Egypt

In August, right after my trip to Normandy with Brooks and "Gamma & Gampa Charlie", Eric jumped on a plane and met the four of us in Zurich on the way to Egypt. That's right, we were going to the Sahara desert in the summer. Smart? Probably not, but it was high on my and my dad's list of places to see, plus Eric had been before and still had a bit of Arabic rumbling around in the back of his memory. And when Grandma said that she'd be happy to go anywhere that her grandson was, off we went.

The flight was fine, we loved Swiss Air - they had free toys and strawberry yoghurt for Brooks. When we arrived at the Cairo airport, our adventure started right away when they asked for our passports and visas. Visas? Right. We didn't have visas. We probably need those, don't we?! Thankfully we weren't the only ones arriving empty-handed - they directed us to a small immigration desk that sold us one month visas on the spot. Still, a bit disconcerting. Okay, we find our bags and collect our thoughts for our first challenge. Outside the customs hall was a loud, jostling crowd of taxi driver brokers who had dozens of cars to take us anywhere we wanted to go. Eric led the way with all our bags on a luggage trolley, cutting a path through the sea of people, but we didn't make it ten steps before we were surrounded by four men, all urgently wanting to know if we needed transportation. Lesson one - there is a very different sense of personal space in Egypt. Eric remained quite calm even as they started quoting American prices (ie, double or more of what we were expecting to pay). He dug out our guide book and started looking up transport info, to make sure we weren't going to be ripped off. While he did this, one of the Egyptian men turned to me to start trying to pressure me into agreeing to his price. ("you have a baby, I'll take good care of you" - that sort of thing) Eric quietly but firmly said something to him in Arabic and the man immediately raised an eyebrow in respect and took a literal step away from me while Eric thumbed through the book. I was so proud! (It was something polite, along the lines of "Wait a MINUTE"). Eventually, we got to an agreeable price for all parties and climbed into the "Ginger Taxi" (seriously, that was the name!) for a hot dusty car ride to the hotel. Note, all of our worldly possessions were on top of the car, without any kind of covering or rope around the luggage rack or anything. I kept waiting for a thunk to alert us that a bag had rolled off onto the back of the car, but everything - including us - made it safely to Giza almost an hour later.

To say the least, we had planned a full itinerary. We stayed at three different places so that we could see as much as possible. Our first night in Giza, we checked into our rooms and looked out the window at the most amazing view... We were literally overlooking the Pyramids! This was the view from our balcony...


The next morning we hired a guide from the hotel to take us around to tour the Great Pyramids of Giza. They really are HUGE! In this picture, we're standing probably 75 yards in front of the largest one. It's amazing to see all of them, standing much as they have been for the last several thousand years.


Early in the day was a great time to come, because the crowds and the heat each got more oppressive as the day went on. After walking around the largest pyramid, we climbed down into the tunnel of one of the smaller pyramids. Amazing experience! Oh my goodness, the smell. It smelled of death and decay and of two thousand years of hot stinky tourists. We had to crouch down and hold on to the railing to make it down and up. It was more like climbing than walking... Inside, we stepped down into the lowest excavated room and someone commented that it felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie. It was great!


After more walking around and random photo taking - ie, our guide/driver took pictures of each of us trying to lift a pyramid stone, or "framing" the pyramids with our raised arms. Very cheesey. Had I realized how close my camera battery was from dying, I would have put the kibosh on that immediately - we came to a camel calmly resting in the shade, with his keeper and several horses saddled and ready to go nearby. I was climbing onto the camel before I knew what was happening, and they said "hold the horn" moments before the animal lurched back and forth to rise to a standing position. I'm not sure if I had Brooks in my arms before or after the first time the camel moved, but I'm sure it didn't help his confidence any to hear his Mama shout in surprise. I really did think I was about to fall over the camel's head onto the ground. Brooks was more than a little terrified, but once he was in my lap and "securely" seated with his hands on the saddle horn, and mine wrapped around him, it got a bit easier to look around and enjoy the ride. I never really felt *comfortable* riding the camel, given there was a single stirrup and no reins, and I was clutching a squirmy toddler and adjusting to the rocking motion whenever the camel moved, but it certainly was a great experience.


While I was on the camel, our camera battery died (how did we forget to charge it last night?!) I think it's the only time Eric has actually wanted to strangle me. We look lots of "pictures in our minds" and then Mom, Dad and I camped out in the shade of the biggest pyramid while Eric, Brooks and our driver went back to the hotel to pick up our other battery. I can't tell you the relief I felt when the boys all came back smiling, mission accomplished. We headed up to the lookout point on the edge of the desert where you can see the pyramids set against a sea of sand.


Next up was the sphinx. To add to the list of destinations that aren't exactly what I might have pictured beforehand, the sphinx was a good deal smaller and quite a bit farther from the pyramid than I had imagined. It was great to see it in real life, but didn't make as much of an impression on me as the pyramids themselves did.


