The trip up the Nile was very nice and relaxing. We visited several more temples on the way up to Aswan. In Aswan we took a ride on a faluca (traditional sail boat) and visited the Temple of Isis. The trip out to the temple was very interesting as the Temple is on an island. We later made the trip at night for the sight and sound show (we learned Isis is pro Aswan dam) on unlit boats that the pilots treated like bumper cars.
The next day was a hard one because we woke at 2 AM to see Abu Simbel. The buses all leave in a giant caravan, for security purposes. Abu Simbel is another site rescued from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. It has the very famous image of four seated Pharaohs, all Ramses II (no false modesty for kings).
The day after that was Cairo (another 3 AM wakeup, followed by a 7 AM flight and a full day of touring). We got to see the Pyramids, The Sphinx and the King Tut exhibit at the Cairo Museum. This was New Year's Eve, needless to say we didn't make it to midnight (though we did celebrate with Dubai right before we fell asleep and NY upon waking up!). We definitely felt better with the rest as we flew back the next day, especially as the airline lost our connecting flight for an hour and a half (no we did not mistype- they lost our FLIGHT, not our tickets). Fortunately several other groups had the same issue and it was all resolved before we left Cairo. All in all it was a wonderful trip, we saw many amazing things, and met some really nice people! We highly recommend such a trip - just make sure you sign up for an English-speaking tour (it was a small difficulty for us since all of the guided tour explanations were in French - oops!)!! But still a wonderful trip!
Link to see more pics on 'The Facebook'
Nice job on the blogging and photos. Looks like a real memorable time. I "raided" the local library of their Egypt materials and have had a good time learning about Egypt again. Can't wait to catch up with you skype Mary (hint, hint:)!
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