Egypt

Sunrise in Upper Egypt, Dec 27th

Dec 26-27 - "Aswan"

(Rob)

By 10:00 Boxing Day, we'd arrived in Aswan. It's a lovely city, whose main street runs along the Nile; our hotel is perched on a hill that overlooks it all. Like most of the people on our tour, we headed out for the main bazaar, a long pedestrian street of stalls running parallel to the Nile a couple of blocks inland. The haggling and the touts again seemed low-key/low-pressure. It might be us that's changed, but they're definitely not as pushy as some places in India or China. Here, too, they ask "what country?" and when we saw "Canada" nine times out of ten they say "Canada Dry!" Yet we haven't seen Canada Dry (ginger ale) for sale here anywhere. I told one guy he should say "hockey night in Canada!" when a customer tells him they're from Canada. Anyway, with a few words of Arabic, these Aswan hawkers graciously give up on hassling you.

A stall in the relatively easy-going Aswan bazaar

The next morning came really early - a 3:00 AM wakeup call was set for those of us going on the optional excursion to Abu Simbel. Too early, and too gruelling for Anica (it was a six-hour round trip by bus), so Jenn stayed with her in Aswan. They went to the Nubian Museum, and relaxed poolside. Meanwhile, I saw the massive monuments by the shores of Lake Nasser. It's the man-made Lake, straddling the Sudanese border, which necessitated moving Abu Simbel out of harm's way.

Rob at the foot of the Abu Simbel monuments

But the day was far from over! When we got back at 1 PM, everybody climbed onto a Felucca for a lunch-hour cruise of the Nile. Sprawled on cushiins, we ate koshary at the felucca meandered back and forth the Aswan stretch of the Nile. Then we stopped at a Nubian coffeehouse, and had a coffee that tasted strongly of the spices it contained, such as cloves. Meanwhile, the kids climbed up and down the huge sand dune behind the store. I climbed it once, and it had a great view of the Nile and Aswan across the river.

Dinner was on an island where there's a Nubian village of about 2,000 people. We ate at the home of "Omar," as our tour leader introduced him. It really was a home-made affair: dishes and bowls of food, such as chickenwings and kofta, spread out on carpets that covered a roof-top courtyard. Two meals today where I tried and failed, as always, to sit cross-legged! I'd need a few more Thai massages before I could achieve that. Meanwhile, the kids all had henna done on their hands and arms while we waited for dinner to be served.

Dec 28-30 - "Luxor"

(Rob)

Dec 28

Today we journed north (or downriver) through Upper Egypt, leaving Aswan and eventually arriving in Luxor. Along the way we stopped at two impressive temples, Kom Obo and Edfu. Kom Ombo was memorable for its mummified crocodiles, and also for its Greco-Roman appearance, the first we'd seen of that up close.

Kom Obo temple

Edfu was huge, and very well-preserved. It wasn't finished until 55 BC. We walked through all its chapels, and looked along the relief carvings to find the evil god Seth, depicted as a hippo (or pig?) being vanquished. Anica enjoyed the way Jacki told the stories of the Egyptian gods on the bus before we visited Edfu.

Anica at the Edfu temple entrance

The kids passed the time before that on the bus by using their Nintendo DS to chat, draw, and play multiplayer games.

Eventually we arrived at Luxor, at our hotel, The Winter Palace. Except it wasn't our hotel. We all traipsed through the lobby of this gorgeous old hotel, saying, wow, this is way nicer than our other hotels. To Jacki's embarrassment, we were in the wrong lobby! We were staying at the new wing of the Winter Palace. Also nice, but subtract a couple of stars. We did get the last laugh, however, because all the grounds and amenities are shared. We went right out to the pool that afternoon. The air temperature had peaked at 23, but the pool was 26, so we were able to enjoy a swim until the sun fell below the line of palm trees. Our rooms are all "Niile-View," which means we look out over the river and the hills behind that, where the ancient tombs are.

Our view of the Nile in Luxor

Luxor is the home of the Valley of the Kings, but I have another honour to bestow upon it: worst city in the world for my allergies. There is smog, but what really makes it bad are all the horses. There are hundreds of "caleches" operated here. These horse-drawn carriages seem to fill the air with horsy allergens, triggering (no Roy Rogers pun intended) my asthma. So I'm dosed up here.

