Saturday, October 24, 2009
Back to Athens
We got off our ship bright and early Friday morning and were transferred to our hotel in Athens, the Metropolitan. The Metropolitan is a very nice hotel nicely situated in Athens. They are in almost the center of Athens, but yet it is somewhat of a quiet area for the most part. The hotel offers a free shuttle into the city center where there is a huge concentration of shops, restaurants, and museums. This makes it really easy for us to find our own way at our own pace, especially since the next two days are on our own.
Since our room wasn’t ready quite yet, we took the shuttle into town and wandered around for a few hours and then went back to check in and take a nap. Neither one of us had very good sleep on the ship so needed to catch up a little. Afterwards we walked to a restaurant about three blocks from the hotel for lunch. Meal times are very different than the U.S.- we had lunch around 1:30 and that was very early here. Typically breakfast is nothing more than coffee (although we have been given huge breakfast buffets) and lunch and dinner will be huge meals. Lunch will be around 230 or 3pm and dinner is around 10-11pm. So I guess when we have been going our for dinner, the Greeks must think we are having a late lunch. Either way, that just means when we are ready to eat- it is not busy in the restaurants which is nice actually.
This evening we opted in to join a dinner group going to Psiri. The tour company organizes these optional dinner evenings for an extra cost and they arrange a menu with a good local restaurant in a different part of town and offers it the tours. We have done a couple and they have been some of the best meals we have had and well worth the money- especially since they are inclusive of beverages (wine, soda, water- yes, you typically pay for water over here). Last night was phenomenal, to say the least. To each big table they delivered about 10-15 different appetizers to sample from salads, to grilled mushrooms, to cheeses…etc. They kept bringing bottle after bottle of wine, and again more food. After appetizers we were so full, but knew what was coming next. They then brought out these huge platters of grilled meats; pork, chicken, beef, sausage. All were topped with grilled pita bread, fried potatoes and a bunch of other stuff. What was really neat about this place is that there were so many different foods that what we have been eating at other places so it wasn’t like we were getting the same things over and over. Dessert we have this chocolate cake, with ice cream and fresh fruit, and more wine. But then the most difficult part of the evening was walking back to the bus after having consumed all that food and wine. The streets in Athens are very tiny and busses are allowed on the main streets because they are big enough, but the majority of these local streets are not wide enough for a bus to get through so walking is involved- which is typically not a big deal.
Falling asleep after yesterday and especially the dinner was not hard Saturday is our last day in Athens and we have a lot to pack in! I can’t believe we have to back home in a day….
Since our room wasn’t ready quite yet, we took the shuttle into town and wandered around for a few hours and then went back to check in and take a nap. Neither one of us had very good sleep on the ship so needed to catch up a little. Afterwards we walked to a restaurant about three blocks from the hotel for lunch. Meal times are very different than the U.S.- we had lunch around 1:30 and that was very early here. Typically breakfast is nothing more than coffee (although we have been given huge breakfast buffets) and lunch and dinner will be huge meals. Lunch will be around 230 or 3pm and dinner is around 10-11pm. So I guess when we have been going our for dinner, the Greeks must think we are having a late lunch. Either way, that just means when we are ready to eat- it is not busy in the restaurants which is nice actually.
This evening we opted in to join a dinner group going to Psiri. The tour company organizes these optional dinner evenings for an extra cost and they arrange a menu with a good local restaurant in a different part of town and offers it the tours. We have done a couple and they have been some of the best meals we have had and well worth the money- especially since they are inclusive of beverages (wine, soda, water- yes, you typically pay for water over here). Last night was phenomenal, to say the least. To each big table they delivered about 10-15 different appetizers to sample from salads, to grilled mushrooms, to cheeses…etc. They kept bringing bottle after bottle of wine, and again more food. After appetizers we were so full, but knew what was coming next. They then brought out these huge platters of grilled meats; pork, chicken, beef, sausage. All were topped with grilled pita bread, fried potatoes and a bunch of other stuff. What was really neat about this place is that there were so many different foods that what we have been eating at other places so it wasn’t like we were getting the same things over and over. Dessert we have this chocolate cake, with ice cream and fresh fruit, and more wine. But then the most difficult part of the evening was walking back to the bus after having consumed all that food and wine. The streets in Athens are very tiny and busses are allowed on the main streets because they are big enough, but the majority of these local streets are not wide enough for a bus to get through so walking is involved- which is typically not a big deal.
Falling asleep after yesterday and especially the dinner was not hard Saturday is our last day in Athens and we have a lot to pack in! I can’t believe we have to back home in a day….
Friday, October 23, 2009
And on the 15th day, God gave us Starbucks and it was good!
This morning since we did not book an excursion on Crete we got to sleep in a little bit which was needed since last night was a rather restless night with all the waves and rocking. Our tour guide offered a walking tour of the port city if anybody wanted to join her. We opted in to go and left around 830am. We had a short shuttle bus to get us out of the docking area since it was so large and then we walked for about 25 mins to a main street that had shops, churches, and a market. On our guides recommendation, we tried these lovely doughnuts that were covered lightly in honey, cinnamon and sesame seeds. We also finally purchased our worry beads.
Worry beads are a big thing over here- almost every Greek has them it seems like. They are just these beads on a string- looks like a cross between a rosary and a necklace. People just hold on the them, fling them around their fingers, whip them back and forth- it is quite odd actually. But we felt compelled to make the purchase for ourselves. Brad got black worry beads, and I got ones that were blue with eyes on them- apparently it is for good luck...maybe they will help me find a job…unless the shop keeper was pulling my leg and they are bad luck and therefore I may be unemployed for awhile.
After we wandered around for a bit, we met back at our meeting place on the main street, Starbucks. Seeing a Starbucks was magical. It appeared to have bright lights around it and if you listened carefully you could hear angels singing. It was calling to us….two and a half weeks of bad coffee…all to be rewarded with the precious, delicious grande nonfat latte with caramel. It was all good.
After enjoying the precious for a few short moments outside on a sunny morning we started the leisurely long walk back to the port. When we got back, we had a few moments to rest before we had our disembarkment meeting (for tomorrow morning) and then lunch. By this afternoon, we would reach Santorini one of the highlights for me on this trip.
As scheduled we reached Santorini on time and what an island it is! One big crescent shaped mountain. We were called off the boat first to take a smaller boat into the port. We got right on a big tour bus and started up the mountain. I could not watch as the huge bus zig zagged up the mountain with other busses driving the other direction down- the road was barely wide enough for a car, let alone two big busses. I focused on our local guide who was telling us about the island and it wasn’t hard to do cause he was so funny! He had my dry sense of humor. We drove up to the cliff that you always see pictures of when you see pictures of the Greek Islands, the white houses with the blue windows and domes overlooking the sea on a cliff…well we were there and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Amazing. I think that it was at this point where we both decided that this was a place we were coming back to- without any doubt. We took a million pictures- both of us and the sun was about an hour from setting so we were there at a perfect time. The streets in that area were all pedestrian streets that were like a labyrinth with all of these unknown turns all lines with cafes, shops, kiosks, art galleries…our guide dropped us off at a square and said it was a 7 minute walk to the end and for the ladies it was a 2 hour walk (because of all the shops- he wasn’t kidding and I had to really resist given the timing of the sunset and to be able to see what we came here to see) Another thing about this city was that it was completely non-commercial- no chain hotels, restaurants, etc…all locally family owned establishments. In fact, we were told that you would be hard pressed to find a hotel that had over 50 rooms in it. They also make their own wine in Santorini and we got to sample a bit- it was fabulous, kind of like a port wine and is only sold in Santorini- we bought a bottle to take home. They also sell a bunch of roasted pistachios, and sesame seed encrusted peanuts that are slightly sweet- amazing!!! We bought those to. The only downfall to this island, is how you leave it (when you are on a cruise). There are 3 ways down, 600+ stairs, donkey, or cable car. While I was not fond of the cable car idea, it was the quickest and safest way and it actually wasn’t that bad, nothing like the cable cars I rode to the top of the Matterhorn in Switzerland, but that is what I envisioned when they told us we’d be taking them and I scared myself with the thought.
We had to get back on the boat for dinner, and to pack and pick up our passports. We were sat at a table with this very nice couple from Australia. They will be traveling around Europe for about 3 months! They seemed to travel a lot. We ended up getting on the topic of politics (which I know is always a bad idea…) but it was very interesting to hear their point of view on the world and what they think of America. The general opinion from what we have heard from almost everybody is that they love Obama as our president- even when we were in Egypt, the people selling stuff would ask if you were from America and then they’d say “Yeah…Obama!” and give us a thumbs up. While many people may not like him very much, he seems to have quite a following all over the world and that can’t be a bad thing!
Anyway, much left to do tonight and tomorrow we have to get off the boat early so I’d better pack it up for now.
Worry beads are a big thing over here- almost every Greek has them it seems like. They are just these beads on a string- looks like a cross between a rosary and a necklace. People just hold on the them, fling them around their fingers, whip them back and forth- it is quite odd actually. But we felt compelled to make the purchase for ourselves. Brad got black worry beads, and I got ones that were blue with eyes on them- apparently it is for good luck...maybe they will help me find a job…unless the shop keeper was pulling my leg and they are bad luck and therefore I may be unemployed for awhile.
After we wandered around for a bit, we met back at our meeting place on the main street, Starbucks. Seeing a Starbucks was magical. It appeared to have bright lights around it and if you listened carefully you could hear angels singing. It was calling to us….two and a half weeks of bad coffee…all to be rewarded with the precious, delicious grande nonfat latte with caramel. It was all good.
After enjoying the precious for a few short moments outside on a sunny morning we started the leisurely long walk back to the port. When we got back, we had a few moments to rest before we had our disembarkment meeting (for tomorrow morning) and then lunch. By this afternoon, we would reach Santorini one of the highlights for me on this trip.
As scheduled we reached Santorini on time and what an island it is! One big crescent shaped mountain. We were called off the boat first to take a smaller boat into the port. We got right on a big tour bus and started up the mountain. I could not watch as the huge bus zig zagged up the mountain with other busses driving the other direction down- the road was barely wide enough for a car, let alone two big busses. I focused on our local guide who was telling us about the island and it wasn’t hard to do cause he was so funny! He had my dry sense of humor. We drove up to the cliff that you always see pictures of when you see pictures of the Greek Islands, the white houses with the blue windows and domes overlooking the sea on a cliff…well we were there and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Amazing. I think that it was at this point where we both decided that this was a place we were coming back to- without any doubt. We took a million pictures- both of us and the sun was about an hour from setting so we were there at a perfect time. The streets in that area were all pedestrian streets that were like a labyrinth with all of these unknown turns all lines with cafes, shops, kiosks, art galleries…our guide dropped us off at a square and said it was a 7 minute walk to the end and for the ladies it was a 2 hour walk (because of all the shops- he wasn’t kidding and I had to really resist given the timing of the sunset and to be able to see what we came here to see) Another thing about this city was that it was completely non-commercial- no chain hotels, restaurants, etc…all locally family owned establishments. In fact, we were told that you would be hard pressed to find a hotel that had over 50 rooms in it. They also make their own wine in Santorini and we got to sample a bit- it was fabulous, kind of like a port wine and is only sold in Santorini- we bought a bottle to take home. They also sell a bunch of roasted pistachios, and sesame seed encrusted peanuts that are slightly sweet- amazing!!! We bought those to. The only downfall to this island, is how you leave it (when you are on a cruise). There are 3 ways down, 600+ stairs, donkey, or cable car. While I was not fond of the cable car idea, it was the quickest and safest way and it actually wasn’t that bad, nothing like the cable cars I rode to the top of the Matterhorn in Switzerland, but that is what I envisioned when they told us we’d be taking them and I scared myself with the thought.
We had to get back on the boat for dinner, and to pack and pick up our passports. We were sat at a table with this very nice couple from Australia. They will be traveling around Europe for about 3 months! They seemed to travel a lot. We ended up getting on the topic of politics (which I know is always a bad idea…) but it was very interesting to hear their point of view on the world and what they think of America. The general opinion from what we have heard from almost everybody is that they love Obama as our president- even when we were in Egypt, the people selling stuff would ask if you were from America and then they’d say “Yeah…Obama!” and give us a thumbs up. While many people may not like him very much, he seems to have quite a following all over the world and that can’t be a bad thing!
Anyway, much left to do tonight and tomorrow we have to get off the boat early so I’d better pack it up for now.
No more smooth sailing
Today was an entire day on the island of Rhodes. Rhodes is the 4th largest island in the Mediterranean and there is a bunch to do and see. We woke up early; actually Brad woke up really early to a shower from the window. Apparently they were washing the windows really early (4am) and when they sprayed the window; it dripped some water in on him as his bed is right up against the window. However, it wasn’t like we both haven’t been up at about 430-500 am when the lounge chairs are arranged on the sun deck which is right above us. This is a very old and noisy ship and oddly the ship is VERY rocky. Meaning, you can feel every wave- even though this ship is large, for some reason it rocks back and forth a lot. I had to purchase sea sickness pills the first day on board- which I have never had problems with before. Tonight as I write this I wonder if the ship is going to go down Titanic style…there are 8-10 foot waves and we are moving all over the place, our room is also situated near the front of the boat.
Anyway, we left our boat this morning and got on our bus up to Lindos which is a city on the island of Rhodes. It was about a 50 minute drive and we were going to visit an acropolis, which the Greek translation literally means city on the rock. Which makes sense since the other acropolis, the major one in Athens is on a big mountain that we hiked up. This was the same, but a scarier hike to the top. So we were warned in advance that there were approximately 300 steps to the top and we had 2 options, by foot the whole way, or half the way by donkey and the rest of the way by foot. I rode a camel and that was enough for one trip- I do not trust donkeys...regardless of how cute they are. So we “hoofed” it (our own hooves, not the donkey’s hooves) all the way up the big rocks. Now when they say 300 steps, these are not nice shallow stairs with a railing…oh no. These are big marble or sometimes broken up slippery rocks that are uneven and inconsistent in size- without handrails. In fact, there is no guard rails going up or when you get to the top- so you can just walk right off the top if you’d like and as an added bonus, it is very windy. Brad was not a huge fan of this as he has a small fear of heights. I am quite certain that my knees hate me right now. This was very interesting to see and I am glad we went to the top, although we are paying the price now.
After the acropolis we drove to see a pottery demonstration which was neat to see. I had taken a pottery class in the past using a pottery wheel and it would take me over an hour to make what this guy made in about 3 minutes. After this we drove back towards the port to the old town of Rhodes. The old town is still surrounded by gates, moats (dry) and the old brick fortress wall. Inside there are a bunch of shops and restaurants, museums and churches. That is one thing that is interesting about all these islands- the amazing number of small churches. Mykonos literally had 1 church per day of the year- 365 small churches in an island that had less people than the city of Minneapolis- maybe even Crystal. These churches are however very very small- I could not imagine some of these holding more the 50 people in them. It would probably be easy to get married over here- there is always a church available!
