location in Egypt, this temple abounds with astrological imagery. Every inch of wall or pillar is full of representations of star goddesses, the sky goddess - Nut - and the procession of the sun through celestial time. There is a magnificent hypostyle hall with the hawk and vulture flying overhead and the body of Nut stretched across the ceiling.

This temple is also where the famous circular zodiac (now reproduced countless times on papyri) was found on the ceiling of a small chapel on the roof.

When we return to Luxor we have lunch before visiting the Luxor Temple. Late afternoon-early evening is the best time to visit because the lighting is optimal for seeing the wall reliefs. The dramatic lighting also helps give the temple a special feeling in the evening. Both gently beautiful and full of awesome grandness, this temple was the "Bride of Karnak" during the annual Apet (or Opet) festival.

Evening options:Sound & Light Show at Karnak.

Day 12, Wed, January 17: West Bank- Hatshepsut's Temple (Deir El Bahari), Valley of the Kings.Optionals: King Tut's tomb, Alabaster Shop.

We check out of our hotel on the East Bank today and journey across the Nile to the West Bank. We begin with the two most famous sites. The first is one of the earliest temples of the New Kingdom era, Queen Hatshepsut's famous Deir El Bahari, called "The Most Splendid of All" by the ancient Egyptians. One of the outstanding features is the picturesque Hathor columns in the Hathor Chapel on the 2nd Level. We are also privileged to be admitted to the 3rd level which has only been open to the public for a short time.

Because the west represented the hereafter, the West Bank was where the dead were buried. Today we visit the most famous of these "burial grounds," the Valley of the Kings (where King Tut's tomb was found). There are many tombs here, and excavations are still going on, as well as renovations to tombs that have been uncovered a long time. One never knows which tombs will be open, but there will be a variety to choose from.

A recent highlight is the opening of the Ramesses I tomb, restored with modern techniques pioneered during the restoration of the tomb of Queen Nefertari (Nefertari is no longer open to the public).

Our new home is an inn here in the West Bank. We may hear rosters crowing and donkeys braying in the morning, a chance to feel the pulse of rural Egypt in all its timeless beauty. There is a wonderful veranda on the top of the hotel that overlooks the Medinet Habu Temple, green fields and the West Bank hills.

Optional: Tomb of King Tut. There is a separate ticket for the tomb of Tutankhamen. It is one of the smallest tombs, but some people still want to see it because it is so famous.
Evening Options: Alabaster Shop.

Day 13, Thurs, January 18: West Bank of Luxor - Ramesseum, Valley of the Nobles, Seti I Temple, Colossi of Memnon. Optionals: Sunrise Balloon Ride over the West Bank of Luxor, Sunset Felucca Ride.

This morning is an opportunity to take an early morning balloon ride here on the West Bank of Luxor. See the temples we visit during the day from a whole different perspective!

Our next New Kingdom site is the delightful, though not often visited, Ramesseum, a favorite of many of our travelers. Built for Ramesses II, now known as "Ramesses the Great," it has a splendid hypostyle hall, an astrological ceiling, some beautiful reliefs and the famous statue (a fallen colossus) that inspired a poem by Shelly.

Just nearby are a number of Nobles Tombs. There is quite a variety here. Some are brightly colored, while others are devoid of colors. One has only the eyes outlined, giving the reliefs a memorable effect.

The Seti I Temple is rarely visited by tourists but has some beautiful reliefs and some interesting aspects. The temple is surrounded by greenery, which helps us to imagine how it would have been with the surrounding gardens.

Our last stop is at what are now called the "Colossi of Memnon." They are actually colossi of Amenhotep III. The Greeks, however, thought they were statues of Memnon, the son of Eros. The temple, long ago destroyed, was built when Egypt was at the height of its opulence. There were gold floors and more…

Morning Optional: Sunrise Balloon Ride over the West Bank of Luxor.
Evening Options: Sunset Fellucca ride.

Day 14, Friday, January 19: Workmen's Village (Deir El Medina), Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu. Return to Cairo or begin a post-tour Extension.

The Valley of the Workmen, Deir El Medina, was the village where the artisans lived who did the wall paintings for the many royal tombs on Luxor's West Bank. They also painted their own tombs here in the "Valley of Truth," as it was called at that time. The god Ptah was the patron saint of craftsman, and one of Ptah's titles was "The Lord of Truth." The tombs here have some vivid colors and many vibrant representations of life. Whereas at Saqqara we saw scenes of daily life during the Old Kingdom, and at Beni Hasan we saw the Middle Kingdom, here we see the daily life represented during the New Kingdom (about 1,000 years and 500 years later).

The Valley of the Queens has more tombs, mostly of queens from the 19th Dynasty and later.

Today is our last day together as a complete group before we go our separate ways. We finish our explorations of the New Kingdom temples with the last great temple to be built during that period, Medinet Habu. Second only to Karnak in size, built by Ramesses III on a site that was seeded by a temple built by Hatshepsut at the very beginning of the New Kingdom, it is a fitting site for our last day together. There is a wonderful hall of pillars with colored reliefs of the many gods & goddesses that you have come to know through your lectures.

Included in this site is a Late Period temple of the Priestesses of Amun, in addition to the early New Kingdom temple built by Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III.

Those following the tour schedule return to Cairo on the 5:00 PM flight, arriving in Cairo at 6:00 PM.

Sofitel Le Sphinx, 5* hotel. BB, L*Note: Those staying at the Sofitel can now retrieve any bags/items that they left in storage before leaving for Middle Egypt.

Day 15, Sat, January 20: FREE DAY in Cairo One more day in Cairo to do whatever you might choose. Options:-Cairo Museum - 2nd visit-Giza pyramids and plateau.-Shopping in the old city.-One-day Alexandria excursion-Old Cairo (Coptic Cairo) churches and Islamic Mosques-Debrief. Relax by the pool as you gaze up at the pyramids and get ready to return home.

Dinner together is at 8:00

Day 16, Sun, January 21: Flights home. Jessamy and I will not be going home yet. We leave for Athens, Greece for the next five days. We have do not have an itinerary, we will just do what we feel like doing.

kate

First picture

2006-12-29T13:42:00.000-08:00

This is the first picture I took with my new digital camera about three months ago. I was standing in my front yard, looking North, after coming home from work. We were experiencing one of those Northwest 'Sun breaks'. I thought is fitting that I begin my Egypt adventure with a rainbow.

The countdown to "wheels up" has begun. I plan to start packing tonight. I hope that if I spread my packing out over several days I will be less likely to forget something.

A Happy New Year to each of you.

kate

Beginning a new adventure

2006-12-28T18:11:00.000-08:00

I have created this blog as a sort of journal of my vacation trip to Egypt and Athens, Greece. Myself and my daughter, Jessamy, are leaving on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 for a new adventure. Neither of us has been to Egypt nor Greece and we are very excited. We will be returning on Friday, January 26, 2007.

I hope to log in a couple of times a week while traveling, post some pictures and write about what I have been doing and what has happened. To those of you that received this URL from me, feel free to comment and enjoy the photos.

I will post an itinerary of our trip before we leave so you can get an idea of what we will be doing in Egypt. We have no intinerary in Athens so who knows what we will get into while we are there?

kate