Dec 29

Jenn's developed a bad migraine today. She didn't make it much breakfast, which meant missing the enormous Karnak temple visit. Anica also lost her purse today (with her camera inside), and my allergy/asthma combo was acting up again, especially after our horse-and-carriage ride to the temple. So we all had our own reasons to be miserable.

Nonetheless (another Mrs. Lincoln moment), Anica and I found Karnak astounding. It has the tallest obelisks in Egypt, the tallest front gate, it's the largest overall temple complex, and it's the one all the pharoahs of the New Kingdom helped build in turn. There's a statue of King Tut and his wife, a man-made lake, a fallen obelisk, paint colours still visible on outdoor columns, and many more wonders spread over 65 acres. The Hippsotyle hall alone has 134 columns, each several feet around. Everywhere the motif of "two kingdoms" is seen: papyrus decor for Lower Egypt, and lilly for Upper Egypt.

Karnak temple, as seen from the back of the complex

Later, for dinner, we went to "The Oasis Cafe" as a group, except for poor Jenn. It serves really good Western and Egyptian food in an colonial-era mansion, where the three dining rooms are each a different colour: red, green, gold. Anica got to talk Harry Potter with tour leader Jacki. We intend to bring Jenn back here tomorrow, it was so good; it even had the impossible-to-get bacon to go on the hamburgers!

Dec 30

Jenn was back in action today, though woozy, for our trip out to the Valley of the Kings. She opted not to take the 45-minute donkey ride to get there. The rest of us did, and enjoyed it immensely (although, all the adults were walking like bow-legged cowboys when they got off the donkeys). I rode with Anica, and on the way we passed through little villages, fields of sugarcane being cut, and children in their school uniforms heading off to school. Our donkey seemed to find his way by burying his nose in the butt of the donkey in front of us, which was somewhat disconcerting. Although we were given instructions on the Arabic commands to use, I don't think we had much influence over our donkey. Luckily, it was a calm animal.

The barren hills that form the Valley of the Kings got larger and larger, until we turned a corner and entered the actual valley. The ancient Egyptians chose this valley because a natural, pyramid-shaped rock structure looms over it. It's also on the West side of the Nile (i.e. where the sun sets, perfect for a city of the dead). We went in four tombs. Each had distinct hieroglyphics and paintings inside. Of course, the highlight was King Tut's tomb, despite being the smallest one we saw, because his mummy and sarcophagus are there.

We rode the donkeys to a restaurant for lunch, passing by the twin collosi of Memmon, all that remains of an ancient temple destroyed by earthquakes.

Donkey-cam! This photo was taken from the back of a donkey during our ride through the Valley of the Kings

Dec 31-Jan 2 - "El Gouna"

Dec 31

New Year's Eve! Our tour leader Jacki said we drove "out of Egypt today, culturally." We are now at the Red Sea resort community of El Gouna, which has no history, and bears no resemblance to the Islamic culture of present-day Egypt. It could be anywhere in the world, really. Their brochure claims that , here, it's " a piece of the dream; a dream where the sun always shines, the water is true torquoise, where the children are always safely entertained and everyone wears a smile" How very Stepford-like! It's a pretty resort, however, built around a series of lagoons, just inland from the Red Sea. The community planning is probably an attempt to correct the ugly over-development of nearby Hurghada, the first resort-town in this area.

Our El Gouna hotel is called the Arena Inn, and has an infinity pool perched over the lagoon. There's also a little playground, much to Anica's delight. She and some of the kids started playing there as soon as we arrived.

Down the street there's a shopping arcade, with many quaint restaurants and boutiques. We had a light lunch at a Lebanese-food restaurant, which was very good.

Soon it was party time. Through our hotel, the whole group went out to a ball at a huge banquet centre. It was cheesy, but fun, especially since everyone in our tour group gets along so well. We had two tables: 10 kids, 10 adults, plus Jacki floating between both tables. Jacki gave all the kids a special gift: t-shirts, each in their favourite colour, with their name spelled out in hieroglyphs on the front, and on the back "Pharoahs and Feluccas, Egypt 2007-2008, Tour Leader - Jacki." There were party favours on the table, there was an Elvis/Las Vegas theme to the evening (including a pretty unconvincing Elvis impersonator), a dance-floor (which the kids made more use of than the adults), and a huge buffet of quite good quality.