Instead of going back to the ship right after our guided tour, we stayed behind for lunch to taste the local fare. I of course ordered a Greek Salad and a slice of cheese pie- Brad ordered a mixed meats kabob that had fried potatoes and veggies and also tzasiki which came with the fabulous seasoned grilled pita bread. We had so much food and it was delicious! We hobbled back to the ship for our daily nap and woke up to the rocking and it has gotten worse as we continue to sail. More motion sickness pills for me…
Tonight we had the Captain’s cocktail party where we could meet the Captain and then our formal night in the dining room. We had a special dessert tonight, baked Alaska. They turned out all the lights and walked in the dining room with the flaming dessert singing the song “hot, hot, hot”.
Tomorrow morning we are taking a walking tour of the island of Crete and have some free time. We are then sailing to Santorini which is what I am most excited for- I can’t wait to see the blue domed houses and white washed homes on the cliff. Friday we get off the boat early in the morning and Friday and Saturday we have free in Athens. I can’t believe that our trip is nearing the end. It has gone by so fast and we have done so much, but I am also looking forward to getting back to normal. I may actually miss the dog a little bit…but maybe I am just not feeling well…who knows?
Anyway, we left our boat this morning and got on our bus up to Lindos which is a city on the island of Rhodes. It was about a 50 minute drive and we were going to visit an acropolis, which the Greek translation literally means city on the rock. Which makes sense since the other acropolis, the major one in Athens is on a big mountain that we hiked up. This was the same, but a scarier hike to the top. So we were warned in advance that there were approximately 300 steps to the top and we had 2 options, by foot the whole way, or half the way by donkey and the rest of the way by foot. I rode a camel and that was enough for one trip- I do not trust donkeys...regardless of how cute they are. So we “hoofed” it (our own hooves, not the donkey’s hooves) all the way up the big rocks. Now when they say 300 steps, these are not nice shallow stairs with a railing…oh no. These are big marble or sometimes broken up slippery rocks that are uneven and inconsistent in size- without handrails. In fact, there is no guard rails going up or when you get to the top- so you can just walk right off the top if you’d like and as an added bonus, it is very windy. Brad was not a huge fan of this as he has a small fear of heights. I am quite certain that my knees hate me right now. This was very interesting to see and I am glad we went to the top, although we are paying the price now.
After the acropolis we drove to see a pottery demonstration which was neat to see. I had taken a pottery class in the past using a pottery wheel and it would take me over an hour to make what this guy made in about 3 minutes. After this we drove back towards the port to the old town of Rhodes. The old town is still surrounded by gates, moats (dry) and the old brick fortress wall. Inside there are a bunch of shops and restaurants, museums and churches. That is one thing that is interesting about all these islands- the amazing number of small churches. Mykonos literally had 1 church per day of the year- 365 small churches in an island that had less people than the city of Minneapolis- maybe even Crystal. These churches are however very very small- I could not imagine some of these holding more the 50 people in them. It would probably be easy to get married over here- there is always a church available!
Instead of going back to the ship right after our guided tour, we stayed behind for lunch to taste the local fare. I of course ordered a Greek Salad and a slice of cheese pie- Brad ordered a mixed meats kabob that had fried potatoes and veggies and also tzasiki which came with the fabulous seasoned grilled pita bread. We had so much food and it was delicious! We hobbled back to the ship for our daily nap and woke up to the rocking and it has gotten worse as we continue to sail. More motion sickness pills for me…
Tonight we had the Captain’s cocktail party where we could meet the Captain and then our formal night in the dining room. We had a special dessert tonight, baked Alaska. They turned out all the lights and walked in the dining room with the flaming dessert singing the song “hot, hot, hot”.
Tomorrow morning we are taking a walking tour of the island of Crete and have some free time. We are then sailing to Santorini which is what I am most excited for- I can’t wait to see the blue domed houses and white washed homes on the cliff. Friday we get off the boat early in the morning and Friday and Saturday we have free in Athens. I can’t believe that our trip is nearing the end. It has gone by so fast and we have done so much, but I am also looking forward to getting back to normal. I may actually miss the dog a little bit…but maybe I am just not feeling well…who knows?
Turkey anybody? Gobble Gobble
This morning, bright and early we left the boat and set foot in Kusadasi, Turkey. We had a shore excursion to visit the home of Virgin Mary- this is the home that she lived in after Jesus’ death and where she spent the last days of her life. I had no clue that was in Turkey to be honest, or the fact that we’d be given the option of going to visit it. Oddly we were the only people that were interested in our tour group in going so we had to go with another group for this part, which was fine. At this point we had gotten real good at meeting new people and sharing our story with everybody- you know that typical- “what’s your name, where are you from, what do you do?” I love answering the question, “what do you do for a living” because I haven’t an answer for anybody but hope that changes soon after we get back (with any luck).
The home of Virgin Mary was as you can imagine quite small and obviously no pictures were allowed inside, but we got a few outside and around the home. I think that what was most impressive was how high into the mountains it was and to imagine them going up there without a nice air conditioned motor coach, but rather a donkey…that would have taken days. Talk about a place out in the suburbs! But it was absolutely beautiful around the home, very green and in the woods almost.
We spent about 30-45 mins there before we loaded on the bus again to travel down the mountain to Ancient Ephesus, one of the Ancient wonders of the world- in fact we believe this is like the 4th one we have seen on this trip and have to Google what all of them are to make sure we check them all off in our lifetime. Ephesus was ruins of an old city which they claim to only be partially uncovered and that the majority is underground and not discovered yet. Which is amazing to think of because we had walked down the hill a little over a mile and that was just the length down- not even all the side roads and side areas of the “town”. We ended up ditching our local guide of the area because we started to feel like zombies following him around when he was spouting out names, dates, and figures to us. Quite honestly, these are really interesting facts and numbers and I am sure are very significant…However, after 2.5 weeks of this, it all blurs together. We took our pictures and left the gate and did a little shopping. In Turkey you have to negotiate the price of anything you buy, similar to Egypt EXCEPT they do not harass you and follow you around OR send their children after you crying and begging for money- I prefer this method over the Egypt style. We got on the bus and they took us to a carpet making demonstration- evidently all cruise ships that dock are required to go through this. It was fine, interesting and quick. They gave us a glass of Turkish Apple tea and we both loved it so much we purchased a box at a local store to bring home. The carpets were very expensive and the environment was a high pressure sales thing which I am not fond of. So we shopped our way back to the cruise ship in time for lunch.
After lunch we took a nap and woke up in time for our next port, Patmos Greece. This is a very small island that has only a few thousand people living year round on it. It was nice to visit it for a few reasons, #1 you truly got a feel of life on a Greek Island. You get to see the small winding roads up the mountain and the little towns that are not full of gift shops and tour groups, although we were one there- but it was not a popular island and it was a nice change. #2. This was where St. John wrote the book of Revelations and we got to visit the grotto where that took place- which is pretty significant in most major religions- especially Christianity.
This island reminded me of the island of Burano in Venice- a little of the path of major tourism and a real life snapshot of life there. Patmos provided us with many very artistic photography opportunities and I have to admit- I finally got the National Geographic shot of the day…I will show you all when I get back.
When we were done touring the island, we were provided a free drink and cookies at a little bar seaside. It was nice to sip a drink while the sun was starting to set and just relax a little bit.
When we finished our drink, we went back to the ship and got ready for our Greek themed dinner night. We were told to dress in Blue and White- the colors of the flag. Then we had a huge menu of Greek food options- and Brad and I ordered almost one of everything! Yum! As dessert was being served, a bunch of the waiters came over to Brad and I as well as another couple at our table that were celebrating their Honeymoon, tied our hands together and sang Elvis to us, “Can’t help falling in love with you”- The WHOLE dining room was staring at us and snapping pictures. I was so surprised and embarrassed- I was so red…they then presented us with a cake for the table- it was delicious.
After dinner, we went to the lounge to watch the Greek dancing show for awhile. But knowing that we had another early morning we left halfway though to get ready for the next day in Rhodes.
The home of Virgin Mary was as you can imagine quite small and obviously no pictures were allowed inside, but we got a few outside and around the home. I think that what was most impressive was how high into the mountains it was and to imagine them going up there without a nice air conditioned motor coach, but rather a donkey…that would have taken days. Talk about a place out in the suburbs! But it was absolutely beautiful around the home, very green and in the woods almost.
We spent about 30-45 mins there before we loaded on the bus again to travel down the mountain to Ancient Ephesus, one of the Ancient wonders of the world- in fact we believe this is like the 4th one we have seen on this trip and have to Google what all of them are to make sure we check them all off in our lifetime. Ephesus was ruins of an old city which they claim to only be partially uncovered and that the majority is underground and not discovered yet. Which is amazing to think of because we had walked down the hill a little over a mile and that was just the length down- not even all the side roads and side areas of the “town”. We ended up ditching our local guide of the area because we started to feel like zombies following him around when he was spouting out names, dates, and figures to us. Quite honestly, these are really interesting facts and numbers and I am sure are very significant…However, after 2.5 weeks of this, it all blurs together. We took our pictures and left the gate and did a little shopping. In Turkey you have to negotiate the price of anything you buy, similar to Egypt EXCEPT they do not harass you and follow you around OR send their children after you crying and begging for money- I prefer this method over the Egypt style. We got on the bus and they took us to a carpet making demonstration- evidently all cruise ships that dock are required to go through this. It was fine, interesting and quick. They gave us a glass of Turkish Apple tea and we both loved it so much we purchased a box at a local store to bring home. The carpets were very expensive and the environment was a high pressure sales thing which I am not fond of. So we shopped our way back to the cruise ship in time for lunch.
After lunch we took a nap and woke up in time for our next port, Patmos Greece. This is a very small island that has only a few thousand people living year round on it. It was nice to visit it for a few reasons, #1 you truly got a feel of life on a Greek Island. You get to see the small winding roads up the mountain and the little towns that are not full of gift shops and tour groups, although we were one there- but it was not a popular island and it was a nice change. #2. This was where St. John wrote the book of Revelations and we got to visit the grotto where that took place- which is pretty significant in most major religions- especially Christianity.
This island reminded me of the island of Burano in Venice- a little of the path of major tourism and a real life snapshot of life there. Patmos provided us with many very artistic photography opportunities and I have to admit- I finally got the National Geographic shot of the day…I will show you all when I get back.
When we were done touring the island, we were provided a free drink and cookies at a little bar seaside. It was nice to sip a drink while the sun was starting to set and just relax a little bit.
When we finished our drink, we went back to the ship and got ready for our Greek themed dinner night. We were told to dress in Blue and White- the colors of the flag. Then we had a huge menu of Greek food options- and Brad and I ordered almost one of everything! Yum! As dessert was being served, a bunch of the waiters came over to Brad and I as well as another couple at our table that were celebrating their Honeymoon, tied our hands together and sang Elvis to us, “Can’t help falling in love with you”- The WHOLE dining room was staring at us and snapping pictures. I was so surprised and embarrassed- I was so red…they then presented us with a cake for the table- it was delicious.
After dinner, we went to the lounge to watch the Greek dancing show for awhile. But knowing that we had another early morning we left halfway though to get ready for the next day in Rhodes.
Back on a boat again…a bigger boat this time
Before I start to describe our day today, I wanted to recap our fabulous evening last night. We had a Greek themed dinner show last night in the Plaka area of Athens- big shopping and restaurant area which is the neatest place on earth- it reminded me a little bit like a cross between St. Paul de Vance in Nice and Brussels. The shopping will be amazing but I promised myself I am going to wait till we get back to Athens because I don’t want to lug around a bunch of stuff…patience is a virtue right?
Our dinner was fabulous- we were served about 6 appetizers to get a little taste of everything- and we tasted everything. While eating we were entertained by folk dancers and singers and traditional music. If you have seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding- you pretty much have the general idea of our evening. We had a entrée of our choice, Brad and I both chose the lamb since we were in Greece- this lamb was not as good as the lamb we had earlier today- maybe cause this was roasted lamb, and we had grilled before.
We also were provided unlimited wine and beer- Brad and I finished off a bottle a red and it was excellent- light and a little fruity- kind of like a Pinot Noir for all you wine snobs. For dessert, which we could hardly fathom since we were so full- we had baklava. Best ever!!!! I am not a huge baklava fan, I could take it or leave it. But if I could eat this everyday for the rest of my life, I would be a very happy person. Brad bought me 3 red roses from a woman who was walking around selling flowers, they were beautiful.
When we got back to out room, our local hotel guide had sent up to our room a bottle of wine, fruit, nuts, chilled water and a card wishing us a happy honeymoon. We were both really shocked and while we really wanted to pop open the bottle, we decided to save it for back home- hoping it travels alright. But overall, a perfect evening.
This morning we woke up and packed up our things again to leave for the cruise for 4 nights. It was a quick drive to the port and boarding did not take too long at all, not at all like Carnival Cruise- but then again, this boat only holds 1000 people and is considerably smaller. It is larger than the Nile River boat we were on last week. This ship is…well…the best way to put it is that the ship is old. I bet this was an old Royal Caribbean that was sold off when new ones were built, this one is probably circa 1981. But the positive thing is that we are not here for the boat, we are here for the Islands and the sights.
We got situated on the boat and had our required life jacket/emergency drill which is always loads of fun! Afterwards we had the afternoon to ourselves to eat, explore the ship, unpack and participate in any of the ship activities. We decided to eat in the main dining room for Lunch since we were tired of buffets and our guide told us that the main dining room for lunch is usually not busy at all- she was right. The meal was nice and we got to meet some more Americans on another tour at our table.
Our ship left about 90 minutes late because there were about 120 Canadians that had a late flight and needed to get on the ship- so we waited. Since that is a large % of our ship they needed to wait, but that meant that we wouldn’t get into Mykonos until after sunset…big bummer. We were so excited to get pictures of the sugar-cube houses and blue domed churches, but now we had to explore at night. Regardless, we went to the island and our guide gave us a mini walking tour of the island and pointed out the most popular things to see, Brad got some really decent pictures of the sights using a bunch of different setting on the camera- so all was not lost. We finally got to do a little shopping which was fun- we got some paintings of the city to hang in our bathroom, by far my favorite purchase. And then after taking a few more shots, we went back to the boat.
Tomorrow will be an early morning as we leave the ship at 7am for Kudasai, Turkey. We are going to see the Home of the Virgin Mary and Ancient Ephesus. Then in the afternoon we go to Patmos to see where the book of Revelations was written. I am calling tomorrow our pilgrimage day.
