Well we got a late start this morning. Apparently there was some confusion with the wakeup calls. We were supposed to leave the hotel at 8:00 to get an early start in the Cairo Museum and avoid the crowds. However we ended up waiting for people at least half an hour and then we spent another hour stuck in traffic on the highway. Apparently one of the high egyptian officials lives in a distant subdivision of Cairo and whenever he travels the roads to and from work they completely close them down for safety reasons. It was a mess.
When we finally got to the museum, it was already quite crowded. We were not allowed to take any pictures inside the Museums or Tombs in Egypt which was very depressing. I have tried to find pictures of some of the things we saw on the web. Of course we started with the Tutankamun exhibit. Seeing the beautiful throne of Tutankamun and his wife (photo from www.richard-seaman.com.) Our guide pointed out to us that Tutankamun and his wife are each wearing one of a pair of sandals, and that was a sign of love among the ancient Egyptians similar to an exchange of rings today.
We also saw the giant nesting golden shrines from Tut's tomb. When you see them in person you cannot imagine that they actually fit inside each other.
We saw many other amazing things. Of course the jewelry was my favorite thing to see, but there was also an entire room full of daily life objects including musical instruments. I saw flutes with holes and I immediately began wondering if anyone had tried to put together what their music might have sounded like. Our guide, Islam, didn't know, but I found out later from Dr. Weeks that there has been some work done by a german musicologist named Hans Hickman and that there is some current work being done at Helwan University in Cairo by professor Khairy El-Malt.
After our too short time in the Museum, we had a bit of a rest and coffee in the Museum garden where there are many interesting statues and obelisks. We wanted to go in the gist shops but they were so packed with people that we couldn't bear the press.
The fountain in the center of the Museum garden is truly lovely, and it is the only place where the rare blue lotus still grows. This is the lotus flower that you see in so many egyptian paintings. Apparently it is an aphrodisiac/drug and when combined with alcohol produces quite a high. So it has been consumed out of existence in the wild.
Last but not least a picture of us in front of one of the typical Cairo haphazard buildings. They all look very post-apocalyptic to me, especially the unfinished ones.
The afternoon was spent flying to Luxor. Egyptian air travel is very, very different. First they make you go through security before you even enter the airport complex. They scan both your bags and your person before they even let you into the airport, and then again before you go to the gate. The airport is a big giant building filled with hundreds of shouting Arab men. Very intimidating. Fortunately on flights within the country the security is much more lax that on international flights and so our guide was able to bribe us into the airport and a fast load on the plane without too much trouble. Because we were running so late though, we didn't get lunch and so we had to stop at a little grocery store outside the terminal and have chips, chocolate and nuts for lunch.
We got into Luxor around sunset and the Bus ride from the airport to the hotel immediately showed us that Luxor was a very different city than Cairo. It is a much smaller city, and survives almost totally from Tourist income and so the roads and environs of the city are much better taken care of. All of the curbs and medians were planted with flowers. We even saw an irrigation truck dumping muddy Nile water on them as we drove past.
Our hotel was amazing. There are no words. You go up a magnificent double stairway to the entrance. Inside is a truly decadent Victorian lobby full of glass, brass, carpets, and ancient furniture. You then pass through a door in the other side of the lobby and out into the immense circular garden full of flowers and ancient trees and palms. The hotel buildings are all built around the edges of the circle, and all the rooms have balconies onto the garden. We couldn't believe how beautiful the view from the terrace was, as we could see the garden in front of us, and the ships sailing down the Nile on the side. The hotel is directly on the Corniche (the river walk) and so the Nile is right outside the front door. We sat and watched the sun set over the Nile and listened to the calls to prayers from Mosques all over the city. It was wonderful. Here is a view of the hotel garden at sunset. We went to bed very excited for the next day.
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