When we counted down to midnight, all five families did their best Cinderella impression and made a hasty retreat on the first shuttle back to the hotel. It was actually quite funny that we all had the same idea in mind.

It's hard to believe it's 2008. From July 29th of 2007, we've been away from home. So sometimes my mind plays tricks on me and I think that time isn't passing back home, that it's still the beginning of August!

Jan 1

A typically quiet New Year's Day. Anica and Tim, however, had seen this Go-Kart track just down the street, and before I knew it, everybody had decided to go go-karting! You never know what the day might bring, I guess.

Since Anica (and it was the same with two other kids) wasn't tall enough to reach the pedals, she sat on my lap and steered, while I worked the gas and brake. That meant she wore a helmet, and I didn't. No seat belt either. So we didn't go too fast!

My cold/asthma's not getting better, despite leaving the horses of Luxor behind, so I took a nap in the afternoon, while Anica wrote her diary and read Harry Potter and Jenn used the wireless.

The whole group went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant tonight. It was very good, but it took forever for them to serve the food.

Jan 2-4

My first sick day of the trip! After a horrible night's feverish sleep, I've stayed at the hotel and missed out on the Red Sea snorkelling trip. I'd been looking forward to it literally for months, but with my asthma still giving me trouble, too, I couldn't fathom (no pun intended) the thought of a full day's snorkelling and boating. I hope Jenn and Anica are having a good time! This will be Anica's first time snorkelling.

• **

When they got back later, I was almost glad I missed the trip. Especially since the fever vanished, and I'm getting the asthma under control. Apparently it was so cold on the boat that most of the adults didn't go in the water, because they were using their beach towels as blankets! But the Red Sea was warm, and Anica got to experience snorkelling. She had no trouble with the breathing, and, wearing a life jacket, along with flippers, explored the reef for quite a while. Anica made this the drawing on her trip evaluation form where it said "draw the most memorable moment on your tour."

Most of the last full day was the bus ride back to Cairo. Again I was struck by the "armed convoy" aspect of our travel. When we make a rest-stop, soldiers with machine guns fan out to form a perimeter, their backs to us, peering out at the desert. Meanwhile, we lazily stretch our legs, the children run around, and we pay one Egyptian pound to use the toilets. It's surreal.

• **

We're the first family to leave the tour, with a taxi waiting to take us to the Cairo airport at 9:00 AM, January 4th. Everyone gathers for a group photo, and there are hugs goodbye.

Parting Shot: our tour group while in Egypt gather by the pool at our Cairo hotel

It's been a great group of families to travel with. Two of the families were going to be moving on to an Imaginative Traveller tour in Kenya, but that's been cancelled as of yesterday due to the unrest there. Now they're scrambling to get on the Thailand tour starting tomorrow.

As we head to the airport, our friendly taxi-driver pulls over and treats us to fresh sugarcane drinks. A lovely gesture, although they're made with regular tap water. We decline for Anica, but drink ours down. Luckily, our stomaches proved strong enough. And they were delicious! The driver asked Anica if she was married! "My son is six," he said. "I will give you a hundred camels!" he joked. Anica said, "No!" See, she's learned to haggle. Hold out for three hundred is my fatherly advice.

Dec 26

(Anica)

Today we got the Basma Hotel in Aswan. A very nice 3-star hotel (acrodding to us) with a pool and fairly nice rooms. Then we alked down to a bazzar where everybody hassled you (the funny thing we thought when they said come into my shop, no hassle, aren't they already hassling?) We bought 2 bracelets, 1 necklace, choco bar and coke, took a horse-and-carigge home, had dinner. G.N.

Dec 27

(Anica)

"Abu Simbel or Nubia Museum?"

Today Dad got up at 3:00 to go to Abu Simbel. Me and Mom went to the Nubia Museum. A beautfiull musem with lots of shoes, descriptions and models. After the musem, I played with Mom, read a book.