Our dinner was fabulous- we were served about 6 appetizers to get a little taste of everything- and we tasted everything. While eating we were entertained by folk dancers and singers and traditional music. If you have seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding- you pretty much have the general idea of our evening. We had a entrée of our choice, Brad and I both chose the lamb since we were in Greece- this lamb was not as good as the lamb we had earlier today- maybe cause this was roasted lamb, and we had grilled before.
We also were provided unlimited wine and beer- Brad and I finished off a bottle a red and it was excellent- light and a little fruity- kind of like a Pinot Noir for all you wine snobs. For dessert, which we could hardly fathom since we were so full- we had baklava. Best ever!!!! I am not a huge baklava fan, I could take it or leave it. But if I could eat this everyday for the rest of my life, I would be a very happy person. Brad bought me 3 red roses from a woman who was walking around selling flowers, they were beautiful.
When we got back to out room, our local hotel guide had sent up to our room a bottle of wine, fruit, nuts, chilled water and a card wishing us a happy honeymoon. We were both really shocked and while we really wanted to pop open the bottle, we decided to save it for back home- hoping it travels alright. But overall, a perfect evening.
This morning we woke up and packed up our things again to leave for the cruise for 4 nights. It was a quick drive to the port and boarding did not take too long at all, not at all like Carnival Cruise- but then again, this boat only holds 1000 people and is considerably smaller. It is larger than the Nile River boat we were on last week. This ship is…well…the best way to put it is that the ship is old. I bet this was an old Royal Caribbean that was sold off when new ones were built, this one is probably circa 1981. But the positive thing is that we are not here for the boat, we are here for the Islands and the sights.
We got situated on the boat and had our required life jacket/emergency drill which is always loads of fun! Afterwards we had the afternoon to ourselves to eat, explore the ship, unpack and participate in any of the ship activities. We decided to eat in the main dining room for Lunch since we were tired of buffets and our guide told us that the main dining room for lunch is usually not busy at all- she was right. The meal was nice and we got to meet some more Americans on another tour at our table.
Our ship left about 90 minutes late because there were about 120 Canadians that had a late flight and needed to get on the ship- so we waited. Since that is a large % of our ship they needed to wait, but that meant that we wouldn’t get into Mykonos until after sunset…big bummer. We were so excited to get pictures of the sugar-cube houses and blue domed churches, but now we had to explore at night. Regardless, we went to the island and our guide gave us a mini walking tour of the island and pointed out the most popular things to see, Brad got some really decent pictures of the sights using a bunch of different setting on the camera- so all was not lost. We finally got to do a little shopping which was fun- we got some paintings of the city to hang in our bathroom, by far my favorite purchase. And then after taking a few more shots, we went back to the boat.
Tomorrow will be an early morning as we leave the ship at 7am for Kudasai, Turkey. We are going to see the Home of the Virgin Mary and Ancient Ephesus. Then in the afternoon we go to Patmos to see where the book of Revelations was written. I am calling tomorrow our pilgrimage day.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
We’re moving to Greece
This morning we woke up and got ready for our city tour day. We had breakfast in the hotel, a breakfast buffet and it was marvelous! The food is a million times better than Egypt and the best part of it is that we can have ice again and tap water. I can eat fruits, vegetables that are not cooked, and SALAD!! We ate breakfast and then met out local guide for the tour of the city.
We stopped first at Zeus’s Olympic palace and Hadian’s Arch. It was amazing to see how high the pillars were built and how much in ruins they are today. And they are not as old as the pyramids- the pyramids are in great shape and are bigger….so if we are keeping score: Greece wins on the food, Egypt wins on the architecture. We had a partially cloudy morning but it improved throughout the day- maybe reaching 75 degrees today?? After Zeus’s palace, we drove to the parliament building where the tomb of the unknown soldier was and we got to see the changing of the guards. This was not as elaborate as the program in London at Buckingham Palace- this changing of the guards only involved 5 guards, but was still interesting. Their costumes were a hoot- they had big poofly pom poms on the toes of their shoes- I want a pair! Brad does too..just kidding.
After that we drove to the Acropolis which was the highlight of the morning. The Acropolis had a lot of restoration happening to it so sadly about half of it had scaffolding around it. When we arrived we were informed that the busses can only take you so far and that we were going to hike to the top in phases since there were so many. So there was a warning in advance and I was worried. How bad is it, I wondered. But there was no way I was going to miss this. So were started out with the group and eventually walked ahead of them and made our own way to the top. Along the walk to the top of the mountain, there were many panoramic views that were beautiful- you could see straight through to the sea. Athens is actually a very mountainous area which I guess I never knew or even thought about. We spent about an hour at the top going through all the buildings (actually walking around the roped off areas) and taking a lot of awesome pictures that we can’t wait to share.
After we made out way down the mountain, we stopped for a soda and then met the rest of the group at the bus. Afterwards, we had 2 options: go back to the hotel, or get dropped of in the Plaka which a major shopping and restaurant area where the hotel guide would be to quick show us around. We wanted to explore so we decided to take the second option and find a really great restaurant, sit outside with a glass of wine good greek food and “people watch”. We found a fabulous place right in the heart of everything and I had a traditional greek salad (which had no lettuce which I was not expecting- just veggies, olives and a big block of feta) and Brad had grilled lamb and fried potatoes- the lamb was the best we have ever tried.
We walked around for a bit longer and then waited for the free shuttle bus to pick us up to go back to the hotel. We are back at the hotel now to post this message, take a nap and get ready for out Greek dinner tonight. They are taking us to this special restaurant that will have Greek entertainment, food, desserts, and wine. We are looking forward to this.
Tomorrow we are leaving in the morning for the ship. We will not have access to internet most likely but will still be updating our daily log to post later when we are able. We are on the ship until next Friday and then back in Athens for a couple nights. Tomorrow we will be in Mykonos what I have been looking forward to the most (that and Santorini). Hope you are all well, and you will hear from us in a few days.
We stopped first at Zeus’s Olympic palace and Hadian’s Arch. It was amazing to see how high the pillars were built and how much in ruins they are today. And they are not as old as the pyramids- the pyramids are in great shape and are bigger….so if we are keeping score: Greece wins on the food, Egypt wins on the architecture. We had a partially cloudy morning but it improved throughout the day- maybe reaching 75 degrees today?? After Zeus’s palace, we drove to the parliament building where the tomb of the unknown soldier was and we got to see the changing of the guards. This was not as elaborate as the program in London at Buckingham Palace- this changing of the guards only involved 5 guards, but was still interesting. Their costumes were a hoot- they had big poofly pom poms on the toes of their shoes- I want a pair! Brad does too..just kidding.
After that we drove to the Acropolis which was the highlight of the morning. The Acropolis had a lot of restoration happening to it so sadly about half of it had scaffolding around it. When we arrived we were informed that the busses can only take you so far and that we were going to hike to the top in phases since there were so many. So there was a warning in advance and I was worried. How bad is it, I wondered. But there was no way I was going to miss this. So were started out with the group and eventually walked ahead of them and made our own way to the top. Along the walk to the top of the mountain, there were many panoramic views that were beautiful- you could see straight through to the sea. Athens is actually a very mountainous area which I guess I never knew or even thought about. We spent about an hour at the top going through all the buildings (actually walking around the roped off areas) and taking a lot of awesome pictures that we can’t wait to share.
After we made out way down the mountain, we stopped for a soda and then met the rest of the group at the bus. Afterwards, we had 2 options: go back to the hotel, or get dropped of in the Plaka which a major shopping and restaurant area where the hotel guide would be to quick show us around. We wanted to explore so we decided to take the second option and find a really great restaurant, sit outside with a glass of wine good greek food and “people watch”. We found a fabulous place right in the heart of everything and I had a traditional greek salad (which had no lettuce which I was not expecting- just veggies, olives and a big block of feta) and Brad had grilled lamb and fried potatoes- the lamb was the best we have ever tried.
We walked around for a bit longer and then waited for the free shuttle bus to pick us up to go back to the hotel. We are back at the hotel now to post this message, take a nap and get ready for out Greek dinner tonight. They are taking us to this special restaurant that will have Greek entertainment, food, desserts, and wine. We are looking forward to this.
Tomorrow we are leaving in the morning for the ship. We will not have access to internet most likely but will still be updating our daily log to post later when we are able. We are on the ship until next Friday and then back in Athens for a couple nights. Tomorrow we will be in Mykonos what I have been looking forward to the most (that and Santorini). Hope you are all well, and you will hear from us in a few days.
Adios Cairo
This morning we left Cairo and I have to admit that while we both had a very nice visit and thoroughly enjoyed all the sites we visited; we were ready to leave Egypt. We were exhausted and ready to go to Europe where things would be a little “more normal”. I had become somewhat ill overnight and must have had something bad to eat. I am also developing sinus issues and my throat is killing me (probably due to the sinus issues). But I am taking care of my self and was smart to bring a host of medication for all the problems and hope to be 100% by tomorrow. Not going to let a runny nose mess up this amazing trip.
We left our hotel in Cairo around 7 am to make a 10:30 am flight to Athens. Seems early right? Well not really. It only took us about 30 mins to get to the airport but about 90 mins to check in and go through many security check points that were worthless in my opinion. But we finally got to our gate area but would not let us pass through our final security check point until the boarding time…which doesn’t make any sense. Once we finally got through, it showed that our flight was delayed, but not for how long. So we took a seat and waited for an announcement. But after awhile I started to notice that people were leaving our seating area. I went up to the desk and asked and they told me that they moved the gate across that airport! Nice. So we have 30 mins to make it across the airport to our new gate to sit there for another 45 mins to find out that they put our bags on the wrong plane and had to move them and also- we were setting at gate G9 but come to find out that the walkway to the place said G8 and vice versa with G8 gate…At this point I doubted that we would get our luggage when we arrived in Athens.
We boarded our flight on Egypt Air and luckily the flight wasn’t full. It was roughly a 2 hour flight and it went pretty smoothly- I only felt like I was losing my life 1 time for some bad turbulence and we did not have the freaky voice from the movie “the mummy” give the flight announcements this time, so that was nice.
We arrived in Athens unsure if our baggage was going to be there or if our transfer was still waiting for us with a sign. Luckily both were there. We had our transfer via Mercedes taxi service…we felt fancy. It was raining when we arrived and 66 degrees! We were in heaven. It took about 45 mins to get to our hotel and when we check in, things just started to go well. We got a very nice room (non-smoking this time) and a big packet of very useful information. We had about 30 mins before we had to me our Hotel Guide that would give us an orientation of what was going to happen and when. I was excited to see that things are a lot easier on the other side of the sea. We met with Anna and she is a guide that stays in the hotel and books all your excursions and is like a personal concierge. At first it seemed like her role was somewhat unnecessary, but she has been very helpful thus far.
After our meeting and welcome drink, we decided to hit up a hotel restaurant to take it easy tonight. I still was feeling awful, and my sinus issues were bad from the flight so we ate in. Brad had a steak with some au gratin potatoes and I have chicken stuffed with basil, cheese, olives and pancetta. It was delicious. They brought this bread to the table that had olives baked into it and three spreads for the bread; sun dried tomato paste, butter, and an olive spread. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I love Greek food!
After dinner, I took a bunch more medicine, checked in on the computer, posted some pictures and we went to bed. Tomorrow we get out tour of the city!
We left our hotel in Cairo around 7 am to make a 10:30 am flight to Athens. Seems early right? Well not really. It only took us about 30 mins to get to the airport but about 90 mins to check in and go through many security check points that were worthless in my opinion. But we finally got to our gate area but would not let us pass through our final security check point until the boarding time…which doesn’t make any sense. Once we finally got through, it showed that our flight was delayed, but not for how long. So we took a seat and waited for an announcement. But after awhile I started to notice that people were leaving our seating area. I went up to the desk and asked and they told me that they moved the gate across that airport! Nice. So we have 30 mins to make it across the airport to our new gate to sit there for another 45 mins to find out that they put our bags on the wrong plane and had to move them and also- we were setting at gate G9 but come to find out that the walkway to the place said G8 and vice versa with G8 gate…At this point I doubted that we would get our luggage when we arrived in Athens.
We boarded our flight on Egypt Air and luckily the flight wasn’t full. It was roughly a 2 hour flight and it went pretty smoothly- I only felt like I was losing my life 1 time for some bad turbulence and we did not have the freaky voice from the movie “the mummy” give the flight announcements this time, so that was nice.
We arrived in Athens unsure if our baggage was going to be there or if our transfer was still waiting for us with a sign. Luckily both were there. We had our transfer via Mercedes taxi service…we felt fancy. It was raining when we arrived and 66 degrees! We were in heaven. It took about 45 mins to get to our hotel and when we check in, things just started to go well. We got a very nice room (non-smoking this time) and a big packet of very useful information. We had about 30 mins before we had to me our Hotel Guide that would give us an orientation of what was going to happen and when. I was excited to see that things are a lot easier on the other side of the sea. We met with Anna and she is a guide that stays in the hotel and books all your excursions and is like a personal concierge. At first it seemed like her role was somewhat unnecessary, but she has been very helpful thus far.
After our meeting and welcome drink, we decided to hit up a hotel restaurant to take it easy tonight. I still was feeling awful, and my sinus issues were bad from the flight so we ate in. Brad had a steak with some au gratin potatoes and I have chicken stuffed with basil, cheese, olives and pancetta. It was delicious. They brought this bread to the table that had olives baked into it and three spreads for the bread; sun dried tomato paste, butter, and an olive spread. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I love Greek food!
After dinner, I took a bunch more medicine, checked in on the computer, posted some pictures and we went to bed. Tomorrow we get out tour of the city!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Daily Life in Pictures
Hard Rock in Cairo...NOT!
Cairo Traffic
Popular Transportation
Nubian Home
Daily Fishing
Pigeon’s anybody? It taste like chicken, or so we hear.
Today was our extra day in Cairo, after the official tour. So we decided when we got here that we’d sign up for an all day tour of Alexandria. Alexandria is about a 3 hour drive north east of Cairo and it is on the Mediterranean Sea. I have now seen this sea from the north and south of it…and it looks the same both ways- imagine that!
Our pick up was at 6am from the lobby and we had to go to another hotel and pick of 4 more Americans that were joining our excursion. They had just arrived from Boston and it was fun teaching the about the lay of the land and how things are done here in Egypt. They had the same reactions we had about a week and a half ago.
We had many stops today in Alexandria that were packed into 3-4 hours in the town. First we stopped at the Montaza garden and palace. The palace was quite impressive and had formerly housed the Royal Family. We walked around a bit and it was nice out side, 80s and sunny. The newbies from Boston had asked us if it was always this hot everyday, I had to stop myself from laughing out loud….boy they have no idea what they are in for! From there was drove past the Library of Alexandria and stopped for a few pictures- it was huge and it’s be interesting to see what the inside looked like because the outside architecture was very modern and the building was quite new. From there we drove to Quayet-Bey Fortress. This fortress was right on the Mediterranean and was rather small compared to what we have been used to seeing like the huge temples, mosques, pyramids…etc. From this fortress’s walls, you get some amazing panoramic views of the sea it was beautiful. But then we hopped back on our speedy tour bus and went to the Roman catacombs. We were told that there was little to no air flow and there were many narrow passages so I stayed on the bus with another guy while Brad and the group went to view them. He said that it was neat to see all the hieroglyphics in the Roman catacombs and that one level is still submerged in water. Apparently some people still go down there and eat dinner as part of a tradition.
