Yes, I know, you thought I was done posting about Egypt ... But, alas, we are only on day 7 of 11 days! The good news for you is that there is no way to post the 1, 197 photos I took in Egypt plus the additional photos from Grandpa & Grandma, Bry & Ann-Marie, and the Bodens!
Anyway ... Day 7 - Wednesday April 8th, finds us still at the port in Luxor. After breakfast, we head out in our van to first see the Colossi of Memnon (above). These statues were put back together and because of all the cracks, they would whistle when the wind came through - but, then someone (can't remember who) got the bright idea to patch them, and they no longer whistle -- I wanted to hear the whistle!
After Valley of the Kings (yes, I know the pictures are not in order, so the writing may not flow well .. but it's a pain to get the pictures put in the right order!!) .... We went around the bend to the temple of Queen Hatchepsut (or "hot chicken soup", as our guide told us ;) She is the ONLY Queen buried in the Valley of the Kings and was referred to as "the lady king". She married a king and had some girls. Then he married another lady and finally had his boy. When the king died, the Queen (step-mom) had the other wife killed and sent the boy away. Then she assumed the position of King. This didn't go over too well with the step-son. When Hot Chicken Soup died, he came back to rule as king. He tried destroying all references to her. So, on this temple and a few other places in Luxor, her Cartouse (the oval with her hyrogliphic name) is scratched out. Serves her right. I don't think she was very nice ...
Then, it's off to the Valley of the Kings. A really neat adventure! This is a huge valley where many kings have been buried. They are STILL finding tombs here! Totally cool! Your entrance fee allows you to go into 3 tombs. We saw Tumosis III, Taresis IV, and Ramses IV. One was one of the deepest, one had the best colors still preserved, and one was one of the largest -- all really neat. The valley of the kings was located here because of the natural pyramid shape rock (pyramids shapes are a huge deal in ancient Egypt, go figure) -seen below at the top of the picture, lower in the picture we see a happy touring American family ...
After the Colossi, Valley of the Kings, and Temple of Queen Hatchepsut we had a quick visit to an Alabaster "museum". ("Museum" is code in Egypt, as well as Morrocco - so, maybe Africa in general- for Fancy Shop with a Demonstration.) Then, back to the boat for lunch. We had some time to relax and swim and then the Shirley family set sail on a falagulea (who knows how it's spelled!) boat ride down the Nile to Banana Island. It was a fun, relaxing way to end the day ...
Of course, we enjoyed the cusine on Banana Island ...
We saw a beautiful sunset on the sail back to the boat ...
We were in the company of extremely good looking men ...
Spencer even found a banana tree!
On the way back from the Island, Bry and Ann-Marie shared their news that they are expecting another baby! Bry broke out the celebratory Cinnamon bears and we enjoyed the news! (We shared some Cinnamon bears with the sail boat people and our armed guards/guides -- they liked the flavor, but HATED the texture and that it stuck to their teeth! It was funny watching them try to pick it off their teeth. :)
Anyway ... Day 7 - Wednesday April 8th, finds us still at the port in Luxor. After breakfast, we head out in our van to first see the Colossi of Memnon (above). These statues were put back together and because of all the cracks, they would whistle when the wind came through - but, then someone (can't remember who) got the bright idea to patch them, and they no longer whistle -- I wanted to hear the whistle!
After Valley of the Kings (yes, I know the pictures are not in order, so the writing may not flow well .. but it's a pain to get the pictures put in the right order!!) .... We went around the bend to the temple of Queen Hatchepsut (or "hot chicken soup", as our guide told us ;) She is the ONLY Queen buried in the Valley of the Kings and was referred to as "the lady king". She married a king and had some girls. Then he married another lady and finally had his boy. When the king died, the Queen (step-mom) had the other wife killed and sent the boy away. Then she assumed the position of King. This didn't go over too well with the step-son. When Hot Chicken Soup died, he came back to rule as king. He tried destroying all references to her. So, on this temple and a few other places in Luxor, her Cartouse (the oval with her hyrogliphic name) is scratched out. Serves her right. I don't think she was very nice ...
Then, it's off to the Valley of the Kings. A really neat adventure! This is a huge valley where many kings have been buried. They are STILL finding tombs here! Totally cool! Your entrance fee allows you to go into 3 tombs. We saw Tumosis III, Taresis IV, and Ramses IV. One was one of the deepest, one had the best colors still preserved, and one was one of the largest -- all really neat. The valley of the kings was located here because of the natural pyramid shape rock (pyramids shapes are a huge deal in ancient Egypt, go figure) -seen below at the top of the picture, lower in the picture we see a happy touring American family ...
After the Colossi, Valley of the Kings, and Temple of Queen Hatchepsut we had a quick visit to an Alabaster "museum". ("Museum" is code in Egypt, as well as Morrocco - so, maybe Africa in general- for Fancy Shop with a Demonstration.) Then, back to the boat for lunch. We had some time to relax and swim and then the Shirley family set sail on a falagulea (who knows how it's spelled!) boat ride down the Nile to Banana Island. It was a fun, relaxing way to end the day ...
Of course, we enjoyed the cusine on Banana Island ...
We saw a beautiful sunset on the sail back to the boat ...
We were in the company of extremely good looking men ...
Spencer even found a banana tree!
On the way back from the Island, Bry and Ann-Marie shared their news that they are expecting another baby! Bry broke out the celebratory Cinnamon bears and we enjoyed the news! (We shared some Cinnamon bears with the sail boat people and our armed guards/guides -- they liked the flavor, but HATED the texture and that it stuck to their teeth! It was funny watching them try to pick it off their teeth. :)
