Inside the Great Pyramid!

Kathy arranged for my favorite taxi driver, Moustafa, to pick up me and a visiting relative of a fellow teacher for an adventure at the Giza Pyramids. Brad is a young man here working on an airplane contract.

We explored the mortuary temple area of the Great Pyramid while orienting ourselves in this strange and beautiful area. There are tons of tourists everywhere, and loads of camel jockeys trying to sell rides. We walked around to the entrance area of the Great Pyramid and decided we were probably too late to score one of the 150 morning tickets to tour inside. So we walked around to the back of the pyramid which is the location of the solar boat museum. These amazing boats were constructed to allow the pharaoh to sail with the gods in the afterlife. Five empty pits were discovered - boats probably stolen long ago in ancient times, but one pit was so well hidden the boat was still there, disassembled and carefully packed into the sealed space. Egyptologists spent 14 years reconstructing the boat, which was in amazing condition.

This was the Stone Age! No metal for nails or tools! The boat was held together with ropes! I have been awed by the engineering and detail of the pyramids and tombs, but this thing took the cake. This highly precise piece of workmanship was constructed using stone tools. It was used once to float the dead pharaoh across the Nile and to his valley temple and then was dissembled and buried. The museum was constructed over the original pit, with the boat itself suspended with viewing mezzanines on all sides.

We then strolled over to Kafre's pyramid thinking that we'd tour the interior of it, since we thought we were too late to tour the Great Pyramid. After hunting down the ticket booth, we discovered that morning tickets were still available, so we jumped at the chance to go inside that Great Pyramid.

The steep climb upward was easier than the downward climb in the Saqqara pyramid, although it was very long, probably equivalent to climbing a ladder up 4 stories. At the top of the first half of the climb, the space opened up into a high corbelled ceiling. I had to stand for a few minutes and get my balance because the angle of the ceiling, the stone walls and the upward slanting ladder/stair were all different giving me an odd sense of vertigo. At this point, a blocked off passage went down to another chamber, and the ladder/stair continued up to the King's chamber. At the top we stooped to go through a passage into the antechamber, then stooped again to go into the King's chamber which was a big empty stone rectangle with an empty sarcophagus at one end. I had a creepy feeling of the weight of the stone around me.

Getting out was easier than going in. No cameras were allowed for some reason - no carvings or paintings that could be ruined by a flash. So we took pictures at the entrance to prove we'd been there.

We meandered back to meet our taxi through an area that was clearly not the tourist route. There were numerous tombs, probably of family members, and deep holes everywhere, many with no covers of any kind. I looked over the edge of one and could barely see the bottom. Some that were more shallow had tunnels which could have been part of the causeway from the valley temple close to the Nile to the mortuary temple close to the pyramid. We ended up in front of the Sphinx and decided to forgo paying to walk around the Sphinx and head back to the coffee house where we planned to meet Moustafa.

Dinner out this evening with friends, Shirley and Rob was at Max's. We earned our dinner by walking, crossing two very busy streets to get there. Crossing streets at night adds one more interesting variable. Egyptians drive with their lights off most of the time, "to save their batteries." So seeing oncoming cars is a bit more problematic. We made it, had a lovely dinner and a great time. We caught a ride back with them - they have their own car. Rob drives like a more cautious Egyptian AND he keeps his lights on!

Luxor Day Three: Valley of the Kings & Karnak

On Sunday we loaded up a little late - that second cup of Nescafe was too wonderful to leave. The first stop was the Valley of the Kings where we planned to see three tombs. The Valley is very commercialized - this is where every tour goes. Most people will never see the little treasures we saw yesterday at the workers' and nobles' tombs.

The striking difference between here and Saqqara, the 4th and 5th dynasty tombs, is the tremendous focus on the gods. Most of the paintings in these 18th and 19th Dynasty tombs is the focus on appeasing the gods. Reliefs and paintings show the pharaoh with each of many gods proving why he was good enough to deserve the afterlife. Lots of vanquishing enemies etc. seems to be what the gods liked to see. There was some artwork depicting the stuff being brought into the tomb for the pharaoh in the afterlife, but not so much daily life of the people. I'd like to know more Egyptian mythology because the names of various gods most definitely have changed over 3500 years even if the art style itself stayed pretty much the same.