After the catacombs we drove a short distance to the Pombey’s pillar. This is a large pillar which symbolized something…we started fading at this point because it was again hot and humid. Then we moved on to a Roman Amphitheater which just finished being excavated in 2008. This site had roman baths, theater, some homes and a bunch of stray cats! One thing I’ve noticed at most sites is the abundance of stray animals, cats and dogs galore.
Then we went to the Alexandria Museum which is what the Cairo museum should be. Although a very small museum, everything was nicely displayed behind glass. The building was air conditioned and humidity controlled for a very pleasant experience. We saw artifacts from most of the sites we had visited previously which made it more interesting. They also had a “tomb” which displayed how the sarcophagi would be placed on inside another like a Russian Babushka doll. At this point we were done with our “tour” day and needed to head back to Cairo…a three hour drive.
As we drove through Alexandria we did notice a pigeon market (yes you heard me right). Apparently, pigeons make good eats! Who knew…at this market they are bought and sold but only if the are younger the 9 months. After that, they apparently don’t taste as good. On the way back the guide explained that the dome shaped structures on the houses were for pigeons to nest in. They look almost like a beehive but for pigeons. Other than that, it was more of the same crazy driving and bumpy roads all the way back to Cairo.
Our pick up was at 6am from the lobby and we had to go to another hotel and pick of 4 more Americans that were joining our excursion. They had just arrived from Boston and it was fun teaching the about the lay of the land and how things are done here in Egypt. They had the same reactions we had about a week and a half ago.
We had many stops today in Alexandria that were packed into 3-4 hours in the town. First we stopped at the Montaza garden and palace. The palace was quite impressive and had formerly housed the Royal Family. We walked around a bit and it was nice out side, 80s and sunny. The newbies from Boston had asked us if it was always this hot everyday, I had to stop myself from laughing out loud….boy they have no idea what they are in for! From there was drove past the Library of Alexandria and stopped for a few pictures- it was huge and it’s be interesting to see what the inside looked like because the outside architecture was very modern and the building was quite new. From there we drove to Quayet-Bey Fortress. This fortress was right on the Mediterranean and was rather small compared to what we have been used to seeing like the huge temples, mosques, pyramids…etc. From this fortress’s walls, you get some amazing panoramic views of the sea it was beautiful. But then we hopped back on our speedy tour bus and went to the Roman catacombs. We were told that there was little to no air flow and there were many narrow passages so I stayed on the bus with another guy while Brad and the group went to view them. He said that it was neat to see all the hieroglyphics in the Roman catacombs and that one level is still submerged in water. Apparently some people still go down there and eat dinner as part of a tradition.
After the catacombs we drove a short distance to the Pombey’s pillar. This is a large pillar which symbolized something…we started fading at this point because it was again hot and humid. Then we moved on to a Roman Amphitheater which just finished being excavated in 2008. This site had roman baths, theater, some homes and a bunch of stray cats! One thing I’ve noticed at most sites is the abundance of stray animals, cats and dogs galore.
Then we went to the Alexandria Museum which is what the Cairo museum should be. Although a very small museum, everything was nicely displayed behind glass. The building was air conditioned and humidity controlled for a very pleasant experience. We saw artifacts from most of the sites we had visited previously which made it more interesting. They also had a “tomb” which displayed how the sarcophagi would be placed on inside another like a Russian Babushka doll. At this point we were done with our “tour” day and needed to head back to Cairo…a three hour drive.
As we drove through Alexandria we did notice a pigeon market (yes you heard me right). Apparently, pigeons make good eats! Who knew…at this market they are bought and sold but only if the are younger the 9 months. After that, they apparently don’t taste as good. On the way back the guide explained that the dome shaped structures on the houses were for pigeons to nest in. They look almost like a beehive but for pigeons. Other than that, it was more of the same crazy driving and bumpy roads all the way back to Cairo.
Visiting Mohammad Ali’s Home
This morning we woke up and went to the Citadel on the other side of the city from where we are staying. We began this part of the tour learning about the religion of Islam and some common misconceptions about the religion and what the religion does and does not believe which we both found incredibly interesting. We then visited the mosque of Mohammad Ali (which our tour director Mohammad made sure we understood was not the boxer..ha ha ha). This mosque was amazing and I bet by far the largest on in Cairo. It was not an active mosque therefore women were not required to cover their heads. However some of the women we were traveling with were wearing tank tops with bare shoulders and that is forbidden in the mosque. We had to take our shoes off while viewing the inside of the mosque, but it was not a big deal. The mosque was beautiful, especially the architecture- just an amazing structure. The architect was a Jewish man and he agreed to build it provided that he could put the Star of David somewhere in there- and he was allowed. It was in the center of one of the domes and it was painted very-very small.
After the mosque there was a bunch of shopping for last minute souvenirs. We didn’t buy anything but it is very entertaining to watch others. Once one person agrees to a sale, there are about 5-10 more people swarming them to buy other things. Yes, you can get a good price on things, but it is also a pain and the quality of the souvenirs is very low.
We then drove about 20 minutes to the Cairo museum. We were not allowed to take camera in the museum and that was truly a shame because there were so many things that were there to see and to try to remember. The most impressive part was viewing all of the items found in King Tut’s tomb. They had the famous gold mask that was covering his mummy and it was very surreal. They had a bunch of sarcophagi from many kings and pharos, many we had not heard of- I would say there were close to 100 to see. I had heard that it would take more than a day to see everything in that museum and didn’t believe it until we were there- it would take a good 2 days to view all the pieces. We had a couple hours to focus on some of the most important pieces in Egyptian history. The other thing that is interesting is that not only is there no air conditioning in the museum (due to the age of the building) but most of the artifacts are out in the open to touch and not behind glass. This is really sad because they are not preserving some of the most interesting pieces of history.
After the museum we were back to the hotel for a fast lunch. Afterwards we took a nap which felt good. I know it sounds like we are sleeping a lot, but you have to understand that there is a lot of early mornings and full days of touring. It is exhausting, but fun. This evening we went to a Nile river dinner cruise complete with entertainment. There were singers, belly dancers and a whirling dervish. The cruise was nice and the meal was one of the best we have had since in Egypt actually. It was a nice way to end the tour. It is hard to believe that we are half way done with our vacation. October is flying by and we miss our families and friends. We realized that we are missing many birthdays while we are gone- so a big happy birthday to Chris, Leslie, Jim, Pat, Rob, Jen, and Chrissy. There may be one more…I can’t think straight so please forgive me
After the mosque there was a bunch of shopping for last minute souvenirs. We didn’t buy anything but it is very entertaining to watch others. Once one person agrees to a sale, there are about 5-10 more people swarming them to buy other things. Yes, you can get a good price on things, but it is also a pain and the quality of the souvenirs is very low.
We then drove about 20 minutes to the Cairo museum. We were not allowed to take camera in the museum and that was truly a shame because there were so many things that were there to see and to try to remember. The most impressive part was viewing all of the items found in King Tut’s tomb. They had the famous gold mask that was covering his mummy and it was very surreal. They had a bunch of sarcophagi from many kings and pharos, many we had not heard of- I would say there were close to 100 to see. I had heard that it would take more than a day to see everything in that museum and didn’t believe it until we were there- it would take a good 2 days to view all the pieces. We had a couple hours to focus on some of the most important pieces in Egyptian history. The other thing that is interesting is that not only is there no air conditioning in the museum (due to the age of the building) but most of the artifacts are out in the open to touch and not behind glass. This is really sad because they are not preserving some of the most interesting pieces of history.
After the museum we were back to the hotel for a fast lunch. Afterwards we took a nap which felt good. I know it sounds like we are sleeping a lot, but you have to understand that there is a lot of early mornings and full days of touring. It is exhausting, but fun. This evening we went to a Nile river dinner cruise complete with entertainment. There were singers, belly dancers and a whirling dervish. The cruise was nice and the meal was one of the best we have had since in Egypt actually. It was a nice way to end the tour. It is hard to believe that we are half way done with our vacation. October is flying by and we miss our families and friends. We realized that we are missing many birthdays while we are gone- so a big happy birthday to Chris, Leslie, Jim, Pat, Rob, Jen, and Chrissy. There may be one more…I can’t think straight so please forgive me
Thursday, October 15, 2009
No seriously, does it get any hotter?
This morning we woke up and proceeded to check out of our room and made our way to the Aswan international airport for our charter flight to Abu Simbal. Since so many people had joined this optional excursion they were able to charter a separate flight for our group and one other. To dive a little deeper into the airline procedures or lack of rules and procedures, let me explained how we boarded this flight. We got to the airport and put ourselves and our bags through the x-rays. Note that we did not remove our liquids or electronics from our bags at all- they just flew through the scanners without a care. We walked through the metal detector and more than likely if it beeped, you just kept walking and there was not a problem. At the most, you’d have to tell them that you were wearing your passport and they waved you through. Then we got to check our bags and they just put a luggage sticker on your bag that says your destination and the tour director gives you a boarding pass with a random name on it. On the flight to Abu Simbal I was “Wendy” and Brad was “Fabio” which was the talk of our group! We take an open air bus to the plane, walk up the stairs and sit wherever we want on the 1960’s beat up plane. Brad’s tray table fell on him when the plane was taking off…so many more stories about the airlines later. This was worse because it was a chartered plane, EgyptAir is much better.
We got to Abu Simbal which is in the middle of the Sahara desert and a quick drive to the Sudan boarder. This is the land of no air conditioning. So when we got off our plane and for about 2-3 more hours, no air, just well over 100 degrees and NO (and I am serious) shade. Was the trip worth it, absolutely! We drove from the airport to the drop off spot of the temples. We had about a 20 min walk/hike to our destination which was a pretty steep hill. But once you get over the big hill- WOW, it was amazing. This was place where Ramses II (Ramses the great) and Nefartari lived. It was carved out of the mountain and just the sheer size of this temple was just majestic. How they could do this is simply amazing. Will try to post a picture of this one to give you an idea of what we saw.
After we were finished in Abu Simbal, I had almost melted, and we boarded the charter to Cairo. This time I was named “Anna” and Brad was “Mr.Assad”. Flying time was only about 90 mins and we got to Cairo, picked up our bags and got on a very cold bus and went to the Marriot to check in before the pyramid sound and light show. Cairo was about 86 degrees and it felt chilly compared to where we were earlier. Traffic was horrible when we arrived in Cairo and it took us a long time to get to the hotel- traffic is very interesting over here- the horn is not for emergencies or to warn people, the horn is communication and everybody uses it, constantly. The horn says to other drivers and pedestrians, “hey guy, I am here, I know you are cutting me off but I want you to know I am not slowing down” or “hey Mr. Pedistrian crossing 8 lanes of traffic on the freeway with no speed limit, I know that I am driving without my lights on at night, but I still see you from afar and am not going to slow down, but instead I am going to honk to let you know I know you are there even though you are not even going to look at any of the oncoming traffic”- I am not joking. There are technically lanes of traffic, but they are only there for decoration. We took some video on my camera of traffic in cairo.
We got to the hotel, dropped off our carry-on in the room and hopped back onto the bus for the sound and light show. This was a really neat show. You sit in front of the three great pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx while the Sphinx talks to you in his native language; English. Everything is lit up with colorful lights and the story of Egypt is told.
This lasted for about an hour before the next show started where the Sphinx told the story in his native language of French…what a great multi-lingual sphinx!
Got back to the hotel and since we had not eaten since 7 in the morning decided to have lunch and dinner at 8pm. I was a little upset about the lack of food and beverage stops today, but all was forgotten once I had a nice cheese pizza in front of me- yes, the ancient Egyptians, loved pizza. Off to bed for another action packed day!
We got to Abu Simbal which is in the middle of the Sahara desert and a quick drive to the Sudan boarder. This is the land of no air conditioning. So when we got off our plane and for about 2-3 more hours, no air, just well over 100 degrees and NO (and I am serious) shade. Was the trip worth it, absolutely! We drove from the airport to the drop off spot of the temples. We had about a 20 min walk/hike to our destination which was a pretty steep hill. But once you get over the big hill- WOW, it was amazing. This was place where Ramses II (Ramses the great) and Nefartari lived. It was carved out of the mountain and just the sheer size of this temple was just majestic. How they could do this is simply amazing. Will try to post a picture of this one to give you an idea of what we saw.
After we were finished in Abu Simbal, I had almost melted, and we boarded the charter to Cairo. This time I was named “Anna” and Brad was “Mr.Assad”. Flying time was only about 90 mins and we got to Cairo, picked up our bags and got on a very cold bus and went to the Marriot to check in before the pyramid sound and light show. Cairo was about 86 degrees and it felt chilly compared to where we were earlier. Traffic was horrible when we arrived in Cairo and it took us a long time to get to the hotel- traffic is very interesting over here- the horn is not for emergencies or to warn people, the horn is communication and everybody uses it, constantly. The horn says to other drivers and pedestrians, “hey guy, I am here, I know you are cutting me off but I want you to know I am not slowing down” or “hey Mr. Pedistrian crossing 8 lanes of traffic on the freeway with no speed limit, I know that I am driving without my lights on at night, but I still see you from afar and am not going to slow down, but instead I am going to honk to let you know I know you are there even though you are not even going to look at any of the oncoming traffic”- I am not joking. There are technically lanes of traffic, but they are only there for decoration. We took some video on my camera of traffic in cairo.
We got to the hotel, dropped off our carry-on in the room and hopped back onto the bus for the sound and light show. This was a really neat show. You sit in front of the three great pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx while the Sphinx talks to you in his native language; English. Everything is lit up with colorful lights and the story of Egypt is told.
This lasted for about an hour before the next show started where the Sphinx told the story in his native language of French…what a great multi-lingual sphinx!
Got back to the hotel and since we had not eaten since 7 in the morning decided to have lunch and dinner at 8pm. I was a little upset about the lack of food and beverage stops today, but all was forgotten once I had a nice cheese pizza in front of me- yes, the ancient Egyptians, loved pizza. Off to bed for another action packed day!
Come sail away
This morning we were in Aswan, at the end of our cruise on the Nile river. We have a whole day here filled with activities. After breakfast, we boarded our tour bus and went to Philae Temple (pronounced fillet, like fish fillet). This temple was on an island on the Nile. So yes, we got off the boat, took a bus, got back on a smaller boat and went to the island. This temple was significant because of a few reasons: 1) because the original location kept flooded after damming the Nile, they had to take it down and rebuild it on the top of a “mountain” to preserve it. This happened in the 1972 and was finished in 1980. And 2) this temple shows many pictures depicting the story of the virgin mother. It is interesting to hear the stories that are written on the wall and how similar they are to not only the stories of Christianity but other religions’ history.
