African House Hotel Cairo

... the wedding we will be taking a two day trip to Luxor, and then off to France, where we will stay with family in the country over Christmas. and New years in Paris itself. The entire trip is going to be about 2 and a half weeks...and I couldn't be more excited!

... your shoes. We went from the market to the Egyptian Museum. When we bought our tickets the sign said that the Museum was open until 6:45 - unfortunately they closed it at 6:15. That said, we explored the entire second floor - though we elected not to pay the steep price to see the mummy room. There is an absolute plethora of things in this museum and, like all great museums, it is hard to do it justice no matter how long you spend there. The highlight was ...

... earlier, this trip was jam packed with options. The next morning there was a jeep ride starting at sunrise through the desert dunes. We opted out of this and chose instead to sleep in and rely on Joe and D’s pictures since they still had the energy to get up and go. The rest of the day was devoted to driving to the Jordan side of the Red Sea to a town called Acaba. The town was modern and had some cool markets but most importantly it was the ...

... into the back and they then requested 10 euro! **** off..and we almost told them so. Because 1. they were greedy and 2. we told them not to bother - no baksheesh was forthcoming. They didn't like us much and I was waiting for the rocks to be thrown.. Our driver couldn't speak English except to say he couldn't speak english. I was assured he knew where we were going but since he couldn't ...

... we saw some the treasures and jewelery that was found in King Tutankhamen's tomb, he was a minor king who was in power for only 9 years and died when he was 19 years old. Try to imagine what treasures might have been in the tombs of other greater pharaohs, such as Ramses II, who ruled for 66 years.
King Tut is famous because his tomb is the first, and so far only, tomb to be discovered virtually intact. Most other tombs of the pharaohs had been robbed, so the ...

... Sunday. So Thursday is like Friday here, then there are no classes on Friday and Saturday. Anyways, I got up at 6:15 a.m. so I could shower and get to the bus stop on time for the 7 a.m. bus we were told to take to the campus (an hour-long bus ride from the dorm). I arrived at the bus stop at 6:45 a.m. to find one bus that was already full of students. There were about 50-60 more waiting outside and more on the way. Then, some ...

... much nicer, it lacks the odour of sweat, it is much cooler and a lot more room. Getting off at Giza we thought we would be close. We were given several different instructions on how to get to the pyramids, but we only managed to make it on the bus when a local took us to the spot and hailed it down.
Arriving at the Pyramids we bought our tickets (60LE each) and entered the gates, 100m or so inside the gate we were asked again for our tickets.
"What again?" Dino asked ...

... a Visa for $15. So I get the Visa and go back to make sure I have enough time and he tells me no not that guy the other guy in the booth next to him (no way he was there 5 minutes ago but no problem). So I go see this guy and he tells me Egypt air will get me a bus with AC, visit a perfume shop, go visit the Pyramids, the Sphinx, and a "5 star restaurant" for the grand total of...wait for it....nothing. I was free with Egypt Air as a promotion to encourage tourists to ...

... in each country, ensuring that our perspective of each country's culture was authentic. To no surprise based on the rich heritage and history of the peoples of the Middle East, each guide proved to be extremely proud of his respective country and offered much insight into local cultures and traditions. Also, as both guides were Muslim, we were given by each a "lesson" on the basic tenets of Islam.

By the end of my 17 days of this ...

... of the Kings, passed by countless tour buses and tour groups who woke up later and got to the tombs first, and didn't get sore bottoms in the process. Riding an ass is not good for your ass. As one intersection Joe's cab drove by. I called out to him, "Hey Joe" and he leaned out, waved and called back "My brother!" I really wanted to be in his air conditioned cab.

Khalid did not ride a donkey...he rode a bike...a road bike...because we were on ...