Nile River Cruise March 2009

Last weekend started our Spring Break. We went on a Nile River Cruise from Aswan to Luxor. Mom works with a friend named Hanaa and we went with her family. They did a great job organizing our trip. We flew down to Aswan and spent the day sightseeing there. Our boat was called the “The Queen of Hansa”, and it was beautiful. Raouf, Hanaa’s husband, had some connections and we were upgraded to a suite on the ship. Our room was very nice. Every room had nice big sliding windows out onto the Nile.
We had one other family with our tour group, it was a father and son from Colorado Springs. Milan and Cody were celebrating Cody’s 16th birthday with a trip to Cairo. They were very nice and we enjoyed spending time together on our trip.





In Aswan we went to the Temple of Philae, which is a temple for Isis and an unfinished Obelisk, which was huge. It was amazing to hear how they would move these huge heavy stones for their building. That afternoon we set sail and stopped that night to see a temple called Kom Ombo, built to honor two gods, Horus (falcon god) and Sobek (crocodile god). Horus’ eye is a very common symbol for protection and Sobek could be dangerous. This temple was built showing honor and a balance between these two gods. Kind of like the balance between the Yin and Yang.




We sailed that night to Edfu, where we toured a cool temple that was built to honor Horus who was also the son of Isis and Osiris. We took a horse and carriage ride from the boat to the temple. It was interested to see that statues to Horus in his Falcon form. We liked the spiral staircases up and the straight staircase down from the roof. There was also a model of what Horus’ boat to the after life would have looked like. Both Kom Ombo and Edfu are from the Greco-Roman period between 300-150 BC.






We spent the rest of the day sailing and relaxing. We ate and slept and read and swam and relaxed. We went through a lock, which was interesting. Egypt has built a reservoir to store water and so we had to go into a lock which they had water at our level, then they pumped out the water till it was level with the lower level of the Nile and then we sailed out into the lower level of water.
That night we arrived in Luxor. Because of the world economic crisis, tourism has dropped by about 40% in Luxor. Luxor is probably the second most popular tourist site after Cairo. Luxor was the capital of Egypt for a long time, including when Ramses II was the ruler and in Moses’ time. The temples and burial sites are from that period between 1500-1200 BC, and are incredible. They are in excellent condition.
We went and saw the Temple of Luxor. Many different pharaohs contributed to it during its long period of use. Temples were only open for the high priests and Pharaohs. They were not open for the general public. It is amazing to think that Moses probably walked here at the Temple of Luxor.







The next morning we woke up and went to see the Valley of the Kings. Originally, the Pharaohs were buried in the large pyramids, but then had so many problems with grave robbers that they went to smaller pyramids that were easier to guard. There were still problems so then they went to burying the kings in tombs in the valley. They could guard the valley entrance and then it was difficult for people to get in or out. They chose a valley that has a very high mountain peak in the shape of a pyramid. So far they have found over 60 kings burial chambers in this area and they are still excavating more. King Tut (ruled in 1354 -1345 BC for only eight years) was buried in this location. Ramses II was buried here. He may have been the ruler at the time of Moses. Ramses II ruled Egypt for 65 years, 1298-1235, the longest of any pharaoh.
Each burial chamber is unique based on what the current thought was of the afterlife. Some are dug deep into the mountain, others are long and far back into the mountain, others climb up the mountain and then you climb down. Some are big and some are small. The tombs are dry because they lie under the desert floor and this preserved the paint color in the tombs. It was very crowded and very hot inside of the chambers. I’m glad we were there in March and not July.




After the Valley of the Kings, we went to the Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut (ruled 1504-1484). She was the only female pharaoh. Her temple was stunning and built right into the mountainside. She is not buried here, but in the Valley of the Kings. This site is where people would go to pray for her and do funerary rituals after she died.