After the Philae temple we drove to view the high dam. This is the dam that was built in the 1960’s to help the Nile from flooding the land like it does- thus forming Lake Nasser. Lake Nasser is huge and beautiful and it is amazing all the water it hold- and to imagine what it would be like if all that water flooded the surrounding areas.
We then went to a town in Aswan to visit a perfume factory. They talked to us about different fragrance essences and we got to small many of them that are only made from Egyptian plants and flowers. They had made up many blends and told us what perfume or cologne used what essences- like Ralph Lauren Polo, the different blends they used smelled just like it- Did you know that Polo had Myrrh in it? So basically the three wise men were bringing Jesus some cologne, but perhaps I am reading too much in to this. Every time we go to these demonstrations, they want to sell you their things- but it is a very low pressure environment so typically we always just look around and buy nothing, and that is fine. This sales/demonstration guy #1 talked like a robot which was hilarious- his English was not the best and I think to compensate to sound clearer, he ended up sounding like a robot! And #2 - he got to the sales part of the speech and turned into an infomercial. So if you buy 6 of the large size essences, they will throw in a free oil burning lamp and a bottle in a handy traveling case…
After the infomercial, we went to the granite quarry where we got to view the unfinished obelisk of Queen Hatshipsut. Evidently how they made the obelisks was when they had carved out the shape from the mother rock the packed cypress wood underneath and put water on it so expand the wood so that it’s break away- pretty clever huh?? By that time of the day it was well over 100 degrees and we were all ready to get back to the ship. We got back with enough time to get to lunch. We had lunch and went back to the room for a little R& R before this afternoon’s events. I had to have the tour director get me something for my eyes because they were starting to swell shut- so something was wrong. But I guess it wasn’t as bad a I am making it sound- my eyelids were so puffy and drying out- it was making my eyes weep and then I think all of that just irritated it and made it worse. So he said that it is probably because I am not adjusting to the heat and with all of the dust and dirt in the air, this can happen sometime and he could obtain just the thing to help me. After lunch he gave me some eye drops that he got from a pharmacy. Most of the box and directions on the inside were in Arabic so I was a little nervous, especially since the English portion said to be used under the care of a physician. But my eyes hurt so bad and I looked horrible and it was NOT getting better so I used them. They were a miracle. Within less that 24 hours I am almost back to normal.
So we left the ship again around 2pm for the felucca ride on the Nile. What a dream to sail down the Nile- right? Well when we left the ship, I imagine it to be about 110 degrees. We boarded the felucca by walking a plank, yes I am serious. There was a very narrow board between the cement dock and the boat and with the small assistance from the boat guide I got on. I did not feel too good about this since the plank was also used for an oar for rowing so it was wet and bendy. But why would you need an oar on a sailboat right? Well, when it is 110 degrees, there is no wind so our fantastic felucca ride ended up being one Egyptian rowing with the plank while the other sold us Nubian village jewelry. It is funny now that I think about it- here we are sitting in the middle of the Nile buying jewelry while one man is rowing about 40 people. Ha!
While on our felucca ride, which ended up having to be towed buy a motor boat after the rowing became too much for the young boy, we were met by another boat that we boarded sans plank and it took us to the botanical gardens of Aswan on the Nile. Our guide pointed out several different birds and plants that are native to the area, and it was quite nice. It was like a mini African safari. We then went to visit the Nubian village. We were able to go into a traditional Nubian home. The man of the house brought us some mint tea while our guide (who was from this village) talked about these people and their way of life which was very interesting. Afterwards we were able to walk around the home and see the living style- and it truly was a real home. The family was there just doing their thing and we were peeking in their bedrooms- which was a little uncomfortable to be honest, but it was real neat.
We went back to the boat via motor boat and had a little time to freshen up before dinner. Dinner was as the Australians call it “quite lovely” and we had settled into our own little exclusive group of 2 New Zealanders and 4 Australians (sometimes 6), and they have really made this trip for us- we all have had a great time together. After dinner there was a belly dancing and whirling dervish show up in the lobby bar. That was a lot of fun to watch. I have no clue how the whirling dervishes continue to spin for 10-15 mins without passing out.
Anyway, next day is a big day so we went to bed right after the show.
After the Philae temple we drove to view the high dam. This is the dam that was built in the 1960’s to help the Nile from flooding the land like it does- thus forming Lake Nasser. Lake Nasser is huge and beautiful and it is amazing all the water it hold- and to imagine what it would be like if all that water flooded the surrounding areas.
We then went to a town in Aswan to visit a perfume factory. They talked to us about different fragrance essences and we got to small many of them that are only made from Egyptian plants and flowers. They had made up many blends and told us what perfume or cologne used what essences- like Ralph Lauren Polo, the different blends they used smelled just like it- Did you know that Polo had Myrrh in it? So basically the three wise men were bringing Jesus some cologne, but perhaps I am reading too much in to this. Every time we go to these demonstrations, they want to sell you their things- but it is a very low pressure environment so typically we always just look around and buy nothing, and that is fine. This sales/demonstration guy #1 talked like a robot which was hilarious- his English was not the best and I think to compensate to sound clearer, he ended up sounding like a robot! And #2 - he got to the sales part of the speech and turned into an infomercial. So if you buy 6 of the large size essences, they will throw in a free oil burning lamp and a bottle in a handy traveling case…
After the infomercial, we went to the granite quarry where we got to view the unfinished obelisk of Queen Hatshipsut. Evidently how they made the obelisks was when they had carved out the shape from the mother rock the packed cypress wood underneath and put water on it so expand the wood so that it’s break away- pretty clever huh?? By that time of the day it was well over 100 degrees and we were all ready to get back to the ship. We got back with enough time to get to lunch. We had lunch and went back to the room for a little R& R before this afternoon’s events. I had to have the tour director get me something for my eyes because they were starting to swell shut- so something was wrong. But I guess it wasn’t as bad a I am making it sound- my eyelids were so puffy and drying out- it was making my eyes weep and then I think all of that just irritated it and made it worse. So he said that it is probably because I am not adjusting to the heat and with all of the dust and dirt in the air, this can happen sometime and he could obtain just the thing to help me. After lunch he gave me some eye drops that he got from a pharmacy. Most of the box and directions on the inside were in Arabic so I was a little nervous, especially since the English portion said to be used under the care of a physician. But my eyes hurt so bad and I looked horrible and it was NOT getting better so I used them. They were a miracle. Within less that 24 hours I am almost back to normal.
So we left the ship again around 2pm for the felucca ride on the Nile. What a dream to sail down the Nile- right? Well when we left the ship, I imagine it to be about 110 degrees. We boarded the felucca by walking a plank, yes I am serious. There was a very narrow board between the cement dock and the boat and with the small assistance from the boat guide I got on. I did not feel too good about this since the plank was also used for an oar for rowing so it was wet and bendy. But why would you need an oar on a sailboat right? Well, when it is 110 degrees, there is no wind so our fantastic felucca ride ended up being one Egyptian rowing with the plank while the other sold us Nubian village jewelry. It is funny now that I think about it- here we are sitting in the middle of the Nile buying jewelry while one man is rowing about 40 people. Ha!
While on our felucca ride, which ended up having to be towed buy a motor boat after the rowing became too much for the young boy, we were met by another boat that we boarded sans plank and it took us to the botanical gardens of Aswan on the Nile. Our guide pointed out several different birds and plants that are native to the area, and it was quite nice. It was like a mini African safari. We then went to visit the Nubian village. We were able to go into a traditional Nubian home. The man of the house brought us some mint tea while our guide (who was from this village) talked about these people and their way of life which was very interesting. Afterwards we were able to walk around the home and see the living style- and it truly was a real home. The family was there just doing their thing and we were peeking in their bedrooms- which was a little uncomfortable to be honest, but it was real neat.
We went back to the boat via motor boat and had a little time to freshen up before dinner. Dinner was as the Australians call it “quite lovely” and we had settled into our own little exclusive group of 2 New Zealanders and 4 Australians (sometimes 6), and they have really made this trip for us- we all have had a great time together. After dinner there was a belly dancing and whirling dervish show up in the lobby bar. That was a lot of fun to watch. I have no clue how the whirling dervishes continue to spin for 10-15 mins without passing out.
Anyway, next day is a big day so we went to bed right after the show.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Temples, Temples, and more Temples
This morning we woke up at 6am and left at 7:30 to visit the temple of Edfu in Esna. This is a greek designed temple that unlike many of the other ones in many ways, but also had some similarities like the pillars and obviously the hieroglyphics. It is interesting to hear all the stories from history that the walls tell, evidently my translation about the air conditioning was incorrect . We were in Ensa for only about an hour and a half before boarding and setting sail again towards Kom Obo. Brad and I got a case of Pharos’s Revenge this morning, but got some magic pills from one of the tour directors and it seems to have done the trick. The temple was PACKED this morning, which is apparently what happens when you do not arrive before 7:15am. By the time we left the temple was so packed that you literally had to push you way through the crowd. When in a very hot temple was not fun.
When we got back on the river to set sail, Brad and I decided to sit outside on the top of the boat in the shade and view life on the nile. It was interesting to see how people live, grass or mud huts, maybe a few goats or cows and that is it. Nothing to shield them from the sun, or bugs, or anything else. They do not even have clean drinking water- you can see pumps on the edge of the nile pumping water up to the little shacks. The nile water is visibly not horrible looking, but there are so many bug and parasites in it that is it undrinkable. Out travel nurse told us to not even touch or swim in the nile water- and you see hundreds of kids playing in the water along with the water buffalo and cows. So strange…
We were probably out there for 30 -45 mns before it was too hot for us in the shade. We went downstairs took a quick cat nap and went down for lunch. After lunch, well actually during lunch, it was so hard for me to stay awake. I think that it all started to catch up with me, the heat, the random/sporadic sleep, the boat, mummy tummy- we went upstairs and I crashed. This afternoon’s tour of Kom Obo is a walking tour that lasts for about an hour- I didn’t think that I wanted to overdo it so I stayed behind (reluctantly) and Brad went ahead with some of our new Australian friends. There were several people that stayed behind this morning and even more people that stayed behind this afternoon. Tomorrow is going to be a big, hot, busy day. We start out visiting the botanical gardens in Aswan, the high dam, and the Philae Temple. We get back to the ship for lunch and then in the afternoon we take a felucca ride. We opted into an optional tour to a Nubian villiage that included an additional felucca ride. So with tomorrow being a big day, I decided to rehydrate and rest a bit. Aswan is the further south that we are sailing- the following day we are taking an optional tour to Abu Simbal which is going to be the furthest south we are going, it is actually relatively close to Sudan.
Tonight is our big party night. It is the Egyptian themed dinner night and then afterwards the party. We are dressing up in out traditional wear that we bought at the gift shop. I think that most people will be dressing up, it should be fun.
Quick update on the party tonight- just got back from the Egyptian dinner and party- it was a good time. Almost everybody in the group dressed up, which made it fun. The Egyptian food was so-so. I like it more than I thought I would and Brad said it wasn’t bad. One of my favorite parts to the evening was when this gut from our tour dressed up like a belly dancer for the party. He claimed since he had a large belly we might as well show it off and that he did. He even did a dance for us at the party. One of the tour directors even got Brad to dance for a few songs although I think he did not enjoy it very much He felt strange enough wearing a “dress” as he called it. Will try to post a picture…
Time to head off to bed- wake up call is very early and we have a big day ahead of us
When we got back on the river to set sail, Brad and I decided to sit outside on the top of the boat in the shade and view life on the nile. It was interesting to see how people live, grass or mud huts, maybe a few goats or cows and that is it. Nothing to shield them from the sun, or bugs, or anything else. They do not even have clean drinking water- you can see pumps on the edge of the nile pumping water up to the little shacks. The nile water is visibly not horrible looking, but there are so many bug and parasites in it that is it undrinkable. Out travel nurse told us to not even touch or swim in the nile water- and you see hundreds of kids playing in the water along with the water buffalo and cows. So strange…
We were probably out there for 30 -45 mns before it was too hot for us in the shade. We went downstairs took a quick cat nap and went down for lunch. After lunch, well actually during lunch, it was so hard for me to stay awake. I think that it all started to catch up with me, the heat, the random/sporadic sleep, the boat, mummy tummy- we went upstairs and I crashed. This afternoon’s tour of Kom Obo is a walking tour that lasts for about an hour- I didn’t think that I wanted to overdo it so I stayed behind (reluctantly) and Brad went ahead with some of our new Australian friends. There were several people that stayed behind this morning and even more people that stayed behind this afternoon. Tomorrow is going to be a big, hot, busy day. We start out visiting the botanical gardens in Aswan, the high dam, and the Philae Temple. We get back to the ship for lunch and then in the afternoon we take a felucca ride. We opted into an optional tour to a Nubian villiage that included an additional felucca ride. So with tomorrow being a big day, I decided to rehydrate and rest a bit. Aswan is the further south that we are sailing- the following day we are taking an optional tour to Abu Simbal which is going to be the furthest south we are going, it is actually relatively close to Sudan.
Tonight is our big party night. It is the Egyptian themed dinner night and then afterwards the party. We are dressing up in out traditional wear that we bought at the gift shop. I think that most people will be dressing up, it should be fun.
Quick update on the party tonight- just got back from the Egyptian dinner and party- it was a good time. Almost everybody in the group dressed up, which made it fun. The Egyptian food was so-so. I like it more than I thought I would and Brad said it wasn’t bad. One of my favorite parts to the evening was when this gut from our tour dressed up like a belly dancer for the party. He claimed since he had a large belly we might as well show it off and that he did. He even did a dance for us at the party. One of the tour directors even got Brad to dance for a few songs although I think he did not enjoy it very much He felt strange enough wearing a “dress” as he called it. Will try to post a picture…
Time to head off to bed- wake up call is very early and we have a big day ahead of us
Feelin HOT, HOT, HOT
Day 4
Alright, this Minnesotan is not made for this heat. I cannot even imagine what it was like two months ago. Today we think it was sitting right around 100 degrees. Good lord, that is hot and I do not care what anybody says about it being a dry heat. 100 degrees is 100 degrees- period. We woke up early and visited the Valley of the Kings. Unfortunately, this was one of the locations that prohibits the use of any cameras inside the gates. This is understandable, but disappointing to not be able to share pictures with al of our family and friends and the images will only be kept in our minds. There are 5 tombs that are available to view, and 3 are included in the price of the entrance ticket. To see king tut’s tomb it was 100 egyptian pounds and to see Ramses VI it was 50. Mohammad told us that we could do both if we wanted to, but he has been in both and he said that Tut’s tomb and not as elaborate and big as Ramses VI and if he had to pick one it’d be Ramses- plus all the things that were found in the tombs were on display at the Cairo museum that we are going to in a few days so we’d still be able to see all the goods. We both went into Ramses VI tomb and it was VERY impressive. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the color- the original colors on the hieroglyphics are still on the walls. In the tombs, especially Ramses VI, it was very bright and colorful. You cannot even imagine how much work went into these tombs. From floor to ceiling in very small print there are millions and millions of drawings and painted figures that all tell a story. I am getting good are reading these drawings and today I read one that said, “Man it is hot in the tomb, I wish it had air conditioning”- I know…impressive right? I went into 2 of the 3 free tombs as well and they were wonderful. I opted to not go into the last of the 3 because it was a squat, duck, and climb hot tomb, and when at 9 in the morning it is already in the 90’s and you are claustrophobic, it would not have been the right decision to make. I knew I had made the right decision when I saw Brad face as he walked back to the shaded that I was relaxing in.