My favorite tomb was Ramses IV which has the ceiling of the burial chamber painted with the goddess Nut, who gives birth to the sun each day, which travels across the heavens in a solar boat only to be swallowed by the goddess at dusk. It travels through her body at night to be reborn in the morning. No cameras allowed or I'd have taken a picture.

Afterward we headed to Deir al-Bahri, the temple of my hero, Hetsepshet. Hetsepshet was the wife of Tutmosis II who died very early leaving an infant son by another wife. As the royal wife, Hetsepshet became regent and declared herself pharaoh, going so far as to wearing a false pharaonic beard. Our group of mostly middle aged women decided we needed to become followers of Hetsepshet and embrace our beards! A tee shirt may follow...

The temple is amazing, with multiple stories and ramps leading up from the valley floor. When Tutmosis III grew up he took the reign back and actually worked pretty hard to erase Hetsepshet's existence out of the record. There are many images of H. with her face scratched out and her name replaced by Tutmosis III's. When he destroyed one of her obelisks at Karnak, there was a huge public outcry, so he walled in the other obelisk which actually preserved it. We saw the preserved obelisk in our afternoon visit to Karnak.

We were hungry, so decided to have lunch before heading to Karnak Temple. We chose a restaurant near the ferry called Africa, which had a fixed price lunch that was amazing, with delicious veges, rice, potatoes cooked in clay pots and grilled meat of our choice. We sat on a tiled, palm frond covered terrace with a trickling fountain drowning out some of the construction sounds on the street. The cost with drinks was less than $15 per person.

We rode the ferry across the Nile to catch our minibus. There is only one bridge over the Nile and it's several miles north of town, so while we ate, our driver took the bridge route and was ready for us on the Luxor side.

We headed to Karnak Temple. This is an amazing, overwhelming complex. Many pharaohs representing numerous dynasties wanted to leave their mark on this complex dedicated to the sun god, Amun. So you have courts, pylons with carved relief work, temples with lots of color still visible in the paintings, hypostyles filled with enormous columns and obelisks. We took a basic tour with our guide and then walked around on our own. This is a place with just too much to absorb in one visit. As with so many other places, pharaohs, priests, Romans and Copts co-opted the work of earlier rulers and either overwrote stuff, or just rubbed out a name and added their own, or rubbed stuff out all together. I'd like to come back for about two or three hours for several days in a row and really study individual areas. This first visit was a chance to absorb the shapes, subtle colors and the feeling of the place.



We were delivered back to our hotel for a much needed rest before hunting for another good restaurant. For the second time we were surprised by towels and bed spread sculpted into swans and tiny people. Our room cleaner really knows how to keep guests happy, and earn a big tip!

Dinner tonight was at Sofra in a 1930's building in the middle of a neighborhood. This was a place one might expect Amelia Peabody to walk into. We sat in wingbacked chairs on the rooftop terrace around a giant metal platter of a table and stuffed ourselves on mezza, then traditional soups and entrees. We followed that with desserts - rice pudding for me with decaf, Nescafe, of course.

We walked back through typical neighborhoods and the excitement of the Eid the Muslim holiday celebrating Abraham's sacrificing a sheep instead of his only son, Ishmael to fulfill Allah's command. Tomorrow, December 8th, we've been warned that the street will run with blood as each family reenacts this ceremony by slaughtering a sheep, goat or cow. A portion of the meat is given to the poor and everyone feasts.

As usual, the streets were full of milling men of all ages. A few young women were out and about, and most older women were shopping for the food they are going to spend the day tomorrow cooking.

The streets are filthy and often smelly, crowds are everywhere listening to loud music, drinking tea, smoking shesha and dodging cars and motorcycles. Stores are generally clean inside and interesting to explore. We saw baskets of herbs and spices, fresh fruit and veges, shoes, clothing, etc. Each store is very tiny and specialized. If you want hand tools, go to a hand tool store, if you want fresh veges go to that store and next door for other types of groceries. Everything seems to come alive at about 10pm. In a country where it's blasting hot most of the time, cool evenings is when everyone shops and visits.

Every street is multiuse with apartments above the stores. I'd expect them to be fairly modern working class places. The exteriors are messy and unappealing. Plumbing and wiring is on the outside of the buildings which are made primarily of concrete and brick. It's difficult to understand a culture that seems to be proud of keeping their possessions tidy, but ignores the curb appeal for the most part. Cairo is not a beautiful city! It is confusing seeing street sweepers tidying up in front of some businesses and apartments and ignoring vacant lots full of garbage. With all the confusion about where garbage goes, you have to wonder if that street sweeper isn't emptying his trash bin on wheels into the vacant lots!