We relaxed on the boat and then that night went to see the Sound and Light Show at the Temple of Karnak. During the New Kingdom period of glory (1550-1069 BC), Thebes (Luxor) was the all-powerful capital of Egypt and Karnak was its “forbidden city”. Even in its ruins are amazing. It is possibly the largest temple complex every built. It was a place of worship, the residence of the priests and pharaohs, and the center of the administration. It employed tens of thousands of workers. Ordinary people were again, not allowed inside. Only the priests and Pharaoh entered it. I think this was the favorite place of everyone in our family. It had an amazing feel about the place.



The next morning we went with our guide and saw the Karnak temple by day, which was even more amazing. It is such a huge complex. It is 247 acres. It grew in stages during over 1,500 years. Each pharaoh contributed major monuments such as sanctuaries, kiosks, pylons and obelisks. There is a large sacred lake inside.



One highlight is a scarab. If you run around it three times you get good luck, if you run around it seven more times-you will marry, if you run the opposite direction seven more times you receive virility and have children. When Todd and I married, he proudly showed me his picture after running around it his 17 times. This time Jonah and Nick completed the ritual as well. Everyone else completed our three times around.


We returned to the boat and relaxed on the boat for most of the day. The weather was gorgeous. The water in the pool was a little too cold for everyone except the boys. Actually, they spent quite a bit of time in the small bath pool, which had warm water. We had a great time visiting with Hanaa’s family and just relaxing.
That night we went to dinner at a local kabob place right on the Nile River. It was a beautiful sunset. After the sunset, the wind picked up and soon there was a full on sand storm. This is the season for sandstorms. Everyone in Luxor told us this was the worst one in several years. Our flight was scheduled for 10:20 pm, but there was no visibility. Our flight finally took off about 3:00 am. We arrived home exhausted about 5:00 am.

Well, our winter break is coming to a close. It has been a nice relaxing three-week break. We have all enjoyed sleeping in, reading and having some time to do some things locally that we haven’t had time to do previously.

Our family went with some friends sightseeing and saw some of the local famous sites of Saqqara, Memphis, and went inside two of the Giza pyramids. The pyramids were very hot and stuffy. It was cool to go inside, but we were glad we were there in Dec and not July.


We had a nice Christmas. Everyone received some nice gifts they were looking forward to. Our family got a blue-ray player and some blue-ray movies for Christmas and signed up for Netflix. We have been watching a lot of movies together. X-box and Wii games were hits from Christmas. Nick loved his dancing cow that Jonah got for him.



New Years Eve found us doing our family’s traditional fondue dinner, which we enjoy so much. Being is Cairo hasn’t changed many of those great traditions.















We are able to watch football bowl games here, although they are on at crazy times. Todd was thrilled to see his Utes win the Sugar Bowl and have an undefeated season.

We are all excited about Todd’s sister Emily having a new baby girl on Jan 2nd. Her name is Melody Ann. She is beautiful and we are glad that she and Emily are both doing well.

Jonah and Nick start their next basketball league games next week. Jonah played for the Middle School team. They came in 2nd in Cairo and Jonah had a good season.

Bekah has been busy reading “Great Expectations” for school. She has had extra time to watch movies and keep in touch with friends in VA.

Michele celebrated her 42nd birthday on Jan 6th. We hired a Thai chef and his wife to come and cook a delicious and beautiful Thai meal for us. What a nice treat. She’d also like to add, that if you enjoyed reading “The Lord of the Rings”, she has found a series very similar called “The Wheel of Time”, and she highly recommends it. It is a very long series, but very enthralling.

Todd and Jonah are getting ready for the Giants vs. Eagles game. They are giving each other a hard time about who is going to win.

