Cairo City

Day 8 (31/10/08): Cairo "City Tour"

Arrive Cairo, meet and transfer to your hotel. Following to check-in today, we will be off to Islamic Cairo where the 12th Century Citadel of Salah El-Din stands, within the walls of the medieval fortress is the Alabaster Mosque and El-Gawhara Palace built by Mohamed Ali:

Tomb of Muhammah Ali:

This was followed by a visit to Christian Old Cairo where the Romans constructed the fortress of Babylon. Built over the ruins of the two towers of this fortress, the Church of Saint Mary known by the Hanging Church. Break for lunch, and then we drive to the Egyptian Museum where the treasures of King Tut Ankh-Amun and most of the pharaohs, are kept.

If you're blonde, you're automatically of Paris Hilton-esque celebrity in the streets:

Day 9 (01/11/08): Alexandria

Early morning pick-up to drive on the way to Alexandria, the city on the Mediterranean founded by Alexander the Great. We will start our tour in Alexandria with visits to the catacombs of Kom El Shokafa and Pompeii's Pillar:

Next we went to the Roman Amphitheater:

Weirdest looking ant/spiders all over:

and the Fort of Qait-Bay:

Break for lunch and then we will continue on to the newly-reborn Royal Library of Alexandria, with its amazing architecture, and next we explore the Royal Palace of El Montazah.

Alexandria Library (honestly PSU stacks were 100x more impressive than this joke of a library):

Royal Palace & Grounds:

Super sweet Egyptian Beer composed of 10% King:

Kid that looked exactly like Goldberg from Mighty Ducks:

School field trip that found us the most entertaining people ever to look at:

Day 10 (02/11/08): Depart Cairo (B)

We traveled back to the Great Pyramids of Giza and got to go inside the Pyramids which was the only time in my entire life I have felt claustrophobic, with a sense that the entire pyramid was going to collapse down on the tiny two foot by two foot shaft we shimmied through on our descent to the burial chambers. Also the air inside has never been circulated so you find yourself sweating uncontrollably and gasping for air even though it wasn't physically taxing to descend the ramp. I stood panting for a good amount of time and was happy to hear the in shape woman next to me struggling for air also, so I didn't feel so out of shape. Terrifying but very worth it.

East Bank of Luxor

Day 7 (30/10/08): Nile Cruise/Luxor "East Bank"

Karnak Temple

The Temple of Karnak played a significant part in the Egypt of the Pharaohs. Situated in what used to be Thebes, the religious capital of Egypt, changing rulers competed in adding their own touch to the temple. As with everything else of a religious nature, the design of the entrance is highly symbolic. It represents a cross-section of Egypt seen from the South: To the left the desert, in the middle the Nile (the entrance) and to the right the high plateau that dominates the East of Egypt. That's why the right side is higher than the left. Unlike our engineering approach of design today, symmetry was not a must - merely an option.

Through the hall, toward the holy of holies, you come to the two obelisks that are still standing. The one to the right was erected by Thutmosis I and made of pink granite. The other one was erected by Queen Hatshepsut and also made of pink granite. It is 30 meters high and weighs app. 200 tons, as seen in the background:

There were at one point nine obelisks at the Temple of Karnak - only two still stand. One of those that has fallen is today located next to the Sacred Lake. This fallen obelisk was probably erected by Amenophis III, as it carries his cartouche (name tag).

The Sacred Lake at Karnak is 120 meter (393 feet) by 77 meters (252 feet) wide. This is where the priests performed their ritual ablutions three times a day. It symbolizes the primeval sea of the Egyptian history of creation, from which all life sprang.

Luxor Temple

Luxor Temple is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the River Nile in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was founded in 1400 BC.

Known in the Egyptian language as ipet resyt, or "the southern harem", the temple was dedicated to the Theban Triad of Amun, Mut, and Chons and was built during the New Kingdom, the focus of the annual Opet Festival, in which a cult statue of Amun was paraded down the Nile from nearby Karnak Temple (ipet-isut) to stay there for a while, with his consort Mut, in a celebration of fertility – whence its name.

The coptics took over many temples and converted them into churches, but archaeologists are now chipping away at the Christian artwork to reveal the bland stones underneath left by the Egyptians, which I found a little upsetting:

Access to the temple is from the north, where a causeway lined by sphinxes once led all the way to Ipet Sut in modern Al-Karnak. This road was a later addition, dating from the time of Nectanebo I in the 30th Dynasty.

The temple properly begins with the 24 meter (79 ft) high First Pylon, built by Ramesses II. The pylon was decorated with scenes of Ramesses's military triumphs (particularly the Battle of Kadesh); later pharaohs, particularly those of the Nubian 25th dynasty, also recorded their victories there. This main entrance to the temple complex was originally flanked by six colossal statues of Ramesses – four standing, and two seated – but only two (both seated) have survived. Modern visitors can also see a 25 metre (82 ft) tall pink granite obelisk: it is one of a matching pair. The other was taken to Paris in 1835 where it now stands in the centre of the Place de la Concorde.

I know this is horribly stereotypical, but I found this image too good to be true. The area was flooded with Asian tourists and this group of travellers went out of their way to personify every Asian stereotype and actually would hold up this mini Hello Kitty doll in front of statues/temples/etc and take a picture of it so it looked like it was imitating some Godzilla-esque scene where it was larger than life and climbing on ancient ruins:

Overnight train back to Cairo....

Gorgeous sunset:

We literally wrapped our bodies in every article of clothing as the train became so cold at night. Quin had a window seat and became very innovative when it came to shielding his eyes from the morning sun rays: