Our Ninth day started with an early wake up call for our trip to
Abu Simbel. A ticket on egypt air from aswan to Abu Simbel get's you a bus ride over to the temple, and we'd arranged with Sayed to meet a friend of his for a tour. On final approach to the airport, people sitting at the window on the left side of the plane get an eyeful. As you can see, I was one of those lucky people. Growing up the grandchild of a librarian meant that my house was filled with hundreds of cast off National Geographics. One of which I distinctly remember was
May 1969 (I remember the cover picture, not the date). If I had my time machine I'd go back and tell myself to save those, but alas they're long gone. If you've been following along this far, then I know you're already a fan of Hatshepsut, who just happens to be on the cover of the
April 09 National Geographic. Our guide
Eba met us at the airport jumped on the b
us with us and began our tour of the temple. Having known about Abu Simbel for all this time, means that as I stood at the feet of the colossi, I was having one of those I can't believe I'm actually standing here moments. There are some tourist sites that are so over hyped as a must see, that when you get there you think to yourself, Meh. Abu simbel is not one of those places. It is every bit worth the hype. As you walk around the temple you know just how ammazing the setting, with the huge statues overlooking sweeping views of lake Nasser. An earthquake shattered the 2nd statue during Ramses II lifetime, and he assumed it was because the gods were angry, so the statue was never rebuilt. The inside of the temple is actually really nice too, but of course, you don't get to take any pictures inside. You don't hear too much about the second temple that's here, the temple built for Nefertari, who I introduced you to in the valley of the queens. After our tour we went back to the airport to wait a while for the cairo flight, and then off to cairo we went. On Egypt Air flights there is a Qur'an behind glass prominently displayed as you come in the main door, and I did not have the stones to ask if in an emergency you should break the glass. We attempted to arrange the guy who took us to the cairo airport to come back and get us and be waiting, and after collecting our bags, there he was holding up a sign with Herron in big letter
s on it. Yes we overpaid, but it was nice to have it already taken care of. Back at the cairo marriott, we made a beeline to the lobby bar, where they serve absolutely the coldest sakkaras in all of Egypt, and have really comfy chairs. We spent way too much time and money there. Ever since we'd left Cairo the first time we'd been dreaming about eating at egyptian nigts again, so there was no keeping us away from the bread and the cold Mezze platter that night. Then it was off to bed, for an early start
the next day seeing Cairo's most important sites. There are two towers at the Marriott, and the one we were in for our second stay had a much nicer view from it's balcony, but also overlooked a very busy road. If you were out on the balcony with the sliding door open you couldn't hear what was going on in the room at all. You could see bustling cairo and a long way down the nile from our room, and listen to the busy honking of all the cars below. In Egypt, you use your horn as a turn signal, warning, pedestrian motivator, and possibly a radio. Sometimes I think drivers on empty roads honk their horns just out of habit. There was one place in Luxor where there was a no honking sign, that we stood around and watched for a few minutes just to see if drivers obeyed. Of course not.
us with us and began our tour of the temple. Having known about Abu Simbel for all this time, means that as I stood at the feet of the colossi, I was having one of those I can't believe I'm actually standing here moments. There are some tourist sites that are so over hyped as a must see, that when you get there you think to yourself, Meh. Abu simbel is not one of those places. It is every bit worth the hype. As you walk around the temple you know just how ammazing the setting, with the huge statues overlooking sweeping views of lake Nasser. An earthquake shattered the 2nd statue during Ramses II lifetime, and he assumed it was because the gods were angry, so the statue was never rebuilt. The inside of the temple is actually really nice too, but of course, you don't get to take any pictures inside. You don't hear too much about the second temple that's here, the temple built for Nefertari, who I introduced you to in the valley of the queens. After our tour we went back to the airport to wait a while for the cairo flight, and then off to cairo we went. On Egypt Air flights there is a Qur'an behind glass prominently displayed as you come in the main door, and I did not have the stones to ask if in an emergency you should break the glass. We attempted to arrange the guy who took us to the cairo airport to come back and get us and be waiting, and after collecting our bags, there he was holding up a sign with Herron in big letter
s on it. Yes we overpaid, but it was nice to have it already taken care of. Back at the cairo marriott, we made a beeline to the lobby bar, where they serve absolutely the coldest sakkaras in all of Egypt, and have really comfy chairs. We spent way too much time and money there. Ever since we'd left Cairo the first time we'd been dreaming about eating at egyptian nigts again, so there was no keeping us away from the bread and the cold Mezze platter that night. Then it was off to bed, for an early start 
the next day seeing Cairo's most important sites. There are two towers at the Marriott, and the one we were in for our second stay had a much nicer view from it's balcony, but also overlooked a very busy road. If you were out on the balcony with the sliding door open you couldn't hear what was going on in the room at all. You could see bustling cairo and a long way down the nile from our room, and listen to the busy honking of all the cars below. In Egypt, you use your horn as a turn signal, warning, pedestrian motivator, and possibly a radio. Sometimes I think drivers on empty roads honk their horns just out of habit. There was one place in Luxor where there was a no honking sign, that we stood around and watched for a few minutes just to see if drivers obeyed. Of course not.
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