Then when Dad came, we went on a Felluca (a sort of sail boat in Egypt) and had a lovely lunch of Koshary, bread and bananas. Koshary is a meal of chick peas, lentils, fried onions, tomato sauce, and pasta. Then we got off at this Nubian coffe shop (for Dad at lest, snicker snicker) and so the kids could go up the 100 feet high sand dune to the top(!) When you walked up it was so hard. But when you ran down, o-my-gosh, you couldn't stop yourself from running so fast!!! We went to the Nubian village, and had a lovely dinner of Chicken wings (out of sight!) and lots more food!! Went home G.N.

Dec 28

(Anica)

Went on a five-hour drive encluding sighseeing. Kom Ombo temple and Edfu temple. When we got to Luxor we went in the heated pool! g.n.

Dec 29

(Anica)

Today we went to the Karnak Temple at noon. On the way, Jacki said here's the jellawrey shop we're going into. At the shop, (little) Jacqui bought a bracelet with her name on it, and I bought a book. Then we rode a horse-and-carrige to the Temple. Here is some history from my book: The temple complex of Karnak is the largest of its kind in Egypt. Virtually every pharoah from the Middle Kingdom down to the time of the Romans (approx. 2134 to 31 BC) cotributed to the building work. It consits of a large number of individual temples, such as the Great Temple of Amun, the Temple of the God Khons and the Teple of the Goddess Mut. THERE IS TO MUCH MORE TO SAY! Then we went home and I said, where's my purse?! I HAD LOST IT!!! And, it had my camera (!), my sungllases, my hat and ten Egyptian pounds! Went to dinner, went home, G.N.

Dec 30

(Anica)

New Year's is in one day!

Today we got up still no sign of my purse (sigh). We meet the group and Jacki and started walking over to the boat dock. We found our donkeys and got on them. Almost half an hour later I said (because our donkey kept on sniffing Doug's donkey) let call him Donny Bumsniffer (hee hee). When we got to the Valley of the Kings, Mom was already there (she took the van). The first tomb we saw was Ramses the 9th. No sarcopaguus! Next we saw one deticated to Ramses III. Sarcophagus. But, no mummy. Then we went to the tomb of King Tutankaman. SARCOPHAGUS AND MUMMY!!! Then we got back on a donkey, had lunch, went home, had dinner. G.N.

Dec 31

(Anica)

Today when we got to El Gouna, all we did was rest, watch TV, sleep and eat before going to the New Year's Eve party. We stayed up all night dancing, singing, and playing with balloons and stuff. When it was New Year's they let down all the balloons! G.N. P.s. Jacki gave us t-shirts for presents.

Jan 1

"Go Cart and Thai Food Day"

(Anica)

Today after breakfast we went Go-Carting! Very fun. Then we went home and had dinner at the White Elephant Thai restaurant. G.N.

Jan 2

"Snorkling"

(Anica)

Today we went snorkeling! Only some people. We saw many fish and coral. Dad diden't come (sick). After that we went home and met Dad and had a yummy dinner at Nathan's of chicken nuggets, burgers and fries. Then we and Jacqui went on pictochat (a chatting thing on Nintendo). G.N.

Dec 22-25

"Cairo"

(Rob)

Getting to Cairo from Mumbai, about seven hours total flying, was a grueling 24 hour process. The main feature of this trip was a nine-hour layover in Abu Dhabi from midnight until morning. It's not that big or interesting an airport, but it was open all night. More importantly, a comfortable lounge in the transit hotel was open (for a fee of $46 U.S.). So we got free buffet, drinks and wireless internet and couches for sleeping. By the time we had a real night's sleep in Cairo, I'd had nine meals. Jenn and Anica said no to a few of these opportunities, like on the plane, which turned out to be wise. Anica got airsick just before we landed, from a combination of turbulence and being queasy from being overtired.

Our first impressions of Cairo were: it's so clean, it's so spacious, it's so pretty! Well, we had just spent two months in India. There's nothing we saw in India like the grand, spotlessly litter-free bouvelards that lead from Cairo's airport. And, when we did see more of the hectic jumble of Cairo and Giza, it still seemed so different from India that we felt reinvigorated and ready to explore this unique nation and its cultures.

