Carols Beau Rivage Mersa Matruh

... to Morgan's apartment to take showers (none of us were willing to bathe in those rooms in Marsa Matrouh!) We ordered some food (you can have ANYTHING delivered in Cairo!) and I went straight to bed. Marianne and Ekramy went out on their own for a while. I set my alarm for 1:45am, we met the driver at 2am and were at the airport by 2:30am. Our flight to Rome was at 4:35 Sunday morning...

... for a drive to a secluded spot of the beach. A quick note about Marsa Matrouh: it is reportedly a crammed resort town in the summer, but at this time of year it was deader than dead. Lots of places were not even open at all. Friday is the sabbath in Islam, so a the places that would normally be open were closed. We had a hard time finding anything today. You can forget about buying beer on the sabbath as well ...

... of the desert. The novelty soon wore off though and before long we were bored of the continual emptiness with not so much as a hill in sight! I nodded off for a few minutes before we arrived at the museum. We were shown a short demonstration of the key moments in the battle before being allowed to wander around. The museum was not very good in my opinion and could have done with some funding to bring it up to the standard it deserves. From here, it ...

... cemetery and I set off with Mohamed in search of Uncle Laurie's grave. The grave location that I had from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission had roman numerals in it which I found strange because none of the graves that I was looking at had roman numerals on them. I was hurrying to find it as we didn't have much time and I didn't want to come all that way not to find it. I was getting upset so Mohamed went to see if he could find someone to help me. While ...

... on both sides could possibly understand or believe the need to fight and die over a worthless piece of desert thousands of miles from their homes. The inscription on the memorial tells us how we should never forget. But forget what? I'm sure the men will not be forgotten but what of the lessons we learned? I think that we have learnt a great deal from the war: how to build better tanks, the futility of trench ...

... to the room (Ben misses peanut butter toast for breakfast) where Ben decided to chill out for awhile, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a swim. The water was unbelieveably inviting, and crystal clear. There were a couple other people on the beach, but it seemed as though the whole ocean was empty. I dove right in and swam out to a dock to check out the surroundings. I don't think I could ever visit here ...

... had a nap because it was SOOO HOT... siesta! Then we braved the beach. We heard many times that the beaches here are famous for making women feel very uncomfortable... even walking BY the beach we felt uncomfortable earlier today... but we wer SO hot we thought we'd at least go down there try to grab a table and chairs and see how long we could last. We put on long sleeves, hats, long capris, sunglasses, and sarongs, and walked down there. We found a table ...

... time! we went in the water up to our calves (fully clothed) but had everybody on the beach staring at us so we went back in and hid under our umbrella. What a beautiful day on the beach......at least i dont have to wear sunscreen!!! hahaha People are stilll constantly trying to rip us off.....luckily we have learned how to read the arabic numbers so we can catch them when they try to say our bill is more than it ...

... of lucid, quasi-euphoric acid-like experience). I'm not trying to say I'm not a tourist or above tourism or something like that. I have blue eyes and curly hair-both novelties just about anywhere I go. I went snorkeling in the Red Sea and got suckered into buying a hookah and yes, I went on a 'captivating, exciting and totally unique glass boat tour' (which is probably the most touristy thing ever) and sat and stared at my feet with all the other fat, white, hairy tourists; who ...

... was even faster! :) as soon as we turned around, my horse decided to trot and canter back! I think he knew we were going back home! :) I enjoyed the ride, though, I wish it was longer. Once we finished the ride, we headed into Cairo to a bar called Deal's. We met up with the rest of the group whom didn't come riding and had dinner there and watch the footy. I am pleased to see Germany to have come 3rd, although I wish they had come first! That night was a ...