Scribe

This is an amazingly old statue of a scribe. It is so realistic and well done. A scribe was a sought after job and paid well. The artist shows that by adding little rolls of fat around his middle. The Louvre considers this the most important object in it's Egyptian collection.

Apis bull

I nagged our guides about the Apis Bull during our time in Egypt but we were not in the right place (Serapeum) to see much evidence. The right place turned out to be a room in the
Louvre. The Apis was a rare sacred bull associated with the god Ptah. Some the wall paintings in this room showed what we would think of as a Jersey cow. Life for an Apis was good-much pampering and special food. Kobe beef came to mind. When you died, you got to be a very large mummy. As usual, the publicity-seeking Ramses II claimed a relationship with the Apis and there were numerous stele and carvings in the Louvre exhibits from Ramses reign.

Mummy

With it's funeral mask

An amazing funeral mask

About 3,000 years old

Louvre

We spent the day at the Louvre in their quite extensive Egypt antiquities area. I haven't spent much time there before--it takes up a good section of the Sully wing--but now it is much more Interesting. For example, we instantly knew this was a statue of the God Horus.

We found

Another Pyramid.

Our niece Carmen

Because we unexpectedly ended up in Paris we got to spend the weekend with Carmen who is studying in Rennes. Seeing her was just what we needed.

Our great guides

These two taught us so much about Egypt. Dr. Richard Lobban, an archeologist, and Mohamed Anwar, an Egyptologist. They showed us many things the average tourist does not see. Richard gave some very interesting lectures. Richard evacuated with us but we had to say goodbye to Mohamed and our wonderful tour guide, Osama Gamel. We wish them all the best and hope they get the kind of leadership they deserve.

Another Obelisk

This obelisk was given to King Louis Phillip in 1829. The Egyptians got a clock in return that didn't work. The Obelisk is in the Place Concorde. It was originally for Menses XIII but Ramses II (the great chiseler) scratched Menses name out and had his chiseled in.

Aswan

We stayed on Elephantine Isle in Aswan and took small boats like in the foreground to get back and forth from the city. The large sandy hill is the west bank of the Nile where the tombs of the nobles are located.

Temple at Kom Ombo

Beautifully preserved temple on the banks of the Nile in honor of Sobek and Horus.

Tombs of the nobles

Amazingly well preserved tomb for a noble in Aswan. Thevleft top has a rare depiction of an elephant.

Ancient quarry

And a gigantic Obelisk for Hatshepsut that was left unfinished due to a crack that developed.

Crocodile

On the way back from Philae we came upon this large crocodile. It almost seemed like a statue until it slowly eased itself back into the water.

Temple of Isis at Philae

I'm going to post a few more pictures. This is a beautiful temple near Aswan that we needed to take a boat to visit.

Plaka

We also wandered around in this old section of Athens called the plaka. Narrow pedestrian streets--lots of shopping and cafes. For some reason the Greeks seem to have a fascination with Army Surplus type stores--lots of camo and desert boots.

Caryatids

This is a building known as the Erechtheion--these statues are called either Korai (maidens) or Caryatids and were built around 400 BC--to find better preserved Caryatids and other wonders of the Acropolis such as the Elgin marbles one needs to go to the British Museum.

The Acropolis

Here is Tim in front of the Parthenon. As you can see it is undergoing a multi year restoration
Project. I have always wanted to see this but, truth be told, after the wonders of Egypt we were a little underwhelmed. It is also rather new construction in comparison to the tombs and temples we visited. It was a beautiful day and we had a great view of Athens.

Room with a view

This is from our room at the Mena House of the Pyramid at Giza. We have heard that the Mena House is now empty and being protected by the Army due to it's historical significance. So sad for the many people who worked there.

Sandy

Wanted me to post this to prove she was on a camel

Close to the front

The woman on the left in the scarf is from Seattle via Somalia. She was traveling alone with her 6 children ages 12 to 2 and I have never seen more well behaved kids. The older ones were helping her and the younger kids--they were a beautiful family. Her husband was in Dubai and she had been visiting family when all this happened--last I heard they were on a flight to Seattle. The guy on the right is from Orlando but originally Egyptian. The thing about the people in the crowd was how diverse our country is--and how great that is.