There's nothing better than being shown around by the local residents, and, for our first two days in Cairo, that's exactly what happened. It was the tour-before-the-tour, as we met the son and daughter of Jenn's Dad's co-worker (got that?), who live in Cairo. Jenn's Dad works in Saudi Arabia, and although we'd never met Taha, let alone his children, they graciously arranged to meet us...and treat us! Salma and Kareem took us for dinner on our first night at an Egyptian restaurant along the popular strip called "El Mohandeseen."

We had, among the other kebabs and spreads, our first-ever pigeon. It was stuffed with rice and served whole (except the head), with crispy skin. After a lot of food, we walked it off a little along Mohandeseen before stopping at an extremely popular hangout that served fresh fruit drinks (kind of like a smoothy with fresh fruit on top). We also sampled some of the bulk nuts and seeds for sale (and got a few paper flutes full of these to take away). We were simply not allowed to pay for a cent of this ourselves. Before helping us get a taxi (much cheaper than the hotel's car), we saw the apartment block where Salma and Kareem live and which their grandfather began building when he first came to Cairo.

The next morning (my birthday, incidentally) we met Salma outside the Coptic Museum. She chose it as one of the most interesting sites to see that we wouldn't get to on our Imaginative Traveller tour. Good choice! The museum itself is beautiful, with painted carved wooden ceilings, stained glass, Islamic-style wooden screen windows, and palmed-treed courtyards. The early Coptic Christian finds show how the Ankh was linked to the Cross, and Isis was likened to Mary. There's a painted niche that, surprisingly, shows Mary breast-feeding Jesus (who of course looks like a tiny adult). Most amazing to me was the collection of books from the Nag Hammadi library. Found in the 20th century, they include Gnostic gospels, and a Gospel of Thomas from the 4th or 5th century. The leather covers are even intact.

The Coptic Museum part of a larger complex, closed to most traffic, where we got to see six churches and one synagogue. One church is called "The Hanging Church" because its foundation is a Roman-era Tower, cut away at one end. There's also a monastery dedicated to St. George, St. Sergius Church, St. Barbara Church, and a nunnery.

From this district, we got on the subway with Salma. The Cairo Metro sets aside the first two cars for women only, and the rest are mixed. We got on the mixed so I wouldn't be alone. We went for lunch and had kushary, a delicious dish of pasta, beans, chick peas, and dried onions, which you then mix up all together in a bowl and pour tomato sauce over. There's also a spicier red sauce, which Jenn and I used. For dessert, we went to a corner place that served "sopia," a coconut pudding sprinkled with cinnamon. That was more of a hit for Anica than the kushary. Both places were extremely popular, and we were the only tourists there.

Finally, Salma took us on a walk through a traditional Cairo neighborhood in the Islamic quarter (judging from all the mosques), and we went in one. I had to go in on the men's side, so I wandered through the mosque alone, in my sock-feet of course.

On December 24th, our tour began. The previous evening we had met everyone. There are lots of kids Anica's age, which is nice. There are three families from Australia, and one family from England, and us, totalling twenty people. Our tour leader, Jackie, is Canadian, and her husband is Egyptian, also a tour leader with Imaginative Traveller. So, in a sense, Jackie has local knowledge, like Manu did in India.

The first stop was the Citadel, and the Mosque of Mohammad Ali (not the boxer, but the 19th century Egyptian nationalist), which is modelled on the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

The Mosque of Mohammad Ali, The Citadel, Cairo

Also, from the top of the Citadel there is a great panoramic view of Cairo. I was a little surprised at how the local guide, Aladdin, gave everyone a long lecture about Islam, as we sat on the carpeted but still cold floor of the Mosque. Actually I was a little surprised that we all could just go in together, males and females, and that the only visitors seemed to be tourists, because that's completely different from the mosque we visited yesterday.

Next we went to the Egyptian Museum, after a forgettable falafel sandwich lunch in a touristy market area. The contents of the Egyptian Museum are embarassingly good. It would be even more mind-blowing if it weren't so amateurishly displayed. Almost all the King Tut objects are there, for instance, only the identical pieces are loaned out to other museums. We saw the famous golden death mask, the four shrines that fit inside each other like Russian dolls to hold Tut's sarcophagus, and many, many other objects. The real highlight, however is the Mummies room. This holds only royal mummies, and you can get up really close to them (right across the glass, which has no alarm or perimeter). I was nose to nose with Ramses II, the great pharoah who ruled Egypt for 67 years, for example. Another favourite of mine was the Narmer Palette, on the first floor, which illustrates how Narmer (King Menes, the first dynasty) unified Upper and Lower Egypt. Here is recorded history on display from 3100 BC (more than 5,000 years ago)!