Again I am struck by how safe I feel milling around with these crowds of people in the middle of the night in a strange city.

Luxor, Day One

We flew from Cairo to Luxor on a late night flight Thursday December 4th. Lining up at the check-in desk reminded me of traffic on Cairo streets. You stake out your place and fight for it all the way to the front.

We arrived in Luxor at almost midnight, haggled with a cab driver over the cost to get us into town and finally checked into our modest but very nice and cheap(!) hotel, the St. Joseph. To get electricity, you stick your key in a slot next to the door after entering. Great idea! It keeps one from leaving the lights on and you never leave your key in the lock.

We woke up the next morning to a beautiful 4th floor view of the Nile and Deir al Bahiri on the West Bank near the Valley of the Kings. After a nice hot breakfast and two cups of Nescafe we walked around the corner to a tour agent recommended by cousin, Roy Kochendorfer. Unfortunately he couldn't arrange an English speaking guide for our first day, so we set up tours for Saturday and Sunday to all the major sites.

Then we strolled down the Corniche (the main street running along side the Nile) to the public ferry. Luxor is much cleaner than Cairo with sidewalks in most places and uncrowded streets. Our plan was to cross to the West Bank and grab taxi to the temple of Seti I.

After much haggling, we agreed on a price, piled in and headed out. There were 5 of us, Rose, Tish, Lauren, Kathy and I. Rose works in the high school, Tish at the jr. hi, and Lauren was a student teacher at CAC this semester.

Seti I has a much more elaborate temple at Abydos, but we decided not to take that day-long trip. The one here near the old capital at Thebes is small, relatively speaking, and surrounded by a village. What little rascals the children are! They learn early how to sell little nonsense things and beg. When we ignored them, they stood and pretended to cry. A number of adults in the area asked us to please not encourage them with unearned baksheesh.

Baksheesh quickly became a problem. A pound to go to the bathroom, a pound to someone who pointed out something special carved in a wall. These people depend on baksheesh to live, and my purse full was nearly gone during that first stop. A pound is worth about 17 cents!

The temple was in pretty bad shape, but the relief work in protected areas was lovely. I wish I could read heiroglyphs! Each pylon, giant entry walls, is covered with stories of Seti I's conquests and successes.

Our driver was a real salesman. We'd asked about a place to buy alabaster, and of course, he knew just the place to take us. He told us that he was NOT getting a kickback for taking us there. But we were pretty sure they were relatives. He effusively assured us that his only concern was that we were buying from an honest craftsman. Checks with other guides etc. over the weekend confirmed that we were delivered to one of the oldest best regarded factories.

We had a ball. The owner showed us how the alabaster is rough shaped, then covered in linen and plaster to strengthen it for the next process when it's hand grinded to cut out the interior rock. We all got to try, and it was hard work. The plaster covering is then chipped off and the piece is polished with sandstone polishers. To make pieces more transparent they are heated and coated with wax which soaks into the porous rock.

We were then led into the showroom where we were encouraged to look and pick what we wanted to buy. Nobody at this point would discuss price. I picked out six nice pieces and the bargaining began. It's fun but exhausting. After tea the owner pondered and scribbled on his little pad and finally gave me a price. I looked pained (which I was) and pushed several pieces away. He encouraged me to name a price for the whole lot - I countered with less than half his original offer. He looked hurt and countered. I took one piece and set it aside and countered. He put it back and countered. I gave him my firm final. He consulted with his brother, looked like he was going to counter and paused as I looked like I was about to stand up. He finally agreed to slightly above half his original price with a gracious smile after appearing to be ready to cry during our negotiations.

You really have to be up for shopping here because there is no set price for anything except food in restaurants and actual grocery stories. if you pay the first named price, you're probably paying 1/3 to twice as much as you should.

We gathered up our purchases and dickered with the driver to add a trip back into Luxor rather than being dropped off at the ferry. Our destination was the Winter Palace, the 100 year old hotel that has been serving the elite since the 1st excavations in the Valley of the Kings. A sorority sister of Kathy's and her husband were staying there and invited us to join them for lunch in the gardens by the pool. Such fine old style elegance and lovely gardens. Kathy's friends had organized a small tour of Egypt, and half the participants were there for lunch as well. We had a gay old time chatting about our trips, the history of the hotel and shopping while eating impeccably served overpriced food. But it was worth it to have an "Amelia Peabody" moment at the beautiful Winter Palace.