Mr bullhorn

Kept us informed of what was going on and assured us we were all getting on a plane. They were also passing out bottled water and brought someone into sell sandwiches. They were very strict about baggage and weight so lots were throwing clothes and whole bags away.

In line waiting to go

We all lined up in our little lines (there were 14 in ours and we took care of each other)

Air force 2

We decided that the only way we were getting out of dodge (as my friend Sue Ferney put it) was to call Secretary Clinton for help. And they came in this plane that was then used to ferry A lucky 42 ordinary citizens to Cyprus.

Amazing

These are 4 huge statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbel--one fell in ancient times. They are standing at the entrance to a temple in his honor. He had a little bit of an ego problem I think.
In the 60's they were building the Aswan high dam and they would have been underwater so there was a scramble to save them. It was quite the process and the mountain the temple is now in is man made. Worth the effort to see.

Nubian village school

We visited a kindergarten school in Aswan and fell in love with these kids--look at the little girl in pink--what a cutie.

Calm days in Egypt

Sailing in a felucca on the Nile--very soothing--we didn't know what was coming. This was our captain--very skilled--check out the tiller.

Edfu temple

We stopped in Edfu to visit this wonderfully preserved temple. This
Shows the goddess Isis and her son Horus. These are 3000 years old and are amazing to see so well preserved.

Some young fishermen

More scenes

Of family life on the Nile

Along the Nile

We spent 3 days cruising along the Nile--here is a typical scene of a house on the shores-- notice the mud bricks

Luxor temple

We also visited the beautiful Luxor temple at night when it is beautifully lit. Yesterday we boarded our Nile cruiser--just sitting on deck and drifting along--watching fishermen, papyrus along the banks--it is very peaceful. Tonight we reach Aswan.

More later

Temples and Tombs

We are still having trouble finding Internet access. The past few days we were in Luxor and now are sailing down the Nile. One of the temples we visited was the large complex of Karnak.
This is the obelisk of Hatshepsut (my favorite pharaoh). Karnak contains 10 temples and was built over 1500 years ago.

Valley of the Kings

View as we descended into the valley. We visited 4 tombs.

Hiking to valley of the kings

Looks like I can post pictures by email. The sun was coming up over the nile as we caught a boat for the west side to begin our hike into then valley of the kings. We climbed up to this ridge between the valley of the queens and of the kings. It was a great hike and we would have liked to stay on the ridge longer but came down to visit 3 tombs. Will send more pictures. Tomorrow we are boarding a boat to sail to Aswan.

Test

Test to see
Sent from my iPad

Luxor

We left Cairo after spending a few days at the the pyramids of Giza (also the sphinx) and the necropolis of Saqqara and Memphis. We also saw old Cairo including a Christian church and a synagogue.
We flew to Luxor and spent most of the day at Karnac--an amazing temple site.

Tomorrow we are hiking into the valley of the kings to see several royal tombs.

Still having trouble with posting pictures.

Having too much fun to fix.

Pyramids and camels

I have had trouble getting a good connection. And cannot upload any pictures. Will work on that. We are in a hotel in Cairo at the base of the Pyramids of Giza. Yesterday we visited another group of Pyramids that are ignored by most tourists. We were allowed to go inside--not an easy feat but worth today's sore muscles. Cairo is a huge city of 20 million and appears to work in a rather chaotic fashion. Yesterday on our way to the pyramids we passed many farmers with their various crops on the side of the road. Would loved to have been able to pull over to take pictures of the large cauliflower and bunches of carrots and beets. Also the large numbers of donkey pulled carts laden with alfalfa that probably have been used for hundreds of years. I wish I could show pictures of Sandy on a camel--tomorrow more pyramids.

The long day ahead

We are at the Airport waiting for our flight--first to Frankfurt then Cairo. Has anyone flown Lufthansa before? We're sure the wonders of Egypt will make this worthwhile. Our next post tomorrow will be from the base of the Pyramids.