Well, like I mentioned, it has been a quiet and relaxing break. School starts next Sunday, Jan 11th. We hope that you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Lake Nasser Cruse--Happy 19th Anniversary

Happy 19th Anniversary to Todd and Michele!! For our 19th anniversary we decided to go on a cruise here in Egypt. The Nile River flows from South to North through the entire country and empties into the Mediterranean Sea about 150 miles north of Cairo in a city named Alexandria. The Nile originates in two locations in Africa, the White Nile in Rwanda and the Blue Nile in Ethiopia. The two rivers come together in Khartoum in Sudan. It then flows into Egypt in the south through the towns of Abu Simbel, Aswan, and Luxor, which are famous for the Pharaonic ruins. The Nile used to flood and destroy homes and crops each year and so in the early 1900’s Britain built a dam in Aswan to help control the Nile flooding. In the 1960’s a new larger dam was built by Egypt and the Soviet Union to help further control the flooding caused by the Nile. This larger dam created a lake called Lake Nasser, which is over 400 miles long.
This large lake was going to flood and cover many ancient and important historical temples. A United Nations organization which focuses on saving historical antiquities called UNESCO agreed to help organize and save several of these ancient sites. These sites were all in the southern part of Egypt in an area called Nubia. Nubian people are darker skinned with an African heritage rather than the lighter skinned Middle Eastern people more common in Cairo. Many countries worked together to move these sites before they were flooded and covered by the new lake created by the larger dam.

The cruise that we chose to go on was a 4-day/3-night cruise along Lake Nasser. During our cruise we stopped to see several of the rescued Nubian temples and historical sites. Many of these sites are only accessible by boat, so it was exciting to see these seldom visited temples.

The boat we traveled on was called the MS Eugenie and it was a nice boat with character. It was not new or modern but tried to create an elegant feel. It has 50 rooms, so it is much smaller than most Caribbean cruise ships, and it had a more intimate feel about it. There were about 100 people on our cruise. About half of the people were French and there were about six Americans. Many people were ex-pats living in Cairo.


On our first day we visited a site in Aswan with several relocated buildings. The Temple of Kalabsha had some Pharaonic aspects, remodeled into the Greco-Roman style and dedicated to the God Mandoulis. We also saw Beit El Wali, which was erected by Ramses II in the beginning of his reign. There was also the Kiosk of Kertassi erected to honor the Goddess Isis.

The next day we crossed over the Tropic of Cancer and visited the Wadi El Seboua temple, dedicated by Ramses II to the two Gods Amon Ra and Ra Harmakis. The temple of Dakka was dedicated to the God Thot of divine wisdom, Lord of times and seasons, master of literature. Also on that site was the Greco-Roman temple of Meharakka.

Our third day we visited temples in Amada, which contained the oldest rescued site. There was also a temple dedicated by Ramses II to the rising sun. A tomb to a viceroy of Egypt named Penout was also saved and moved here.





That afternoon and evening were the highlights of the trip. We arrived in the city of Abu Simbel. We approached the magnificent Abu Simbel temples of Ramses II and his wife Nefertari by boat. The statues outside of this temple are over 60 feet tall. These temples were built into mountains. The international effort that was involved in rescuing this site was amazing. They cut these temples into 20-30 ton pieces on rock and numbered them and then moved them 1/4 mile over and higher and reassembled the pieces like a 3D puzzle so they would not be covered. These temples had been covered by sand for 2000 years and were rediscovered in the 1800’s.

I can’t even describe how amazing these monuments were. They were very well preserved and their size was huge. The amount of work involved to cut, move and reassemble these temples was unbelievable. Todd thinks this site compares to the Giza Pyramids in terms of grandeur and interest. There was a sound and light show that night which was very well done. We went back to the boat and had a nice Egyptian dinner sailing out in front of the lit Abu Simbel Temples.

You can click on this site to read more about these temples.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_simbel

The cruise was very relaxing. Todd and I enjoyed spending quiet time together. We read books and soaked in the sun up on deck. It was in the 80’s during the day and the 70’s in the evening. The stars were amazing during the evening sails. We had a balcony and enjoyed sitting out there watching the beautiful scenery as we sailed on the Lake.

Our cruise ended and we flew back to Aswan and enjoyed spending the afternoon touring and relaxing in Aswan. We ate at McDonalds for the first time since we arrived in Egypt. Here is a picture of the official McDonalds hijab uniforms. We flew home to Cairo and had a memorable and enjoyable anniversary.

This was all his choice he wanted to get it cut.For the first time in so long Jonah got his hair to become short.