Before we leave the Marriott, I should point out that this hotel has a lot of history behind it. The main area where we eat breakfast and where the reception desks are located among other things was built in 1869. The ruler of Egypt at that time, Ismail Pasha, ordered the construction of a Royal Palace to use for celebrating the finish of building the Suez Canal. He copied many elements in this Palace that were found in Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie’s Palace as he wanted the Empress to be comfortable in Egypt when she visited. Why Paul, Jennifer, or I did not take photos of the inside of this Palace or of the small courtyard in front of it I do not know. You will just have to take our word for it that the interior of the Palace was beautiful with its period furniture and grand staircases. The small courtyard was pretty too. The Royal Palace changed hands numerous times over the years until Marriott purchased it in the 1980’s. They added two towers that stand on either side of the Palace where guests stay.

    We board the bus this morning and on our way to the airport we are going to visit a historic Mosque.  While driving down the thoroughfare, our driver brakes to a stop and begins backing up. Everyone in our group is a bit stunned, and I hear murmurs like “what is he doing” and I think I say out loud, “why is he backing up”? Hussein begins laughing and informs us that the driver thought we were going straight to the airport and hence he missed the turn that leads to the Mosque. So, in this country, I guess it is okay to back up fifty or so yards to get to the turn that you drove by. The road we are on is a main avenue but the traffic is light compared to what we have seen and oddly enough I do not remember anyone honking their displeasure at us.

    The bus driver parks on a busy street, and we must walk down a narrow street to the mosque. This mosque has been historically preserved and is not used for worship. My main memory from this experience is that Hussein has us sit down on some chairs that are arranged in a half-circle while he talks about the history of the mosque. There are three half-grown kittens that decide people’s laps look much more comfortable than the floor they had been lying on or the kitties are hoping for something to eat. Unfortunately, the kittens are constantly scratching themselves, (can you say fleas), and their eyes and noses are a bit runny. Needless to say, no one wants them on their laps. The felines jumped up on four or five members of our group, who pushed them off their legs or laps quickly. The rest of us were not selected for the kittens’ attentions I am thankful to say. Poor little things, but the last thing one needs is a bite from a dog or a cat in Egypt or in other foreign countries where access to a rabies shot is not going to be easy to obtain.

    On our walk back to the bus there is another Mosque where worship is held that we are going to visit. When we arrive at the Mosque, I whisper to Hussein that I need to go back to the bus, (the bus is in sight of where we are standing) to take some of the medicine he gave me yesterday for my digestive problem. I brought the standard medicine with me but Hussein had told us in our initial meeting to take his medicine if we became afflicted as it works better than ours. Hussein informs me that he will call the driver to alert him to open the bus door for me. Was this caused by Caesar salad I ate for supper the night before last?  After swallowing the pills, I stay on the bus and take a little nap while awaiting the return of the group. When they get back Paul tells me that the main thing I missed was a man that sang for them in the Mosque.

    We arrive at the airport and must go through security as soon as we walk through the airport door. Men and women are separated into different queues because everyone is patted down, even though we do not set off the metal detector. We check in and receive our tickets, and check our big suitcases through to Luxor. We go through another security check, this time taking off our shoes and belts. Hussein leads us to our departure gate, where he hands us sacked lunches. Yikes, cold, mushy, fries and a hotdog type sandwich which is not warm either. I really do not want to eat anyway but choke a few fries down and two bites of the sandwich. Paul does not do much better than me, and I notice most everyone visits the waste can fairly quickly after receiving their lunch.

    Since we all checked in individually, none of us are sitting together on the plane for the hour plus flight. Once we land, Hussein leads us to the luggage claim. When the luggage shows up everyone points out their suitcases for the porters, who pile them onto carts. Hussein calls out “Follow me” and we trail our guide to the waiting coach. Yes, we have another security guard with us also dressed in a suit. In case you are wondering, our security guards are packing a pistol, but unless you really look it is hardly noticeable.

   Gazing out the bus window, my first impression of Luxor is clean air, no crazy traffic or constant honking, the streets seem devoid of garbage and there is a wide walkway along the Nile. It looks like a very lovely city.