After the valley of the kings, we went to Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple (say that fast). It was where queen hatshipsut rules and lived while she was queen. It was built into the mountain side and you may have seen this in pictures at one time. Very impressive to view. There are three levels to this temple, all accessed by steep ramps and hundreds of stairs. While we had been drinking a lot of water and trying to stay in shaded areas when possible- it was not pleasant or shade accessible at the temple. The climb up to the second level, almost leveled me. Brad is lot more used to the heat and is very tolorant, unlike myself. It was a bit too much for me and I was very grateful that this was only a 1 hour stop because I was done at that point.
After the temple we visited an alabaster school.store and had a demonstration on how they make vases and bowls and other alabaster figures and also the different types of alabaster. It was interesting. We walk around the shop a bit, in a hassle free environment which was very nice. We did not make a purchase mainly because we did not want to lug around a heavy object for the next few weeks
After that we had made on pit stop for pictures of the Colossi of Memnon before we headed back to the ship for lunch and a free afternoon. We truly enjoyed the free afternoon. We took a nap and then went downstairs to the gift shop to purchase our costumes for the Egyptian themed party tomorrow night. We will be having traditional Egyptian food for dinner and afterwards having singing and dancing demonstration in the party and we will all be wearing traditional costumes and dress. We were warned that tonight as we go through the locks in Esna, there will be “pirates” trying to sell us our costumes and other things from the side of the boat while we are waiting to get through the lock. Apparently the row their tiny boats up to our ship and toss the various sale items to us and we toss them back money. A good way to get a cheap costume, but Brad and I did not feel like the hassle so we just bought one at the gift shop. Let me tell you how good we are going to look….amazing. Brad has this really cool turban and robe. I have a robe/dress with sequence and beads all over it in the picture of nefartari on it and this cool beaded head wrap. Should be interesting…
Tonight we have a candlelit dinner which we will be dressing up for. This will not be a buffet style dinner and so we are looking forward to this. We have met so many nice people of this trip, most are from Australia and there is actually quite a bit of Canadians on this tour. Last night we met a couple that were also on their honeymoon that got married a day after us and they are from Pennsylvania. So far it has been amazing adventure, tomorrow will be another action-packed day.
Alright, this Minnesotan is not made for this heat. I cannot even imagine what it was like two months ago. Today we think it was sitting right around 100 degrees. Good lord, that is hot and I do not care what anybody says about it being a dry heat. 100 degrees is 100 degrees- period. We woke up early and visited the Valley of the Kings. Unfortunately, this was one of the locations that prohibits the use of any cameras inside the gates. This is understandable, but disappointing to not be able to share pictures with al of our family and friends and the images will only be kept in our minds. There are 5 tombs that are available to view, and 3 are included in the price of the entrance ticket. To see king tut’s tomb it was 100 egyptian pounds and to see Ramses VI it was 50. Mohammad told us that we could do both if we wanted to, but he has been in both and he said that Tut’s tomb and not as elaborate and big as Ramses VI and if he had to pick one it’d be Ramses- plus all the things that were found in the tombs were on display at the Cairo museum that we are going to in a few days so we’d still be able to see all the goods. We both went into Ramses VI tomb and it was VERY impressive. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the color- the original colors on the hieroglyphics are still on the walls. In the tombs, especially Ramses VI, it was very bright and colorful. You cannot even imagine how much work went into these tombs. From floor to ceiling in very small print there are millions and millions of drawings and painted figures that all tell a story. I am getting good are reading these drawings and today I read one that said, “Man it is hot in the tomb, I wish it had air conditioning”- I know…impressive right? I went into 2 of the 3 free tombs as well and they were wonderful. I opted to not go into the last of the 3 because it was a squat, duck, and climb hot tomb, and when at 9 in the morning it is already in the 90’s and you are claustrophobic, it would not have been the right decision to make. I knew I had made the right decision when I saw Brad face as he walked back to the shaded that I was relaxing in.
After the valley of the kings, we went to Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple (say that fast). It was where queen hatshipsut rules and lived while she was queen. It was built into the mountain side and you may have seen this in pictures at one time. Very impressive to view. There are three levels to this temple, all accessed by steep ramps and hundreds of stairs. While we had been drinking a lot of water and trying to stay in shaded areas when possible- it was not pleasant or shade accessible at the temple. The climb up to the second level, almost leveled me. Brad is lot more used to the heat and is very tolorant, unlike myself. It was a bit too much for me and I was very grateful that this was only a 1 hour stop because I was done at that point.
After the temple we visited an alabaster school.store and had a demonstration on how they make vases and bowls and other alabaster figures and also the different types of alabaster. It was interesting. We walk around the shop a bit, in a hassle free environment which was very nice. We did not make a purchase mainly because we did not want to lug around a heavy object for the next few weeks
After that we had made on pit stop for pictures of the Colossi of Memnon before we headed back to the ship for lunch and a free afternoon. We truly enjoyed the free afternoon. We took a nap and then went downstairs to the gift shop to purchase our costumes for the Egyptian themed party tomorrow night. We will be having traditional Egyptian food for dinner and afterwards having singing and dancing demonstration in the party and we will all be wearing traditional costumes and dress. We were warned that tonight as we go through the locks in Esna, there will be “pirates” trying to sell us our costumes and other things from the side of the boat while we are waiting to get through the lock. Apparently the row their tiny boats up to our ship and toss the various sale items to us and we toss them back money. A good way to get a cheap costume, but Brad and I did not feel like the hassle so we just bought one at the gift shop. Let me tell you how good we are going to look….amazing. Brad has this really cool turban and robe. I have a robe/dress with sequence and beads all over it in the picture of nefartari on it and this cool beaded head wrap. Should be interesting…
Tonight we have a candlelit dinner which we will be dressing up for. This will not be a buffet style dinner and so we are looking forward to this. We have met so many nice people of this trip, most are from Australia and there is actually quite a bit of Canadians on this tour. Last night we met a couple that were also on their honeymoon that got married a day after us and they are from Pennsylvania. So far it has been amazing adventure, tomorrow will be another action-packed day.
Flying to Luxor
This morning…and I do mean MORNING, 2 am we had a wake up call and had our bags picked up promptly at 2:25. We checked out of the hotel and went down to breakfast. The tour company arranged for us to have breakfast early to accommodate our early schedule and flight. We went to the Cairo airport and boarded the Egypt Air flight to Luxor. Airport security is a lot different than that of American security. We had our bags x-rayed but did not have to de-belt, de-liquid, de-metal, de-laptop ourselves…nice, but also scary. This however, was not as scary as once we got on the flight this morning, the captain got on to give us the morning take off message. First of all it was obviously in Arabic which makes sense since that is the official language here, and the voice was very deep, words all spoken as one long run-on sentence and very spooky-like. It was like that voice could be in a horror movie- I am not kidding….I wonder if that is how foreigners feel in the USA. What an interesting perspective to think about.
We got to Luxor and the airport was quite small and it was a breeze to get our bags and be on our way. From the moment we touched down, it was 100 times better (meaning cleaner, cleaner, friendlier, cleaner, less people…) than Cairo. Before we went to our cruise boat, we visited the temple of Karnak. This was by far our favorite part of the trip so far. The temple is huge and is such good shape for how old it is. The obelisks and pillars still had hieroglyphics able to be read and even in some of the areas that were not exposed to direct sunlight- you could see some of the color on them. It is amazing to think about what it must have looked like in its prime. All the colors, gold, carvings, reliefs- it would have been awesome. It was interesting to hear about the life of the ancient Egyptians and how the kings and pharos had to put their name on everything and when they took over the temple they added gates with their name all over it and defaced all the other’s and replaced it with their own markings. It was also interesting how the pharos married their daughters often..AND had children with them- so in that situation, you child would also be your grandchild…right? Icky. We also saw the avenue of sphinxes, this stretches for miles and miles through Luxor- for those of you that have been to Las Vegas, the avenue of sphinxes is just like the entrance to the Luxor hotel and casino- but these are the real thing and are not as fancy as the Las Vegas ones. Go figure
We got to our boat around 11:30 and gathered in the lounge for a hibiscus tea/juice drink that was very refreshing and delicious- at least I thought so- Brad thought it tasted like cranberry juice. Then they supplied us with a gigantic bottle of water. They have been giving us multiple bottles of water a day, and we have been drinking them like crazy. The crazy part of that is, even so, we are still both very dehydrated. Our evening are spent drinking a lot of water to rehydrate- I feel kind of like a camel. We got our room assignment on the boat and we were up there for a little bit before lunch was served. The meals on the boat are served buffet style which is kind of nice because there are many options and you may not like them all. The food on the boat has been decent, not fabulous, but included in the price of the tour, are in a safe place, you know that it has been prepared well. So far we haven’t heard of anybody coming down with “mummy tummy” or “Pharos’s revenge”- which is rather unpleasant from what we understand. After lunch we had about 3-4 hours of free time. We slept and it felt GREAT. We woke up in time for afternoon tea/coffee before we left to go to the Luxor temple.
Luxor temple was considerably smaller than the temple of Karnak, but was still very impressive. Within this same temple there was a mosque and a church- which is very interesting for that time when it was built. Brad has been snapping pictures left and right so when we get back, careful to ask to see our pictures, you better have a lot of time set aside! There were a few statues that were in very good shape. Again, I have to wonder what this all looked like back in the day-
After the Luxor temple, we were taken to a papyrus making store where they gave us a demonstration of how it was made. I had to get up in front of the group and show how to use a rolling pin to roll out the water plant- I was chosen because as the man said, it was woman’s work…boy did he not know who he was talking to?? But what I can’t get over (and maybe it is because I am not an engineer) is how anybody ever looked at this plant and said “ hmm, I think this will make great paper”. Either way, it was neat. We purchased a couple pieces, one of them was a marriage picture between King tut and Nefirtiti (no clue on the spelling)- but there was two oval spaces were they wrote our names in hieroglyphics- which I though was a fitting purchase since this was our honeymoon trip. We haven’t been buying many souvenirs- mainly because the sellers are so annoying. But there are a few scarves that I have my eye on.
We got back just in time to eat dinner (quickly) before our optional excursion started. We opted into a sound and light show at the temple of Karnik. The sound and light show was interesting. They had it at night and it was completely dark….it was actually kind of scary. They navigated you though the history of the temple by telling you the story and lit up each section one at a time while you walked through it. Then at the end you sat on these bleachers for the end of the story. It was alright, but it may have been because we were just packing too much into one day. We got back to the boat and pretty much went straight to bed because we had a 5 am wake up call the next morning.
The early wake up calls are somewhat of a pain, but it is for good reason. It gets so hot here that by noon, you are done with the heat and the crowds. That is one that we both are starting to appreciate about traveling with Insight- they are very knowledgeable and truly look out for you while on the trip. They know when the crowds are the worst and when the temp is out of control and they get you at the attraction at the best possible time. They also help you with the locals, if one is harassing you and you are clearly not interested they will step in and tell the sellers to buzz of and we have witnessed that other companies do not do that for their people. Our guide, Mohammad is awesome- he tells us when we stop somewhere that it is the cheapest place for postcards, or if we wanted to buy something- not to pay more than X amount because otherwise you are getting ripped off. These are nice to know.
We got to Luxor and the airport was quite small and it was a breeze to get our bags and be on our way. From the moment we touched down, it was 100 times better (meaning cleaner, cleaner, friendlier, cleaner, less people…) than Cairo. Before we went to our cruise boat, we visited the temple of Karnak. This was by far our favorite part of the trip so far. The temple is huge and is such good shape for how old it is. The obelisks and pillars still had hieroglyphics able to be read and even in some of the areas that were not exposed to direct sunlight- you could see some of the color on them. It is amazing to think about what it must have looked like in its prime. All the colors, gold, carvings, reliefs- it would have been awesome. It was interesting to hear about the life of the ancient Egyptians and how the kings and pharos had to put their name on everything and when they took over the temple they added gates with their name all over it and defaced all the other’s and replaced it with their own markings. It was also interesting how the pharos married their daughters often..AND had children with them- so in that situation, you child would also be your grandchild…right? Icky. We also saw the avenue of sphinxes, this stretches for miles and miles through Luxor- for those of you that have been to Las Vegas, the avenue of sphinxes is just like the entrance to the Luxor hotel and casino- but these are the real thing and are not as fancy as the Las Vegas ones. Go figure
We got to our boat around 11:30 and gathered in the lounge for a hibiscus tea/juice drink that was very refreshing and delicious- at least I thought so- Brad thought it tasted like cranberry juice. Then they supplied us with a gigantic bottle of water. They have been giving us multiple bottles of water a day, and we have been drinking them like crazy. The crazy part of that is, even so, we are still both very dehydrated. Our evening are spent drinking a lot of water to rehydrate- I feel kind of like a camel. We got our room assignment on the boat and we were up there for a little bit before lunch was served. The meals on the boat are served buffet style which is kind of nice because there are many options and you may not like them all. The food on the boat has been decent, not fabulous, but included in the price of the tour, are in a safe place, you know that it has been prepared well. So far we haven’t heard of anybody coming down with “mummy tummy” or “Pharos’s revenge”- which is rather unpleasant from what we understand. After lunch we had about 3-4 hours of free time. We slept and it felt GREAT. We woke up in time for afternoon tea/coffee before we left to go to the Luxor temple.