We walked back to our hotel, rested and headed to the rooftop to watch the sun set over the Nile. Four of us had a leisurely happy hour not realizing that our 5th, Tish, didn't join us because she had locked herself onto the balcony of her room!

We decided to stuff one more activity into an already full day by walking down to Luxor Museum for an hour before closing at 9pm. The few carefully chosen pieces were beautifully displayed with great information about their place in the long history of the area.

We finished the day at Dean's Restaurant around the corner from our hotel. This English expat has created a great mix of cuisines in a nice setting. The food was so good, we returned several times. Once just for the huge servings of chocolate mousse! We hit the hay exhausted after asking for an early call. Our tour started the next morning at 7:30am!

Thanksgiving on the Red Sea - Dahab

So it's Thursday afternoon and a truly happy Thanksgiving. We've finished our various pursuits at St. Catherine's and head for the sea. Dahab by dinnertime is the goal.

As we drive into town I'm delighted to see a real town, not the corporate resort area that Sharm el Sheikh, the elite Red Sea destination, has turned into. There is a walled Hilton resort area south of town, but the main tourist area is locally owned shops, hotels and restaurants owned and operated by people who greet you when you walk by or come into their establishment.

Our hotel, the New Sphinx is in the middle of town right on the water. My room was on the second floor with a balcony overlooking the pool area and the sea, with the mountains of Saudi Arabia in the distance. I awoke early each day and sat on that balcony with coffee, watching the sun rise over those distant mountains.

Dahab is a diving and wind surfing destination, and the first morning of our stay we discovered why the wind surfing. Winds were significant! Not liking the gusty blasts, I spent the day resting and reading. No snorkling with the winds as high as they were.

I promised to write more about cats. In Egypt, animals are as welcome in stores and restaurants as people, and in Dahab, cats are regular fixtures in each restaurant. They establish their territories and keep other cats out. The restaurants allow for real bonding experiences with the local felines, because most have low tables with cushions and pillows on carpets covering the ground. They're outdoors with windscreens, and in some places wood slat roof coverings for shade. So you settle into your little dining nest, reclining with a cool drink and the local cats arrive to help you order. They all recommend the fish, of course. You receive a spray bottle to keep them from getting overly interested in your food - the table is only 8" off the ground, remember. Many are beautiful variations on the Egyptian goddess Bastet with faces that are mostly huge eyes and ears, sleek, lean bodies and long tails. They know how to make you feel like you're the most important person in the world, curling up on your lap and gazing up at you with huge hungry, adoring eyes. Your food arrives and you fall all over yourself willingly sharing with this ravenous, helpless creature, and when your plate is picked up by the waiter, the cat is off to the next table to take those residents through the same scam. These are lean cats! It's hard to figure out where they store all the food! If you're hopelessly in love with your little beast, your only hope is to order something nice for dessert... ice cream would be fine.

I love eating lying down! I spent a pleasant afternoon reclining in one of these restaurants with a good book, excellent Egyptian music, a cat who stayed around because of the creamy apple concoction I was nursing along to entice her and hold my table, and a unparalleled view of the Red Sea. Met up with Kathy, Forrest and Bart for a nice relaxed dinner... again reclining, and with yet another precious, thoroughly self contained cat. I'm thinking about cutting off the legs of my dining room table!

Trip home from Dahab was a little unnerving. Our three guys showed up at the hotel at the agreed upon hour with a fourth guy, and this one had a gun!! Now, we don't speak Arabic and they don't speak English, so it turned into a bit of a confusing shouting match between my plucky sister asserting "NO, NO, NO!" and they demanding, "Security, security, security!" Our nice hotel manager came out and translated that because we were American, they were bringing along extra security. We finally relented because it was in the middle of the street, and we were drawing a crowd, but both Kathy and I were wondering the whole way back if this guy was legit, if he just needed a ride back to Cairo or if we were going to be kidnapped and held for ransom in the desert. We arrived home having taken a different route along the Red Sea north to Taba and then over to the Suez Canal tunnel and on to Cairo. When we arrived home, Kathy had an email from the embassy that the Bedouins in northern Sinai were restless and Americans needed to be alert while traveling in that area. That was probably why our guys added another guy with a gun, but with the language barrier, we were clueless.

