Nubian Oasis Hotel Luxor

... course. Lunch on the cruise was absolutely wonderful. <3

After that around 3 or 4 we woke up to go meet our tour group, 14 of us in total from Canada, England, France, and of course ourselves included. Introductions all around and a brief talk by our guide during which I tuned out to doze with my eyes open (okay actually that is a pretty scary image) until we got up to go to Luxor and Karnak temple.
Luxor, Nile River Valley, Egypt mypace

... important one...we learned at our first meeting that Egypt has a heavy tipping culture (which I will talk about more later) and that we all owed $24 in tip money... I have no problem with tipping, but I just found it frustrating to have yet another added cost.

The mummy room at the museam is and isn't to be missed. Honestly, I'd never forgive myself if I didn't go. It's the mummy room at the Cairo Museam! Mummies, ancient Egypt, woohoo! And I thought it was ...

We boarded the sleeper train and the rooms were tiny, but luckily there were four of us, so two in each room, and a door connected the two rooms. The chairs folded down into a bed and another bed came out of the wall above it. There was a sink and a couple of hand towels, one electric socket, and a mirror. No showers on board. The four of us got pretty close on the eight hour train ride to Luxor, because none of us could sleep even though we were exhausted ...

... picture or two. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we bus it to Hurghada, a resort on the Africa side of the Red Sea, known for its crystalline water, golden sand, and excellent diving. Hopefully there's some snorkeling in the picture for us. After a few days there, we hydrofoil it to Sharm el Sheik on the Asian side of the Red Sea for another several days of R&R. The whirlwind pace of the trip thus far has worn us down and we need to recharge the batteries for the Israel phase to begin ...

... cult.  The mythology of death (sailing across a sacred river with myriad fine artefacts to the underworld - identified with heaven) suggests rather, a love of life and wish that it will continue, after the transformation of earthly death, even better than before.  It is for this reason that we have such magnificent treasures as those of Tutankhamun (alternatively spelt Tutankhamen) to wonder at.  Of course the tomb treasures that have been found are a tiny fraction of ...

Upon awakening on the Felucca we see our point of disembarkment fortunately situated across the river. Relieved to be back on land we head up to the Edfu or Kom Ombo temple (my memory slips as to which) and take a few snaps of the exterior before quickly deciding there are bigger and better temples to be seen in Luxor that are more deserving of our funds. Hovering around in the carpark girls swarm around us trying to sell ...