Luxor temple was considerably smaller than the temple of Karnak, but was still very impressive. Within this same temple there was a mosque and a church- which is very interesting for that time when it was built. Brad has been snapping pictures left and right so when we get back, careful to ask to see our pictures, you better have a lot of time set aside! There were a few statues that were in very good shape. Again, I have to wonder what this all looked like back in the day-
After the Luxor temple, we were taken to a papyrus making store where they gave us a demonstration of how it was made. I had to get up in front of the group and show how to use a rolling pin to roll out the water plant- I was chosen because as the man said, it was woman’s work…boy did he not know who he was talking to?? But what I can’t get over (and maybe it is because I am not an engineer) is how anybody ever looked at this plant and said “ hmm, I think this will make great paper”. Either way, it was neat. We purchased a couple pieces, one of them was a marriage picture between King tut and Nefirtiti (no clue on the spelling)- but there was two oval spaces were they wrote our names in hieroglyphics- which I though was a fitting purchase since this was our honeymoon trip. We haven’t been buying many souvenirs- mainly because the sellers are so annoying. But there are a few scarves that I have my eye on.
We got back just in time to eat dinner (quickly) before our optional excursion started. We opted into a sound and light show at the temple of Karnik. The sound and light show was interesting. They had it at night and it was completely dark….it was actually kind of scary. They navigated you though the history of the temple by telling you the story and lit up each section one at a time while you walked through it. Then at the end you sat on these bleachers for the end of the story. It was alright, but it may have been because we were just packing too much into one day. We got back to the boat and pretty much went straight to bed because we had a 5 am wake up call the next morning.
The early wake up calls are somewhat of a pain, but it is for good reason. It gets so hot here that by noon, you are done with the heat and the crowds. That is one that we both are starting to appreciate about traveling with Insight- they are very knowledgeable and truly look out for you while on the trip. They know when the crowds are the worst and when the temp is out of control and they get you at the attraction at the best possible time. They also help you with the locals, if one is harassing you and you are clearly not interested they will step in and tell the sellers to buzz of and we have witnessed that other companies do not do that for their people. Our guide, Mohammad is awesome- he tells us when we stop somewhere that it is the cheapest place for postcards, or if we wanted to buy something- not to pay more than X amount because otherwise you are getting ripped off. These are nice to know.
Friday, October 9, 2009
1st day with the tour group…Safety in numbers
This morning….oh wait, let me back up. We got our luggage. We started to call and harass the airport starting at midnight and our bags were delivered to our room around 2am. Thank God! I will not even begin to go through the details of those two hours of, yes we have your bags, no they did not arrive on this flight, yes they will be here tomorrow, no you will get them in two days, hold the line a minute….you get the point.
2 am, got the bags, did a happy dance and were so giddy it was hard to go to bed. It was like Christmas morning, opening your gifts and having to go to bed- no fair. But we had a 5:30 am wake up call so that we could shower, eat breakfast and meet the group at 7:30am. We met our fellow travel mates and tour directors and got the skinny of the events of the next few days, somewhat overwhelming with all of the information- and yet again on very little sleep. But we managed and signed up for our extra excursions over the next week. Then Mohammad broke the really ugly news…tomorrow we had to wake up a 2am, have our bag out the door at 2:30 and leave the hotel at 3:30 am to make the first flight out of Cairo to Luxor. They explained how this was all going to work with getting our tickets, going to and through the airport and getting to our boat. I decided to take the direction one piece at a time. At this point, I know I am waking up at 2am- and that is all I need to know right now
Today we traveled to Memphis to a museum to see the big Ramses II statue (what is left of it) and also the alabaster sphinx (this is not the big one you see in movies). It was neat and there were many statues to see. This is where we got our first taste of Egyptian sales people. Egyptians will try to sell you anything and everything. If they have a rock in their pocket, you better believe that it is of historical significance and for 20 pounds it can be yours. Or another popular tourist trap that Brad fell into (giving him a break since he is a first time overseas traveler) is the…”let me take you picture”…followed by “I now receive a tip from you…” They see us walk through the metal detectors and we all look like dollar signs. I have found (from past experiences) that it is best to never look anybody directly in the eye and to be rather rude to them and walk away. That works about 75% of the time. The new one for me on this trip is the children begging for money. “1 dollar, 1 dollar miss, please 1 dollar”. It is so sad and I realize that this is the angle that they are using, but just driving around today you see how they all live here and it is beyond words. It truly is, you have to be here to imagine it- honestly.
Afterwards, we went to see the step pyramid in Sakkara. We learned a lot about how pyramids were constructed, the materials they were made of and the evolution of building methods. That was really quite fascinating and it was very interesting to hear. We then drove to a very special lunch location where the local guild told us they had very safe food to eat and a big variety of item to choose from…to our surprise it was a gas station supermarket. This probably is a good example of what I am talking about when it comes to the condition and level at which people live. But nonetheless, we picked up a turkey sandwich and removed all the potentially damaging items on it like lettuce and ate it- it was good actually. We then went to the great pyramids- these are the ones that you see on TV- and let me tell you, TV does not do these justice- they are enormous and amazing. But again you have the Egyptian sales people everywhere and now they have donkeys and camels. Imagine this, they offer you a free camel ride. Right? Wrong- it is free to get on the camel, they charge you to get off the camel. Our guide warned us in advance and said if we were interested in the camel ride, he would arrange it for us later. It started to get really hot outside..imagine that! It was about 94 degrees, dry heat, but still really hot. The bus we very cool and we were given bottled water to stay hydrated.
After the great pyramids, we went to the highest point so that we could get a picture of all three together- that was an amazing view. This was also our opportunity to ride a camel. I was hesitant because I was very irritated with the Egyptian people always trying to get money from me, but our guide set it up with a decent person that he had used before and so I did the camel ride. I was pretty scared- camels are a lot higher than horses and when they kneel down for you to get on them it is still high up and when they get to their feet I almost fell off of it…but going through the desert on a camel with pyramids in the background is priceless, it truly is. How many times in your life do you get to do that? Brad did not want ride a camel, so he took pictures of me and of the landscape. We have some GREAT pictures, national geographic will be calling Brad soon!
We then went to see the Sphinx, it was as I expected, but things always look bigger than you think when you travel to the major tourist sights. Reminds me of the first time I saw the Eiffel Tower- it was completely a WOW moment, today was a WOW day.
So just wanted to write a quick entry and post it to keep you updated as the next few days we will be cruising and probably unable to post. We are having a good time, it is very interesting here- SO DIFFERENT than life as we know it. So much to write about now, but hope to describe in later blogs.
2 am, got the bags, did a happy dance and were so giddy it was hard to go to bed. It was like Christmas morning, opening your gifts and having to go to bed- no fair. But we had a 5:30 am wake up call so that we could shower, eat breakfast and meet the group at 7:30am. We met our fellow travel mates and tour directors and got the skinny of the events of the next few days, somewhat overwhelming with all of the information- and yet again on very little sleep. But we managed and signed up for our extra excursions over the next week. Then Mohammad broke the really ugly news…tomorrow we had to wake up a 2am, have our bag out the door at 2:30 and leave the hotel at 3:30 am to make the first flight out of Cairo to Luxor. They explained how this was all going to work with getting our tickets, going to and through the airport and getting to our boat. I decided to take the direction one piece at a time. At this point, I know I am waking up at 2am- and that is all I need to know right now
Today we traveled to Memphis to a museum to see the big Ramses II statue (what is left of it) and also the alabaster sphinx (this is not the big one you see in movies). It was neat and there were many statues to see. This is where we got our first taste of Egyptian sales people. Egyptians will try to sell you anything and everything. If they have a rock in their pocket, you better believe that it is of historical significance and for 20 pounds it can be yours. Or another popular tourist trap that Brad fell into (giving him a break since he is a first time overseas traveler) is the…”let me take you picture”…followed by “I now receive a tip from you…” They see us walk through the metal detectors and we all look like dollar signs. I have found (from past experiences) that it is best to never look anybody directly in the eye and to be rather rude to them and walk away. That works about 75% of the time. The new one for me on this trip is the children begging for money. “1 dollar, 1 dollar miss, please 1 dollar”. It is so sad and I realize that this is the angle that they are using, but just driving around today you see how they all live here and it is beyond words. It truly is, you have to be here to imagine it- honestly.
Afterwards, we went to see the step pyramid in Sakkara. We learned a lot about how pyramids were constructed, the materials they were made of and the evolution of building methods. That was really quite fascinating and it was very interesting to hear. We then drove to a very special lunch location where the local guild told us they had very safe food to eat and a big variety of item to choose from…to our surprise it was a gas station supermarket. This probably is a good example of what I am talking about when it comes to the condition and level at which people live. But nonetheless, we picked up a turkey sandwich and removed all the potentially damaging items on it like lettuce and ate it- it was good actually. We then went to the great pyramids- these are the ones that you see on TV- and let me tell you, TV does not do these justice- they are enormous and amazing. But again you have the Egyptian sales people everywhere and now they have donkeys and camels. Imagine this, they offer you a free camel ride. Right? Wrong- it is free to get on the camel, they charge you to get off the camel. Our guide warned us in advance and said if we were interested in the camel ride, he would arrange it for us later. It started to get really hot outside..imagine that! It was about 94 degrees, dry heat, but still really hot. The bus we very cool and we were given bottled water to stay hydrated.
After the great pyramids, we went to the highest point so that we could get a picture of all three together- that was an amazing view. This was also our opportunity to ride a camel. I was hesitant because I was very irritated with the Egyptian people always trying to get money from me, but our guide set it up with a decent person that he had used before and so I did the camel ride. I was pretty scared- camels are a lot higher than horses and when they kneel down for you to get on them it is still high up and when they get to their feet I almost fell off of it…but going through the desert on a camel with pyramids in the background is priceless, it truly is. How many times in your life do you get to do that? Brad did not want ride a camel, so he took pictures of me and of the landscape. We have some GREAT pictures, national geographic will be calling Brad soon!
We then went to see the Sphinx, it was as I expected, but things always look bigger than you think when you travel to the major tourist sights. Reminds me of the first time I saw the Eiffel Tower- it was completely a WOW moment, today was a WOW day.
So just wanted to write a quick entry and post it to keep you updated as the next few days we will be cruising and probably unable to post. We are having a good time, it is very interesting here- SO DIFFERENT than life as we know it. So much to write about now, but hope to describe in later blogs.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
We made it to Egypt, but our bags stayed in London
Like, I mentioned in the title- this has been our drama over the last 24 hours. At this point, still no luggage. But let me back up a little bit. We left off in the Heathrow airport, Brad was sleeping and I was going to take his picture to show how peaceful he was but he woke up as I logged off of the computer. We finally got our gate number, took another tram to the gate and boarded within 20 mins of arrival there. We took a 747 to Cairo- never have been on one of those. That is one large plane…unless of course you are sitting in coach or as I have now deemed it, “low class”. We asked several agents to upgrade our seats (offering to pay for the difference) to business or first class and were unsuccessful- not because they were full, but because British Airways will not do that on our tickets for some unknown reason….seems like a poor business practice, but what do I know? Anyway, we got on the plane for a flight a little longer than 4 hours- not too bad. But we were nearing the end of our patients being up for 30 + hours.
We arrived in Egypt a little ahead of schedule (for a change) and got off the plane not having ANY clue what we were in for. When we were descending, it was at night so we couldn’t see any of the landscape to give us any preview of Cairo. So we got off the plane into the airport and were handed little card to fill out that had name, address of where you were staying and phone number- this card was up and above the entrance/immigration card. So we fill them out, handed it to a guard and got through to the other side with bunch of drivers holding signs with people’s names on them….praying that one of them had our name on it. Brad actually willingly put on his pink and purple sticker so that he could be identified as part of the group..ha ha ha- I knew he would! We saw a man that had a folder that had our travel companies name on it and we exhaled- at least I did. He asked if we had our Visas and we told him no. He instructed us to (and this is almost his exact words) “ go to one of the bank counters behind me, give them no more than 15 US dollars and request a Visa and come back to me”…ok that is the point that hit me…we are not in Kansas anymore Toto. So we got the Visas pretty easily and went back to him to see what our next stealth-like move was going to be. It was almost like a really scary treasure hunt. We then had to wait in the customs line to go to the baggage claim. We were standing at the baggage when we heard somebody calling our last name- this could not be good. We walked over to an airport worker and he broke the bad news to us….our bags were left in London. That is when I started to get sick…my life is in those bags….or so it felt like at the time. So he told us all this info at one time that I hardly could comprehend being so tired and hearing the shock that I had no luggage…not like one bag got lost- BOTH got lost. So they actually knew where they were- which is good (I guess) and that the soonest they could get them to us was 24 hours from then. Which is currently in a few hours. They had to take the next flight from London to Cairo. Then they would deliver them to our hotel. So that is where we stand right now, praying that this is how it will happen. We had two options- to go to the airport when they arrive to carry them through customs ourselves (no idea how we’d get to the airport as our tour doesn’t start till tomorrow) or the other option was to sign a waiver to have them open them and bring them through customs and then to our hotel. We had to pick the second option. So while we are signing the waiver, some guy walked off with our passports that we gave to him to photocopy that is out of the terminal- no photo copier in the terminal apparently….I was completely a mess. Brad was his typical self…calm, cool and collected with a Que Sera Sera- what will be, will be attitude. Thank God for him. So we got with the other people in our group, boarded a bus with our guide representative and went to our hotel.
The Marriott in Cairo is beautiful. Very fancy and luxurious. It used to be a palace, and it sill looks like one today. It is very old and parts of it show it, but I suppose that in this part of the world…it is the best of the best. I will try to post of picture of the outside of it. So we got to our room and even though I had not slept for hours, I could not fall asleep because I was so upset about the bags. But I eventually did and we set the alarm so that we could get the breakfast provided in the morning. We slept through it and woke up just before noon. I needed to make some phone calls to the airline and the airport to confirm what we were told last night and to make sure that they did indeed have our bags in London. One would think that this would be a simple task- not really. First of all, no number for British airways- phone book had bad numbers, front desk could not connect me to the right person and most of the customer service lines, I was told, are only open from noon to two or nine to two. This was helpful…so I finally got through to a representative and confirmed that they would be arriving on the 11:30pm plane tonight. Then after several failed attempts, I got a hold of the airport to confirm that they had the address of the hotel and our room number- thankfully they did. Our rep must have made the call for us. So, now we are playing the waiting game. We luckily had 1 change of clothes in our carry on and minimal toiletries. So we slept in the clothes that we were wearing for 2 days and woke up and showered and put on fresh cloths- that felt good. We exchanged money at the bank in the hotel, which was also interesting. Three men sitting in a semi-closed off plexi-glass area in a room with stacks of cash on a table with computers and a printer. Basically anybody could walk behind the counter and grab a stack of money…but yet the entire hotel compound is surrounded with armed guards with bomb sniffing dogs. Every entrance to the hotel has a metal detector that you have to walk through and get wanded. So odd…but I guess I feel a little safer so don’t mind. After exchanging money we went to get lunch at the steakhouse in the hotel. It was probably the fanciest restaurant I have ever been to. I had soup- it sounded really good at the time and Brad ordered a big steak and potatoes- comfort food for both of us- we deserve it after everything, right? Well it was very good and the service is amazing. It is somewhat difficult to adjust to some of the culture and ways that they do things over here. Things that you take for granted like communication, knowing how to tip, drinking water, ordering food that would not have touched non-boiled water are hard to think about constantly….This evening I ordered a mini burger at the pub in the restaurant and had to think for a few minutes, is this pickle safe to eat..should I…will it give me Mummy Tummy…I gave up wondering and did not eat the pickle. What a dilemma?