Anyway, three days of breathing clean air and enjoying crystal clear skies was wonderful. Dahab is my sister's new favorite place.

Thanksgiving on the Red Sea - Mt. Sinai

We left for the Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday evening, Nov. 26th right after Kathy got home from school. We had a minibus that would hold 16 and there were four of us, plus three escorts - two drivers and an expeditor so we were able to spread out. The expeditor was worth his weight in gold. We went through about a dozen checkpoints before arriving at the Suez Canal, and numerous points in the middle of nowhere along the route to the St. Catherine Protectorate, home to the 2 thousand year old monastary at the foot of Mt. Sinai, and of course, Mt. Sinai where Moses purportedly got the ten commandments.

We arrived at our hotel at about 10pm. It is new looking but run down - when you see the web of cracks in concrete buildings all over the place, you wonder what will happen here with a major earthquake. The room was clean but smelled so strongly of pesticide, I wondered what they were working so hard to get rid of! The bottom bed sheet only covered the top half of the bed, I discovered in the middle of the night. Hotels here come with either full or half board meaning you get either just breakfast or both breakfast and dinner. This place came with both, so at 10 pm we were served a nice dinner of chicken, beef, veges, rice and a tray of Egyptian sweets with tea. All quite tasty.

I woke up determined to be more independent. I arranged my money according to denomination, and stored all my small change in an easiily accessible pocket for baksheesh (tips) and headed into the hotel main lobby to seek out a cup of coffee.

What a hauntingly beautiful place. The sky is purple blue and the jumbled, rough rockpile mountains and hills are rosy brown. I settled into the restaurant and pantomimed that I wanted coffee and of course got "nescafe" - instant coffee with reconstituted powdered milk, but it was hot, and I did it all myself! First step to independence in a foreign land.

A cat skittered through the restaurant. The same kitten that sat next to my chair during dinner the night before. Cats do quite well here - better than dogs and perhaps even better than children. More on cats later.

later that day...
We finally arrived at St. Catherine's and after the walk from the parking lot to the monastery I knew I wasn't going to be climbing Mt. Sinai. If I wanted to beat myself up climbing a mountain, I have a perfectly good one in my own backyard at home! The call of history and art was too strong, so I broke off from the climbers and entered the monastery complex.

Droves of tourists were everywhere, but being alone allowed me to drift about, joining an English speaking group when I needed an explanation for something and hang behind when I wanted to study a painting or icon a little longer. The monastery has been here unmolested for a zillion years. The prophet Mohammed provided the initial protection for it, and it has been gifted throughout the centuries by stellar monasteries and Christian leaders without disruptions and conflict that lead to destruction of books, icons, manuscripts and the stuff of monastic life in other places.

After photographing the ancestor of the original burning bush (fire really is good for trees!) I joined a crowd waiting to get into the monastery collections which is in a temperature controlled, carefully lit and well displayed series of museum-like rooms. A monk burst through the waiting crowd, into the closed and guarded door which he slammed behind him. Shouts and roars could be heard and people were summarily tossed out. The guard at the door told the fellow next to me that he was shouting "Everyone out! Nobody gets in, even the governor himself!!" I moved closer to the door and asked the guard, "Please.. I have come a long way." The guard told me, one moment," and slipped through the door. He came back and said, "Come in." I slipped through the door only to face the fierce monk. He shouted, "25 pounds!!" which I gladly paid, then waited to see if I was going to be fed to some waiting lions. He gave me my receipt and pointed to the adjoining room. I spent a marvelous hour in one of the most stunning collections of iconography and illuminated manuscripts this side of the Getty Museum in California. Things were beautifully displayed; lighting was perfect and the only sound I heard was Gregorian chanting somewhere distant in the monastery. It was an incredible hour. Just as I was ready to leave, others were being admitted in very small groups.

By the time I slipped into the courtyard near the little cathedral, most tourists had departed in their tour buses and the place was silent. I strolled around the grounds, watching the workmen who had appeared as visitors had disappeared. I still had hours before my climbers were due back, so I hung around watching a couple of craftsmen building a granite cobbled courtyard around the fortified church. What a delight. The older man was the head craftsman on the job, laying block with such care and precision, it was a delight to watch. When he noticed my interest, he took care to show me how he worked, how he chose, prepared and leveled each stone. His young hod carrier was anxious to practice his three words of English, so we spent a stellar hour laughing, nodding and pantomiming. Later, I spoke to a young visitor who explained to me that the Bedouins care for the monastery and do all the work and building seen on the site. When I asked if they practiced the Christian religion, the young man said, "No, but all is the same." Would that we all practiced that truth.