   We stop at the Luxor Temple ruins on the way to the hotel. There is an Avenue of Sphinx that stretches for 1.5 miles which connected Luxor Temple and Karnak. It is an astounding sight to behold. Hussein tells us that this sphinx avenue was used once a year for the Opet festival by the ancient Egyptians. I think this avenue was built over many decades by various pharaohs.

   Hussein gives us twenty minutes to walk down the avenue and admire the stately sphinx. Some of them hardly have any damage while others might not have any facial features left. It is hard to fathom that this sphinx lined avenue is thousands of years old.

    Hussein gathers us up and talks about the ruins of Luxor Temple that stands a few yards away from the avenue of the sphinx. I will not even attempt to relay any of the information that Hussein shared with us. Mainly because I cannot remember! The enormous, ornate, columns towering above us, makes me feel very small. As we move inside where areas of the temple are more protected, the painted scenes are remarkably preserved. We wander around looking at paintings, hieroglyphs, and stone columns on our own. After exploring the incredible temple ruins, we proceed to our hotel.

   We are staying at the Sofitel Winter Palace and it is beautiful. We gather around Hussein who hands out our room keys. Hussein leads us down a long hallway to show us where the breakfast buffet is, also pointing out the elevators to us as we walk by them.

   Paul, Jennifer, and I look around a bit then make our way to the elevator. There is a staff member there who opens the door and we step into the old lift. Paul and I have our backpacks on plus we are carrying some hand luggage so the three of us nearly fill the small elevator car. A couple walks up and decides there is room for them and now we are squeezed together to the point we can hardly move. The elevator man shuts the door behind us.

   When the elevator stops on the second floor which is where our rooms are, the elevator door does not open. The man pushes on the door, but nothing happens. Paul is stuck clear in the back and is unable to give any help. The guy starts punching buttons and soon we have arrived at the third floor. Again, the door does not open, and I believe it is Jennifer that tells the fellow to pick up the emergency phone and ask for help. 

    He does follow Jennifer’s advice but since he cannot hear or maybe does not understand the person on the phone, he hands the phone to me since I am closest to him. I tell the staff member we are in the elevator on the third floor, and we cannot get the door to open. The man informs me that someone will be there immediately. For some reason the man could not resist pushing another button while I am on the phone, and we are now going down to the first floor. Are you kidding me! Fortunately, there is a staff member waiting outside the elevator and he opens the door just like you would open the door to a room. Obviously, none of us paid any attention to how the door on the elevator worked when we got on the old lift. We exit as quickly as we can and the three of us vow to not set foot on that elevator again. I think we are all dealing with some claustrophobia.  Walking up two flights of stairs is no big deal even with our hand luggage, hey we need the exercise anyway. I do not remember thanking the man that rescued us which makes me feel bad.

    Tomorrow, we visit the Valley of the Kings. Nancy

   Paul and I meet Jennifer at eight for breakfast. I still cannot get over the array and amount of food that is offered. We meet Hussein and our group at nine o’clock at “point X” and Hussein leads us to our coach. It is a big coach so there is plenty of room for our group to spread out. This morning we have a security guard escorting us. The man sits up front so when Hussein introduces him, I cannot really see him as Paul, and I are sitting towards the back of the bus.

   When we get off the bus at the Egyptian Museum, I notice a man wearing a very nice suit, scrutinizing us as we gather around Hussein. It takes me a minute to realize that this is our security guard. I suppose he is studying us so intently so he can recognize the tourists he is responsible for.

   Once we are clustered around Hussein, he calls out a phrase we will hear often on our adventure in Egypt. In a very melodious tone Hussein says “Follow me” and we dutifully line up behind our guide and walk to the museum. Hussein purchases our tickets and when he passes them out to us, he rapidly says the word “ticket” over and over. His quick-fire chant would make the best auctioneer in the USA sit up and take notice. We get to listen to his auctioneer chant whenever we must have tickets to gain entrance to the various places we visit. I love it and it always makes me chuckle!

   Because of the crowd of visitors in the museum, we must wait, or others must wait on us, as the guides stop at some of the most popular items to talk about the significance of the pieces. Hussein takes us to the Egyptian Rosetta Stone; well, it is just a cast or maybe even just a photo behind glass, hung on the wall, since the real Rosetta Stone is in the British Museum. Despite many requests from the Egyptian government asking for the return of the Rosetta Stone, the Brits are refusing to return it to its rightful owners (in my opinion). Anyway, this important tablet is what helped scholars break the mystery of the hieroglyphic language. This is because the same phrase on the Rosetta Stone is in three languages, Demotic, Greek, and Hieroglyphic. I have no idea what the Demotic language is.