This afternoon, we ventured out of “the Marriott Compound” to find an electronics store for a 3 pronged electrical converter- we just realized that the computer charging cord needs one. We were given walking directions to where this store would be. From what I have read before the trip, the street that this store was on had a bunch of shops and was safe and really nice. Hmmm..in comparison to what is what I did not read apparently. I am not sure if at this point I have words to describe what it was like. But we did stop in a few stores and picked up the converter we needed and also went to a gas station to purchase a large bottle of water to stay hydrated. The weather is actually not hot at all. It is warm, but quite nice. The air is somewhat polluted and smoking is permitted everywhere, and everybody smokes everywhere so that takes a little getting used to. We left the streets of Cairo and entered the compound again because we were tired again and needed a nap. We slept until the German polka band in the courtyard started, and they are still playing…yes you read this correctly. Apparently they are having an October fest celebration there and you can purchase a buffet meal of German food and beer and party all night…and so can we from our balcony. Sadly, I know many of the songs…my polish side is coming out and I feel a little “at home”. Brad was doing a little jig a little bit ago…maybe there is a little german side to him that I did not know about. Things are fairly pricy within the compound- for example, we paid 2.5 pounds (about 50 cents) for a huge bottle of water at the gas station and in the hotel, it’d be about 40 Egyptian pounds. There is a price for feeling safe.
Tomorrow will be great and we are really looking forward to it. We meet our group in the morning and go to the pyramids and sphinx during the day and then go to see a sound and light show at the pyramids at night. It will be great to meet some people and see what we came here to see, and I am certain it will be breathtaking. I just hope I have some new cloths to wear from my suitcase that will magically appear in a few hours. More to come tomorrow, we have limited internet access, but will write when we can.
We arrived in Egypt a little ahead of schedule (for a change) and got off the plane not having ANY clue what we were in for. When we were descending, it was at night so we couldn’t see any of the landscape to give us any preview of Cairo. So we got off the plane into the airport and were handed little card to fill out that had name, address of where you were staying and phone number- this card was up and above the entrance/immigration card. So we fill them out, handed it to a guard and got through to the other side with bunch of drivers holding signs with people’s names on them….praying that one of them had our name on it. Brad actually willingly put on his pink and purple sticker so that he could be identified as part of the group..ha ha ha- I knew he would! We saw a man that had a folder that had our travel companies name on it and we exhaled- at least I did. He asked if we had our Visas and we told him no. He instructed us to (and this is almost his exact words) “ go to one of the bank counters behind me, give them no more than 15 US dollars and request a Visa and come back to me”…ok that is the point that hit me…we are not in Kansas anymore Toto. So we got the Visas pretty easily and went back to him to see what our next stealth-like move was going to be. It was almost like a really scary treasure hunt. We then had to wait in the customs line to go to the baggage claim. We were standing at the baggage when we heard somebody calling our last name- this could not be good. We walked over to an airport worker and he broke the bad news to us….our bags were left in London. That is when I started to get sick…my life is in those bags….or so it felt like at the time. So he told us all this info at one time that I hardly could comprehend being so tired and hearing the shock that I had no luggage…not like one bag got lost- BOTH got lost. So they actually knew where they were- which is good (I guess) and that the soonest they could get them to us was 24 hours from then. Which is currently in a few hours. They had to take the next flight from London to Cairo. Then they would deliver them to our hotel. So that is where we stand right now, praying that this is how it will happen. We had two options- to go to the airport when they arrive to carry them through customs ourselves (no idea how we’d get to the airport as our tour doesn’t start till tomorrow) or the other option was to sign a waiver to have them open them and bring them through customs and then to our hotel. We had to pick the second option. So while we are signing the waiver, some guy walked off with our passports that we gave to him to photocopy that is out of the terminal- no photo copier in the terminal apparently….I was completely a mess. Brad was his typical self…calm, cool and collected with a Que Sera Sera- what will be, will be attitude. Thank God for him. So we got with the other people in our group, boarded a bus with our guide representative and went to our hotel.
The Marriott in Cairo is beautiful. Very fancy and luxurious. It used to be a palace, and it sill looks like one today. It is very old and parts of it show it, but I suppose that in this part of the world…it is the best of the best. I will try to post of picture of the outside of it. So we got to our room and even though I had not slept for hours, I could not fall asleep because I was so upset about the bags. But I eventually did and we set the alarm so that we could get the breakfast provided in the morning. We slept through it and woke up just before noon. I needed to make some phone calls to the airline and the airport to confirm what we were told last night and to make sure that they did indeed have our bags in London. One would think that this would be a simple task- not really. First of all, no number for British airways- phone book had bad numbers, front desk could not connect me to the right person and most of the customer service lines, I was told, are only open from noon to two or nine to two. This was helpful…so I finally got through to a representative and confirmed that they would be arriving on the 11:30pm plane tonight. Then after several failed attempts, I got a hold of the airport to confirm that they had the address of the hotel and our room number- thankfully they did. Our rep must have made the call for us. So, now we are playing the waiting game. We luckily had 1 change of clothes in our carry on and minimal toiletries. So we slept in the clothes that we were wearing for 2 days and woke up and showered and put on fresh cloths- that felt good. We exchanged money at the bank in the hotel, which was also interesting. Three men sitting in a semi-closed off plexi-glass area in a room with stacks of cash on a table with computers and a printer. Basically anybody could walk behind the counter and grab a stack of money…but yet the entire hotel compound is surrounded with armed guards with bomb sniffing dogs. Every entrance to the hotel has a metal detector that you have to walk through and get wanded. So odd…but I guess I feel a little safer so don’t mind. After exchanging money we went to get lunch at the steakhouse in the hotel. It was probably the fanciest restaurant I have ever been to. I had soup- it sounded really good at the time and Brad ordered a big steak and potatoes- comfort food for both of us- we deserve it after everything, right? Well it was very good and the service is amazing. It is somewhat difficult to adjust to some of the culture and ways that they do things over here. Things that you take for granted like communication, knowing how to tip, drinking water, ordering food that would not have touched non-boiled water are hard to think about constantly….This evening I ordered a mini burger at the pub in the restaurant and had to think for a few minutes, is this pickle safe to eat..should I…will it give me Mummy Tummy…I gave up wondering and did not eat the pickle. What a dilemma?
This afternoon, we ventured out of “the Marriott Compound” to find an electronics store for a 3 pronged electrical converter- we just realized that the computer charging cord needs one. We were given walking directions to where this store would be. From what I have read before the trip, the street that this store was on had a bunch of shops and was safe and really nice. Hmmm..in comparison to what is what I did not read apparently. I am not sure if at this point I have words to describe what it was like. But we did stop in a few stores and picked up the converter we needed and also went to a gas station to purchase a large bottle of water to stay hydrated. The weather is actually not hot at all. It is warm, but quite nice. The air is somewhat polluted and smoking is permitted everywhere, and everybody smokes everywhere so that takes a little getting used to. We left the streets of Cairo and entered the compound again because we were tired again and needed a nap. We slept until the German polka band in the courtyard started, and they are still playing…yes you read this correctly. Apparently they are having an October fest celebration there and you can purchase a buffet meal of German food and beer and party all night…and so can we from our balcony. Sadly, I know many of the songs…my polish side is coming out and I feel a little “at home”. Brad was doing a little jig a little bit ago…maybe there is a little german side to him that I did not know about. Things are fairly pricy within the compound- for example, we paid 2.5 pounds (about 50 cents) for a huge bottle of water at the gas station and in the hotel, it’d be about 40 Egyptian pounds. There is a price for feeling safe.
Tomorrow will be great and we are really looking forward to it. We meet our group in the morning and go to the pyramids and sphinx during the day and then go to see a sound and light show at the pyramids at night. It will be great to meet some people and see what we came here to see, and I am certain it will be breathtaking. I just hope I have some new cloths to wear from my suitcase that will magically appear in a few hours. More to come tomorrow, we have limited internet access, but will write when we can.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Mind the gap
We made it this far, without any sleep :( We are working on close to 30 hours without the smallest amount of sleep. We tried to sleep on the flight over to London, but the plane was about 100 degrees and I was in the middle of the middle of the plane- so needless to say there was no sleep for me. Plus British Airways has on demand movies, tv shows and music so I got to watch a bunch of movies that I have wanted to see. I got to watch my sister's keeper, which Brad would never want to see and he watched the new transformers movie some other movie that i was less than interested to see- so that worked out well!! I must say, British Airways is a pretty decent airline, Good service on the flight, ok food, free wine :)...so far so good.
We got in pretty much on time in London, so that meant that we had about 8 hours to kill so we went through customs, immigration, security checks, pat-downs, more checks, a few lines to purchase tickets to the tube and we were on our way about 90 mins after we left the plane :) another 90 mins after that we were in central london. We took the tube to Westminster and walked out of the underground station to see Big Ben right in front of us. Brad started to take a bunch of pictures utilizing his new camera skills from the classes we took! I knew that we had limited time before we had to make it back to the airport- so as he was taking pictures, I asked him (honestly..i did..but remember I had no sleep)...I had asked him, Brad- what time is it? He answered...and then I looked up and thought- duh! Big Ben is right there in front of me...could have looked at that clock...wow...pretty slow on that one! Anyway, we walked around Westminster Abbey and then hopped back on the tube to take the 90 min ride back to the airport...what an adventure. :) The tube is interesting in itself- once you learn how to navigate the multiple gates and lines that cross each other, you are fine- the recorded voice always reminds you to "mind the gap" and also reminds you what line you are on. Mind the gap means to watch your step. I forget that eventhough England speaks english, there are a few things that are just a bit different. Another example would be ordering lunch. I ordered a chicken, leek, and bacon pie. I got a pot pie with chicken, leeks and ham- not too far off from what I thought it was going to be, Brad ordered a chicken club- the server asked if he wanted crisps, or chips. Very confusing on little sleep. Crisps = Chips in the UK and Chips = Fries in the UK. He got chips.
So now we are waiting to find out what gate we are at for our flight to Cairo. We board in a couple hours and they don't post the gate until an hour before. So hopefully it isn't one that we have to take a tram to that we have to go through more security checks for. I have to admit, I am a little tired of taking my shoes off, unpacking my laptop, seperating the liquids, taking off my jacket and then reassembling it just to do it again at our next location. We are just both very excited to get there and are really tired, and perhaps a little grouchy (ok, maybe that is just me) I actually think Brad is sleeping right now...i am jealous. I wonder if I can sneak the camera out of the bag and take a picture of him...I will try and will post it if I succeed :)
That is all for now, will try to write after we get to Cairo and have had a good nights sleep.
We got in pretty much on time in London, so that meant that we had about 8 hours to kill so we went through customs, immigration, security checks, pat-downs, more checks, a few lines to purchase tickets to the tube and we were on our way about 90 mins after we left the plane :) another 90 mins after that we were in central london. We took the tube to Westminster and walked out of the underground station to see Big Ben right in front of us. Brad started to take a bunch of pictures utilizing his new camera skills from the classes we took! I knew that we had limited time before we had to make it back to the airport- so as he was taking pictures, I asked him (honestly..i did..but remember I had no sleep)...I had asked him, Brad- what time is it? He answered...and then I looked up and thought- duh! Big Ben is right there in front of me...could have looked at that clock...wow...pretty slow on that one! Anyway, we walked around Westminster Abbey and then hopped back on the tube to take the 90 min ride back to the airport...what an adventure. :) The tube is interesting in itself- once you learn how to navigate the multiple gates and lines that cross each other, you are fine- the recorded voice always reminds you to "mind the gap" and also reminds you what line you are on. Mind the gap means to watch your step. I forget that eventhough England speaks english, there are a few things that are just a bit different. Another example would be ordering lunch. I ordered a chicken, leek, and bacon pie. I got a pot pie with chicken, leeks and ham- not too far off from what I thought it was going to be, Brad ordered a chicken club- the server asked if he wanted crisps, or chips. Very confusing on little sleep. Crisps = Chips in the UK and Chips = Fries in the UK. He got chips.
So now we are waiting to find out what gate we are at for our flight to Cairo. We board in a couple hours and they don't post the gate until an hour before. So hopefully it isn't one that we have to take a tram to that we have to go through more security checks for. I have to admit, I am a little tired of taking my shoes off, unpacking my laptop, seperating the liquids, taking off my jacket and then reassembling it just to do it again at our next location. We are just both very excited to get there and are really tired, and perhaps a little grouchy (ok, maybe that is just me) I actually think Brad is sleeping right now...i am jealous. I wonder if I can sneak the camera out of the bag and take a picture of him...I will try and will post it if I succeed :)
That is all for now, will try to write after we get to Cairo and have had a good nights sleep.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Two weeks to go!
Tomorrow will make it two weeks till Egypt, although it is more like two weeks and two days since the time it will take to get there is almost an entire day in itself. Looking at the flight times, it appears that we have a little over an eight hour layover in London....bummer :) Seems to me that it is just enough time to take the tube into city center to check out Big Ben, Parliment (for those of you that are fans of National Lampoons- " Hey Kids, Big Ben...parliment...Hey Kids, Big Ben...parliment) and perhaps grab some fish and chips!
We received all of our travel documents late last week, which is the piece I needed for everything to sink in that we are actually going on this trip! This has been planned for so long and now it is just days away. The travel company provides you with this nice document case where everything is organized. They give you luggage tags so that you can easily be identified as part of the tour group- not that the bright white tennis shoes, fanny pack and camera bags give you away or anything....but the BEST part of our tour documents is the sticker they give you to wear upon arrival to the Cairo airport to identify you as part of the group. So not only are you going to stick out like a sore thumb, now you get to wear this huge annoying sticker that might as well say "kick me" on it!!! Brad is less than excited about the sticker...perhaps cause it is large and tacky, or perhaps because it is pink and purple...you be the judge.
We received all of our travel documents late last week, which is the piece I needed for everything to sink in that we are actually going on this trip! This has been planned for so long and now it is just days away. The travel company provides you with this nice document case where everything is organized. They give you luggage tags so that you can easily be identified as part of the tour group- not that the bright white tennis shoes, fanny pack and camera bags give you away or anything....but the BEST part of our tour documents is the sticker they give you to wear upon arrival to the Cairo airport to identify you as part of the group. So not only are you going to stick out like a sore thumb, now you get to wear this huge annoying sticker that might as well say "kick me" on it!!! Brad is less than excited about the sticker...perhaps cause it is large and tacky, or perhaps because it is pink and purple...you be the judge.
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