On our second day in Egypt, We had a mid afternoon flight from Cairo to Luxor, so we just sort of lounged around early on. We grabbed a little breakfast downstairs at the Garden Promenade Cafe. The Eggs Benedict is tasty, even though it is served on a piece of beef ham. We managed to arrange with the same company that gave us a ride to the hotel to find us another van. At the same time we were trying to wrangle a payment for our cruise. The travel agency really wanted us to go someplace to pay, so we were going to send Dave, and have him talk the travel agent into taking him to the airport if he couldn't make it back in time. The travel agent showed up late, right as our van arrived, so we ended up having the travel agent jump in the van with us and ride to the agency to pay. We had to unload a few people on a busy downtown Cairo street, and somehow while getting out someone managed to step on an under seat fire extinguisher. Angie screams out "Oh no, someone just threw something in the van", and I turn around to see what appears to be smoke building in the back, and think for a brief moment that it's a lit fuse, and we're all going to die right there on the street. Needless to say we didn't die, and my heart rate eventually came back down. Our driver and the travel agent had traded numbers so as soon as they made the 
transaction we were to go back and pick everyone up. Milly and I stayed in the van and drove around the block a bit. We landed in front of a little local eatery, that looked a lot like what we'd recently watched anthony Bourdain eat on his trip to Egypt. Despite having only just finished my hotel breakfast within the hour I was dying to try some local food, and when the driver asked if we wanted to try it, I couldn't help but say yes. What we ended up with was a plastic dish about the size of a bowl of Kool whip full of rotini pasta in a tomato sauce, served witha spicy sauce on the side and some pita chips. It was delicious, and based on the volume of people we saw eating at this little place, it was clearly a local favorite. Milly, the Driver and I waited for what seemed like an eternity, and finally I convinced the driver to just go drive by where we'd dropped off everyone else. We were fortunate to time it just right, and they ran out to meet us and off to the airport we went. We left ourselves a lot of cushion and ended up arriving at the airport pretty early. We sat down for a snack at a coffee shop, and the guys working the counter were suprised to see us eating regular food, and one came right over stirred it up, warmed it up in the microwave and brought it back on a plate with forks for everyone to share. When he first came over we thought for sure he wasn't going to let us eat outside food there, but he mostly just seemed impressed that we were eating non-tourist food. We arrived in luxor, and found a van that seemed like a resonable deal, until we got to the hotel where they had the fare to the hotel posted outside. We paid a robust two dollars more and had to listen to the pushy sales pitch about more transportation and tours the entire way. We checked ourselves in to the Sheraton Luxor, only to find out the renovated parts of the hotel had one bed per room, which doesn't really work for 6 people sharing 2 rooms. So they moved us out to the older bungalow rooms, which turned out to be much bigger, although our air conditioners had to get a quick boost from a repair guy. We started in our room with a little happy hour, and we decided on dinner at the Agra Indian Restaurant in the Hotel Complex. We took a much smaller ordering strategy after ending up with so much food the night before. The food was tasty, and our waiter was actually really great. There's a wall size 3 D Taj Mahal on the wall in the restaurant that's a nice touch. When the check comes the waiter brings 2 boxes and says one is for the ladies and one for the gentlemen and made someone choose. One contained a check, and the other, 4 flowers. At dinner, the Manager at the hotel practically begged us to come to the bar for the belly dance show, so we were happy to oblige. We enjoyed some beverages, and and went back to the room to finish off happy hour. The plan for the next day was to relaxby the pool, and possibly explore Luxor a little.
transaction we were to go back and pick everyone up. Milly and I stayed in the van and drove around the block a bit. We landed in front of a little local eatery, that looked a lot like what we'd recently watched anthony Bourdain eat on his trip to Egypt. Despite having only just finished my hotel breakfast within the hour I was dying to try some local food, and when the driver asked if we wanted to try it, I couldn't help but say yes. What we ended up with was a plastic dish about the size of a bowl of Kool whip full of rotini pasta in a tomato sauce, served witha spicy sauce on the side and some pita chips. It was delicious, and based on the volume of people we saw eating at this little place, it was clearly a local favorite. Milly, the Driver and I waited for what seemed like an eternity, and finally I convinced the driver to just go drive by where we'd dropped off everyone else. We were fortunate to time it just right, and they ran out to meet us and off to the airport we went. We left ourselves a lot of cushion and ended up arriving at the airport pretty early. We sat down for a snack at a coffee shop, and the guys working the counter were suprised to see us eating regular food, and one came right over stirred it up, warmed it up in the microwave and brought it back on a plate with forks for everyone to share. When he first came over we thought for sure he wasn't going to let us eat outside food there, but he mostly just seemed impressed that we were eating non-tourist food. We arrived in luxor, and found a van that seemed like a resonable deal, until we got to the hotel where they had the fare to the hotel posted outside. We paid a robust two dollars more and had to listen to the pushy sales pitch about more transportation and tours the entire way. We checked ourselves in to the Sheraton Luxor, only to find out the renovated parts of the hotel had one bed per room, which doesn't really work for 6 people sharing 2 rooms. So they moved us out to the older bungalow rooms, which turned out to be much bigger, although our air conditioners had to get a quick boost from a repair guy. We started in our room with a little happy hour, and we decided on dinner at the Agra Indian Restaurant in the Hotel Complex. We took a much smaller ordering strategy after ending up with so much food the night before. The food was tasty, and our waiter was actually really great. There's a wall size 3 D Taj Mahal on the wall in the restaurant that's a nice touch. When the check comes the waiter brings 2 boxes and says one is for the ladies and one for the gentlemen and made someone choose. One contained a check, and the other, 4 flowers. At dinner, the Manager at the hotel practically begged us to come to the bar for the belly dance show, so we were happy to oblige. We enjoyed some beverages, and and went back to the room to finish off happy hour. The plan for the next day was to relaxby the pool, and possibly explore Luxor a little. 
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