    As we continue to be schooled about various items from Hussein, it becomes clear the man is a fountain of knowledge. Names, dates, and stories flow from him without any stumbling or pausing. We learn that Hussein is an Egyptologist, he also was an archeologist for a few years and then if I remember correctly, he became a tour guide.  I believe we have a superb guide although this could be premature since this is our first real outing with him. I can already see that Hussein is humorous, knowledgeable, candid, and very personable.

   I am not even going to try to talk about the various items and ancient history Hussein talked about. For one thing all the information Hussein is giving us is overwhelming, at least for me, and we were witnessing this in person. I would probably get most of the details wrong even if I tried to pass them on!

   After Hussein finishes showing us the highlights of this immense museum, he gives us directions on where to exit the museum and where our meeting place will be. We are then given an hour to explore on our own.

     Jennifer, Paul, and I wander around looking at sculptures larger than life and marveling at items so tiny you wonder how anyone found them. We go to Tutankhamen’s special room where they do not allow any photos to be taken. The pieces on display are incredible but the coffin laden with gold is breathtaking. The museum does have an ornate golden chair and some other items just outside Tutankhamen’s room where photos are allowed. The pieces are displayed in a glass case so the reflections from the glass make it hard to take a decent photo.

   The three of us do not use up the allotted hour. After a while you cannot take in any more of the thousands of ancient pieces on display. We find the exit which makes you walk through a gift shop, (surprise, surprise) and arrive at the meeting point. There are already other members of our group waiting there, so we were not the only ones to cut our museum visit short.

   We eat lunch at a nearby restaurant. Hussein had handed out a paper with two or three choices on the bus and we put our order in at that time. The preordering of meals is something that is done throughout the trip which sure saves time. Paul and I had ordered the beef kabob which was really a beef stew. It was very tasty.

   We return to the hotel for an hour and then gathered at “point X” for a trip to Old Cairo. It is here that our private security guard earns his pay. The congested streets, where cars and tuk-tuks’ expect pedestrians to make way for them, can be quite dangerous for tourists who are so busy staring at all the sights they forget to move out of the way. You just become oblivious at times due to the produce artfully displayed or meat dangling from a shop rafter, or intent on getting a good photo. This man is striding up and down, stopping cars, gently pushing us to the side of the street, and occasionally counting heads to make sure we are all present.  Twice, when I am taking photos, I feel our guard’s hand in the small of my back pushing me to the side of the congested street. Both times I am moved aside, a car brushes by and I scold myself for being so careless. I see our guard perform this maneuver on almost every one in our group, except Hussein!   Our guards’ eyes are always searching the crowd, checking out the people around us too.

   The crowds of people, the smog, and the areas of heaped up garbage here and there is the downside of this outing but overall, it was well worth experiencing.

   Tonight, we walk to a restaurant for our supper. Our guard is with us, I wish I could remember his name. The man has nerve, as he just walks out into the street and puts up his hand to stop the cars. Hussein is always leading us across the street, once our guard has stopped the cars, and urges us to cross as fast as we can. Geez.

    This morning we are meeting at nine o’clock to see the Pyramids. I admit I am excited to see these ancient structures. Imagine standing next to The Great Pyramid, the only survivor of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World! A structure that was built over 4,000 years ago by pharaoh Khufu and it is still standing. Amazing.

   The bad news is that the smog is thick this morning and when we arrive at the Pyramids of Giza the air quality obscures the blue sky. The good news is that the air begins to clear after a while giving us a clearer picture of the three pyramids. Hussein leads us to The Great Pyramid showing us an area where we are allowed to climb upon the pyramid. I am surprised that the Egyptian government allows tourists to clamber up and walk a short distance along the base of the pyramid. One man in our group elects to go into a tunnel of the pyramid but the rest of us decline the offer when Hussein tells us that there is one place where you will have to get on your hands and knees and crawl. I am slightly claustrophobic and crawling inside a narrow tunnel inside the pyramid does not sound like fun to me. Evidently it is not appealing to the rest of the group either. Ironically the man from our group that chooses to take on this adventure is 6 foot 4 inches tall!