Shortly after settling in with a cup of coffee, which I figured out how to order all by myself, my guys marched into the area, happy to be off the mountain, but equally happy that they made the climb. After hearing how much harder it was than the guidebooks indicated, and reflecting on the wonderful day I'd had, I'm thrilled with my decision NOT to climb Mt. Sinai!

First full day in Cairo

Flight was long and uneventful. I'm here!
I was awakened today by the 5am call to prayer. Not an unpleasant sound. After learning about Islam from our shared foreign exchange student, Camilla, I can only hope that the lovely sounding message blasted all over the city is something like "Allah reminds you at the beginning of this beautiful day to love one another. Today, be kind, be of help to someone in need in this vast city." I smiled and went back to sleep for two more hours!

Yesterday was a good introduction to the city. I learned how many expats there are in Cairo, how to cross the street and how to take a taxi.

After 4 hours of sleep - plane arrived in the middle of the night - we went to the annual International Christmas Bazaar at the Hilton Hotel downtown next to the Egyptian Museum. I think there were 65 countries represented by expats selling food and goodies. Kathy and I met 2 friends from her school and rode the metro into city center. We rode in the "women's car", an additional protection from groping in the subway. Most of the women wore western clothing but were "veiled", that is, they've covered their hair with exotically twisted and wrapped scarves of great beauty. Many of these women are gorgeous, and I see these scarf contraptions as making them look more alluring and mysterious rather than modest and chased. There were a few women in bags of cloth with their faces showing - decidedly chased looking - and a few burqas - just walking bags of cloth.

We split up immediately and braved the throngs for a German potato pancake and sausage, then took to the streets in the neighborhood to look in a few shops Kathy knows about.

Crossing the street is an art in self-preservation. Those little green blink walking figures occasionally (very occasionally) seen are nothing more than enticements for the unwary who don't understand that minibus drivers use them to pick off tourists... or at least strip off a layer of clothing on their rear view mirrors. Car do not stop for, they run over pedestrians! To cross the street, you must plunge into traffic, looking for staggered lanes, often 4 or more. Cars are careening in front and behind you, and your job is to hold tight and wait for a space in front to clear so that you can move to the next lane. Kathy's strategy is to get down-lane from an Egyptian male and cross when he crosses, using him as a human shield. It's like a video game with dire consequences if you loose!

Taxis are another game. You negotiate your fare before getting in - no meters - and hang on. I may be wrong about the translation of the many times a day calls to prayer. It could be something like, "Please Allah, protect all those unwary tourists jumping into cabs without seatbelts hoping that their drivers actually know how to drive... and Allah, please make sure that brakes and horns actually work!"

It's too easy to get lost here. Streets wander, alleys look like streets, signs are in Arabic, and everything is made of the same color plaster - sand. My sister is amazing. With a few Arabic phrases she plunges into the mire, confessing that she gets lost, but finds her way eventually. She responds kindly to persistent demanding street vendors, and she looks thoroughly at home in this unlikely place. Without her, I would not have stuck my nose out the door. But with the experience, I'm ready for another day of new things!

Today it will be Garbage City, City of the Dead and Al-Azhar Park. Brother-in-law Forrest and I are joining a private tour created by expert neighbor, MJ created for her guests. Taxis arrive at 12:30.

When I figure out how to download images, I'll be adding pictures, so check back.
Joanne

Planning for Egypt

In a little over a week I'll be leaving for three weeks in Egypt. As usual, I'll be journaling about my trip. I have a camera, but find that taking photos distracts me from the sights, sound and textures of my travel experience. I force myself to snap a few photos, but only to illustrate my thoughts recorded in a travel journal.

Last month I pulled out an old journal of a trip to the Virgin Islands. What a joy to re-experience that journey through descriptions recorded as they were happening! I look forward to having the same recorded memories of this trip to Egypt, and at the suggestion of an avid blogger friend, I'll be sharing those experiences with family, friends and interested online travel enthusiasts.

...and yes there will be photos.
More in a week and a half as my journey begins.
Joanne