Maybe it was just the exhaustion of the heat of the day, but I for one was done by the time we left this stop. Unfortunately, that was the moment that our guide pulled (what we later learned was) one of the standard Egyptian guide routines... stop off at a "museum" after the sights, where the "guides" will offer you a cold drink, "teach you about how papyrus is created, show you example of Egyptian papyrus art, and then offer you **great prices!!** on pieces that you can take home!!" Ugghh. We are not travel shoppers. I don't think we were in there for 3 minutes. I whipped out the "baby card" so fast, I think I startled the others, and declared that Brooks had had enough and that we really needed to get him home for lunch and a nap. I think the guide was used to people sticking with the schpeel at least a few minutes, anyway. Too bad, buddy, no commissions for you!

After a mid-day siesta, we enjoyed a nice cool lunch in the restaurant hotel. After being warned over and over again about the dreaded stomach bug "King Tut's Revenge", we tried to be super careful about what we ate. As a consequence, most of our food and drink came from the hotels we stayed in or snacks we brought from home. While the food experiences weren't the best part of our vacation (pretty different from our Italy trip in 2007!), we did have some great interactions with the waitstaff. One of the big cultural differences we noticed almost immediately in Egypt was that men particularly seem to enjoy children. Perhaps it has to do with the family being so very important in the Middle East, perhaps it was that Brooks was a little boy. I'm not sure, but wherever we went, Brooks was showered with attention and affection and entertainment. Our waiter didn't have a lot of customers when we arrived for lunch, so he played with Brooks and gave him this great chef's hat.


Brooks was quite happy with his new friends and his costume.


That afternoon we headed back to the Cairo airport and flew down to Luxor, almost halfway down the Nile from Cairo. Luxor is the modern day city of Thebes, the capital of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, and is home to an overwhelming concentration of sights. We decided to give it two nights and I'm so glad that we did.

This is the Valley of the Kings, a long rocky, dusty swath cut out of the desert rock where the Ancient Egyptians buried their pharaohs and princes. You can click on this photo to zoom in...


These sites were just amazing! The hotel helped us find a guide (and an air conditioned van!) for a full day of touring. Our guide had studied archeology and history in university, so we got a thorough and colorful intro to each site. Unfortunately, King tut's tomb was closed off but we got to visit several Ramses tombs (I, II, and III - Grandpa, dad, and son, I believe) as well as others whose names I didn't recognize as easily. My biggest impressions were of the colors everywhere! I'm not sure how I missed this in my Ancient History classes, but all the hieroglyphics were in vivid color! Once our eyes adjusted to the lower light inside the tombs, we could see that the symbols have lasted more than 4 or 5 millennia! The pigments were protected from the elements above ground, and with such a dry, hot climate, some of the tombs look as if they were just painted last year! I was stunned by room after room of gorgeous blues and reds and yellows and blacks and really enjoyed finding the pictures stories of the man/god pharaohs that our guide had just told us about. It was ridiculously hot. Crazy hot the whole day, but we drank water and sat in the shade and enjoyed walking through this amazing living history book!

No photos were allowed in the tombs, but we snapped one of ourselves outside... the color was all worn away at the entrance, but you can see some of the carvings behind us.


Here's what it looks like from the bottom of the valley... dry, dusty, lots of sunshine... I could only imagine what it was like for the people who had to dig out these tombs with primitive tools.


This is the Temple of Hatshepsut, Egypt's powerful female Pharaoh who led Egypt during a long period of successful, peaceful trading and growth. The wealth that poured into the kingdom during her reign funded some beautiful architectural projects, and we enjoyed touring this one, even as the noon-day sun blazed down on us.


Brooks and Eric rest in a tiny sliver of shade and chug the gatorade that kept everyone hydrated, if not comfortable.


Eric and I make good pharaohs, don't you think?


That afternoon, after a long cold water and ice cream break, we visited the Valley of the Queens, similar to the Valley of the Kings that morning except for the incredible lack of tourists. It seemed we were the *only* people out during the hot afternoon hours. Even the hard-selling souvenir dealers outside the entrance to the valley had packed up for the day. At the end of the tour that day, we stopped at the Colossi of Memmon ... And we're still smiling, even after the marathon of the ancient valleys!


When we saw the tenth tomb and temple, Brooks decided he'd had enough and just silently passed out in the backpack... Poor little! We expected him to wake up when we transferred him into the van, but he didn't. He slept like this, sitting up on the van seat, for over an hour while the A/C blasted and we recounted our adventures on the way back to the hotel. It was an amazing, exhausting day.


And still the fun wasn't over! After everyone had a bit of a rest, we went down to the fantastic hotel pool and took turns playing with Brooks in the wading pool and waterfall. He had a great time, cooling off and learning to swim like a FISH! The major accomplishment was Eric's - he got Brooks to put his face in the water and blow bubbles with him by the end of the afternoon.



Okay, I'm going to have to split this trip up into multiple entries! This post is too long, even for me! More to come...