   Once all of us are together, Hussein leads us to another side of the Great Pyramid to show us the place where archeologists had dug up a boat that was buried for the pharaoh to use on his journey to the next world. There is an area across from us filled with camels, decked out in colorful saddles and blankets. There are numerous horses saddled up too. The aroma of ammonia that permeates the air, smells like an enormous litter box that needed to be changed two weeks ago.  There is also the usual lamenting by the camels which is very deep and guttural but there is one camel that is really raising a ruckus. Paul and I soon find the bellowing critter when we notice about four handlers yanking and whacking on a recumbent camel. Oh good grief, there is another camel lying underneath the caterwauling camel. We are witnessing the mating of camels and the camel care takers seem to be very unhappy about it. The men finally remove the male camel who voices his displeasure of being taken away from his girlfriend but allows himself to be lead away. Well, this was an activity that was not listed among the sites we would see in Egypt.

   Hussein gives us time to wander around the pyramids on our own. At his advice we ignore the men riding camels or horses that ask to have their photos taken because if you take their photo, they will insist on being paid. I have a good zoom on my camera so I can get photos without them knowing it. The pyramids are so colossal that it is hard to get far enough away to get the entire pyramid in your camera frame.

   When we meet up with Hussein, we return to the bus and our driver takes us a short distance to an area where camels await us. Yep, we are going to ride camels. You must lean back and hang on to the saddle pommel if you want to stay seated on the long-legged creatures when they stand up. The camels grumble about this, but camels seem to complain about everything. The camel owners take charge of three of us. The lead rope of the camel behind you is looped around the back pommel of your saddle. Once everyone in our group is sitting atop their camels, we begin our trek towards the pyramids.

   The woman that is behind me has a camel that keeps trying to walk around my camel. I do not really want to have the rope pushing against me, so I talk softly to the camel and then take hold of the rope and pull back on it. This makes the camel fall back in line but before long it is striding next to me again. I talk quietly and pull softly on the rope several times on this journey which sends the critter back where he belongs for a little while. One time when I am tugging on the rope, I am rewarded with a huge camel sneeze while he is walking next to me. I am sprayed with a fine aerosol from the sneeze that settles on my face, neck and probably my shirt. Oh well, I just wipe it off and figure it could have been worse, like it could have been actual snot. The woman that is riding this camel tells me that she will remember me as the camel whisperer which I get a laugh out of.

   Paul is riding the camel bringing up the rear of our little caravan so I do not see him at all during our ride. The camel guide stops at a certain point where the three pyramids are spread out in front of us in the distance. He unhooks our camels, leads them to a certain spot and places the beasts’ side by side. The man asks for Paul’s phone and then has us raise our arms into the air and takes photos of us. Naturally, everyone in our group goes through this same ritual. Yes, the camel owners expect a tip for doing this and Hussein has told us how much to give them. Paul said our man told him it wasn’t enough but Hussein insisted we not give them more money if they ask for it.

   Camels are not comfortable animals to ride, their gait is very odd plus you do not have stirrups to steady yourself. I get somewhat accustomed to the sway of my camel and feel safe enough to let go of the pommel and manage to take a few photos atop this one-humped animal. Hussein rides past us and it is obvious he is used to riding camels. I wonder if he grew up riding camels? I don’t think I mentioned that Hussein is Nubian.

     Paul spots our bus up ahead and lets out a sigh of relief. He told me he was going to walk back to the bus if we had to ride them back to our starting point, because he was so uncomfortable sitting astride his camel. I have a feeling everyone was happy to get off the cantankerous animals and trade them for the comfort of our bus. Oh yes, getting the camels to lay down so you can get off was not easy to do. Many of them belly-ached about having to lay down but you the rider must hang on tight to the saddle horn and lean back in order not to topple off the front!

    Our next stop is to the Sphynx and I can’t even describe this massive statue in words. We aren’t allowed to go down to the base of the Sphynx, but there is a walkway that allows for great views of this intriguing work of art. Hussein gives us ample time to take photos. He talks a couple of the women in our group to stand in a certain place and purse their lips. I assume this looks like you are kissing the Sphynx.  While we are admiring the Sphynx, a deep guttural noise fills the air. One of the women asks Hussein if what we are hearing is camels, (I thought the same thing). Hussein doubles up with laughter and tells her that it is the call to prayer! I will say that the call to prayer in Egypt is nothing like what we experienced in Istanbul, Turkey when we were there several years ago. In Turkey the call to prayer was melodious and pleasant. I cannot say the same thing for Egypt’s call to prayer.

