Day 3(?)....To Luxor.....

Day 3.…Cairo to Luxor…..the continuation….

To continue with the blog from below……..This morning we were up at 3:15AM.….got ready to leave for Luxor…..went and checked out in the Lobby…..and then picked up our box breakfast….which was really great and plentiful. Our guide and driver with small bus picked us up at 4:30AM, and after 20 minutes of no-traffic driving, we were at the airport. Our guide checked everyone in….took care of all of our luggage….and then we boarded our Egypt Airlines Airbus 320 for the short hop of only an hour down to Luxor.

WOW…..what scenery!!!!! All of the trip was over the very rough and high ridged desert….and it was a sight to see and remember!!!!!! Soooo brown……and sooooo full of NOTHING but sand!!!! I won’t ever forget the images it left in my mind!!!

We arrived at 8AM…….were met by another driver and a bit larger bus….and then picking up a few more couple who were joining us for the cruise, we headed to our boat which was moored in the Nile, alongside two other cruise boats. We had to walk through each of the other two to get to our boat….with our luggage in tow. Then leaving it stored there….we boarded the bus and went across the Nile to the West Bank of Luxor and drove up to the Valley of the Kings!!!!! Something I have waited for since my 6th grade year in elementary school!!!!!! We were given passes to tours of three tombs….and then the 1st Lady and I paid extra for the admission into the tomb of King TUT!!!!! And then off we went…….riding in a tram up the Valley to the end of the pathway where we continued to climb up into the mountainous desert……dead and dry.

THE WORST THING ABOUT THIS: NO PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN IN THE TOMBS!!!! Oh well……..such is Life…..
o
Tombs visited: Seti II, Ramses I, Tutmophis III

The tombs were well lit…….not as they used to have been when you had to use “torches”(flashlights)…..and we had brought a flashlight just in case. WOW……each tomb was sooooo heavily decorated with carved out hieroglyphics on the walls as well as fascinating colorful pictures on the walls……another BIG WOW!!!!!! One tomb we had to lower our heads and descend many, many feet on a grooved ramp to reach the bottom……really exciting. I can hardly describe them ……they were so ornate and soooooo wonderful!!! The sarcophagus was in each tomb, but the mummies had been removed to rest in the Cairo Museum.

THEN, after an hour reaching each of these three tombs, we got into a short line to descend under the tomb of another Pharaoh to reach…….KING TUT”S TOMB……and….OMG…the glass enclosed, temperature controlled case in which KING TUT was ACTUALLY laying in!!!!!!!!!!!! How ASTONISHING IS THAT???????? I stood there looking at his face….white cloth covered skeleton…and his feet in full view……..and the tears just ran down my face!! He was only put on view to the public two weeks ago…..for the first time since his death in 1327BC!!!!!!!!!!! Three thousand three hundred thirty-four years ago!!!!!!! I still can’t believe that we were some of the first people in the world to actually get to see him……….what a stroke of luck…….and a mental picture engraved in my mind that will never leave. All of these three thousand plus years before he was ever unwrapped from the mummy cloths and put on view for the world to see!!!!!!!!!!!! I get chills just writing about this……..here I am …..a 64 year old sagging hulk and I’m getting sooooo damned emotional about this skeleton of a young boy king………WOW…WOW!!!!!!! Been dreaming of visiting his tomb since the 6th grade…..and then to get here just days after he was brought out for the public to view…..OMG!!!!

Well…..needless to say, everything during the rest of the afternoon was without a doubt a real non-descript event. We visited the Temple of Hatshepsut…..the female “King” of Egypt…..a temple that has been written about and Discovery Channel has only three weeks ago showed their documentary on the discovery of her mummy this past July!!!!! We returned through the desert mounds to Luxor……and then…..how much more can a person comprehend in one day……….the incredible Temple of Karnak!!!!!!!!

I just do not know how to explain the Karnak Temple!!!! It is…..what the hell adjective/adverb/descriptive verb to use for this magnificent placed??????????!!!!!!
It is completely overwhelming…….and to think that it was over 3000 years ago when this temple began construction. IT IS HUGE!!!!! And….by that I mean the size, the proportion, the scale….is so mammoth that it cannot be described…..didn’t I just say that??? Yep…..and that is the way I feel about it. I have many, many pictures of it so I beg you to hang on until I can get to an internet access where I will have the time to upload soooo many pictures. Check out Temple of Karnak on the internet and have a look for yourself……PLEASE.

Leaving Karnak at the last moments of dusk, we went to the Temple of Luxor….which actually adjoins the Karnak Temple………and this time ALL of the lights were on to highlight the beauty and size of this particular place. WOW…WOW….WOW….!!!!!! Sorry…..you just to take my “WOW”s for granted …..knowing that I….this bumbling sagging hulk of an aging man……have never seen such a beautiful display. I have been to all of the major cities of the USA, plus…..Hong Kong, Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Taipei, Saigon, Bangkok, Manila, Sydney, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfort, Munich, Nice, Calcutta, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Capri, Naples, Sorrento, Geneva, Zurich, Monaco, Vienna, Salzburg, Lyon, Dijon, R????(capitol of Iceland which I can’t spell and have no internet), Athens, Patras, Cologne, Strasbourg, Cairo, Luxor, Aswan…….and many more that right now escape me……..and the main point I am trying to make is that seeing the Temple of Luxor at night surpasses ALL of them!!!!!!!!! OK…..get the idea? Another BIG “WOW!!!!!!!!

And sooooo, another day of this beauty, history, Egyptian culture, Egyptian knowledge…..another day of WOW!!!

How else do I say this same thing???????
LIFE IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GREAT, THE WORLD of TRAVEL IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GREAT………..And, I hope it is for all of you, also………AND, that you will make the effort, take the time in your ever-shortening LIFE to get out and travel in EGYPT!!!!!!