   On our way back to the Marriott, Hussein has the bus driver stop at a government bread bakery. All this place does is bake bread where the citizens can buy six flat loaves of bread for twenty cents, (I think). The workers welcome us inside the bakery and we watch one man form the loaves, two other men place them on a conveyer belt that takes them through the heating element, while another man removes the baked loaves as they exit the conveyer belt. It sure does not take long for the bread to bake. I wonder how many loaves of bread this bakery puts out in a day. I wished I had asked Hussein that question. There were lots of people lined up waiting to buy their daily allotment of bread.

   Time to call it a day and return to the Marriot. Tomorrow, we leave Cairo and fly to Luxor. Nancy

    Paul and I both woke up at 1 a.m. so we took a sleeping pill and got a few more hours of sleep. Once we got up and around this morning, Paul and I went down and toured the grounds around the open-air restaurants before meeting Jennifer for a late breakfast. The breakfast is a buffet, and it is huge. Just about every kind of food you can think of is offered. Cheese, cold meats, fruit, lots, and lots of bread, hot or cold cereal, eggs however you care to order them, pastries and so much more. Paul and I are not big breakfast eaters, so I stick to fruit, oatmeal, a croissant and one small pastry. I think Paul and Jennifer might have had an omelet.

   After breakfast we walk with Jennifer around the same area Paul and I toured earlier and inspect the beautiful fountain, manicured trees, and the large pool.  The staff tending to the grounds are very friendly. Since we have the morning to ourselves, we decide to walk to the Nile River. We ask one of the hotel staff directions and he tells us to exit the Marriot grounds via the parking lot and turn left. He tells us the Nile isn’t far away and when we ask if it is safe to go on our own, he assures us we will be fine.

   We do not walk far when we catch a glimpse of the famous river, but we cannot see a way to get down to the Nile nor do we see any kind of a walkway along the river. The biggest problem is there is a very busy street between us and our goal. Hmm, there are two young men dressed in suits standing on the sidewalk not far from us. We decide to approach them to see if they might speak English. No, they don’t speak English, but I gesture towards the Nile and say we want to go to the Nile. They seem to understand this and beckon for us to follow them. The two men lead us down the sidewalk a block or two and point out some stairs leading up to a bridge. The problem is we need to cross the street through heavy traffic and the three of us are not keen on running this gauntlet.

   Approaching us is a young man who is walking along the edge of the busy street.  I inform Paul and Jennifer I am going ask him if it is okay for us to cross the street here as we haven’t seen anyone dodging the traffic to get to one side or the other. I smile at the young fellow and ask if we can cross here, gesturing to the other side of the road. He doesn’t answer me but he puts out his arm and I take it. He then watches the approaching traffic carefully and when a small break comes, he hustles me across with Jennifer and Paul close on our heels. How kind was that?? I thank him and he touches me on the shoulder and smiles, then he dashes back across the street.

   We walk along the congested road to the staircase only to realize these steps are leading up to a bridge where the traffic is even heavier. I guess the first fellows we consulted thought we wanted to cross over the Nile. Paul rules out going up the stair steps as it will not take us next to the Nile, only over it. A man at the top of the stairs begins yelling down at us in Egyptian and pointing in the opposite direction of where we were headed. He comes down to where we are standing, I suppose we look lost, and begins talking to Paul. Of course, Paul can’t understand a word he is saying.  The friendly man indicates that we should follow him and feeling fairly safe in broad daylight and the fact that there are three of us and one of him we let him lead us back in the direction we came from. We arrive at a side street where he points across the road and sure enough there is the Nile. The problem is the riverbank is lined with riverboat casinos and restaurants so we cannot walk down to the Nile. How the heck did this guy know what we wanted? We smile, thank him, and wave goodbye as he continues on his way.

    Paul and Jennifer decide to just walk onto one of the boats, naturally I follow them.  When we get inside the large boat, there is a man in a uniform sitting behind a desk. He looks up and smiles at us and when we walk over to the window to gaze at the Nile the man walks over to us and unlocks a door that leads out to a small balcony. We step out and gaze over the wide Nile. Okay, it isn’t exactly clean, there is garbage, particularly plastic floating on the water. Across the way there are three large pipes spewing what I hope is not raw sewage into the waters of the Nile. Still, it is the Nile, and one cannot help but marvel that three Kansans are gazing over this famous river. After Paul proofread this, he reminded me of the enormous McDonalds sign, the golden arches standing out against a bright red background, that we saw across the river. Good Grief.

   When we step back inside the boat, we thank the man that let us go out on the balcony. He nods his head in acknowledgment, smiles at us, and locks the balcony door behind us. So far, the Egyptian people we have encountered have been so friendly and kind. We check out one room on the boat before we leave where clothes are being offered for sale. I spot a lovely top and seriously consider buying it. You can see in the photo why I was so attracted to this unique blouse. Just kidding.

   We manage to cross the busy street on our own and walk back to the Marriott. We all go back to our rooms. Paul takes a nap and I go sit on our balcony. Our balcony looks out on the lot where buses unload guests. Jennifers room looks out on the manicured lawn near the outside eating area. Our view isn’t pretty, but it is rather interesting to watch the various buses either loading or unloading tourists.  

   We eat a late lunch in the same outside restaurant where we had such a good meal last night. Paul and I order a saffron shrimp dish to share, and Jennifer orders a minced lamb dish. I do not care for the shrimp at all so Jennifer is kind enough to share some of her lunch with me which is quite tasty. We take our time eating and marvel at all the people smoking with hookahs while drinking beer and nibbling on snacks. When one fellow next to us leaves his table the doves and sparrows move in. He has left a bowl of peanuts on his table and the beautiful doves are feasting on them. It is hilarious.

    When we met Hussein yesterday, he had given us a time to meet this afternoon at point X (the lobby of our wing of the hotel). We will be meeting our group for the first time. Once the sixteen, well fifteen as one woman is not feeling well and has stayed in her room, of us have arrived at point X, Hussein leads us to the other wing of the hotel to a meeting room. Hussein goes over some things with us and then has us introduce ourselves, tell what state we are from, and inform everyone how many times we have traveled with OAT. I believe there is one couple where this is their first time with OAT and then Paul and I are the next lowest having taken two trips with OAT. The most astounding is a woman who is traveling by herself, and this is her twenty-seventh trip with OAT! That is amazing.

    Our group has two women from Minnesota that are friends traveling together, a woman from Arizona and a woman from Pennsylvania that are traveling together, a couple from Colorado, a couple from California, a couple from Connecticut, a couple from Minnesota, a woman from Maryland, the one who has made 27 trips with OAT, and we three Kansans. As you can see this is quite a diverse group. On first impressions everyone seems to be very nice. I would guess the age range of the group is early 60’s to mid-80’s.

   After the meeting, Hussein walks us to a women’s craft store that isn’t far from the hotel. We have to cross a few busy streets and you can imagine getting sixteen people across safely is a challenge. The cars are constantly honking, and I literally plug my ears with my fingers at times just to get some relief from the noise. The smog is really bad, and you can literally taste the air. We country people are not used to breathing in such nasty air.

  When we arrive at the building where the women’s craft store is located, our group follows Hussein up a couple flights of stairs to reach the craft store. There are all sorts of homemade crafts such as jewelry, purses, knitted items and so on. My favorite of everything offered are the wooden crafts. There are a couple of items that are tempting to purchase but I have no room in our luggage to get these lovely creations home. Many members of our group do purchase some things, including Jennifer. Jennifer found a cute Christmas ornament and a knitted eyeglass holder, both of which will be easy to tuck away in her suitcase.

   Supper is on our own again, so we choose to eat in the international part of the Marriott’s open-air restaurant. There are other restaurants to eat at inside the hotel, but they don’t have the atmosphere that the outside venue has. The couple from Colorado joins we three Kansans and we have a nice visit with them. Paul and I split a meal again, a club sandwich, which is good. We had a beer and they brought peanuts and chips with our beer, so we had more than enough to eat.

   Tomorrow we are going to the Egyptian museum and to Old Cairo. Nancy