Christmas Day was even better. Importantly, Santa Claus found Anica in Egypt and filled her stocking, and left a couple of gifts as well. Although it was less than other years, Anica was thrilled, because Santa knows we've been travelling light, so he brought more than she had even hoped for.

Then, it was off to the Great Pyramids of Giza. We'd seen them, driving by, several times. Mere glimpses really. As we got closer and closer, their enormity is revealed. It's not the height, but the fact that each stone block is taller than a person, and weighs at least two tons. All 12 million blocks. And for me, as a historian, it's their age. Built more than 4,500 years ago, the only wonder of the ancient world still standing. At the base of the biggest pyramid is one of the white marble slabs that was once the facing stone for all three pyramids. They must have been dazzlingly white in ancient times. Leaning back against that block also showed us how steep the angle really is. You can still climb up a little bit of the pyramid, but for our tour group, a special treat was climbing down into one of the three little pyramids.

Anica, back in daylight, after a trip down into one of the queen's pyramids at Giza

From a panoramic viewpoint some distance south of the pyramids, we had a camel ride to the other side, close to the Sphinx. The Sphinx, too, was impressive. Everybody says it's small, but that shows a poor understanding of this enormous figure carved directly from the quarry. Having this great experience, everybody soon forgot it was Christmas morning. The visit was very enjoyable, too, because the crowds were small, and the hawkers were very low-key, not interrupting us hardly at all.

In the afternoon, after a group lunch out, and a visit to a papyrus institute, Anica got to play with the other kids at the hotel's playground for a couple of hours. She was already making friends with a nine year old girl named Jacqui, and they were sitting together on the bus, but this free time to play really helped the kids get to know each other. This first hotel, the Oasis Hotel, has been excellent, despite being in the middle of nowhere (just like a real oasis!), and despite the fact that the weather's too cold for swimming (it's peaked at about 16 during the day, but it's closer to zero at night - this is the first time in five months we've needed to layer our clothing).

Christmas night, it was dinner on the train. Not exactly a Christmas dinner feast! In fact, since the cabins are for two people, I bunked with Wayne, the dad in another family of three. We were on our way overnight to Aswan, a thousand kilometres south of Cairo. I ranked the Egyptian train as nicer than India and Vietnam, but not as nice as China. Our Egyptian train, however, is a special train for tourists. We have armed guards. We will also travel in convoys of buses as we make our way north, also with armed escorts. Egypt takes no chances with its tourists.

"Pyramid Time!!!"

(Anica)

Dec 22

We arrived in or at Cairo Internatinal Airport from Abu Dhabi at about 12:00. And we were very surprised when our driver from Imaginative Traveller meet us before Custems! So when we got to the Oasis hotel (a very nice 4 star hotel) we checked in, saw the playground (!) and swimming pool and finally arrived at our room. A beautifull room with two separate beds (they were going to add an extra one), tv, preatty nice washroom and a desk. We spent most of the day playing and resting before going out to see Salma and Kareem. We had a lovely Egyptian dinner which encluded Chicken cream soup for Mommy and Daddy and tomato soup for Salma and Kareem, Pita and 5 different kinds of sauces, pigeon stuffed with lightly seasoned rice and french fries and all diffrent types of kebab meat. Then they took us to a drink place and bought us sdink that had mango, strawberry and bana juice. g.n.

Dec 23

We got a taxi to the Coptic musem were we met Salma, and saw lots of Egyptian stuf, then went to 7 churches, 1 Islamic, 1 Jewish, all the rest Christen. Then she took us to lunch where we had a dish with pasta, chickpea, lentils, rice and dried onion. Then we went t this sweet place where we had cocunut pudding. Then went inside a mousqe, said goodbye to Salma, took a taxi back and had dinner, mett out tour leader Jackie. G.N.

"Christmas and Camel"

Dec. 24

We had just arrived at a citadel in Cairo and we already had to take out shoes off. We had a very long talk with our local tour guide Aladdin about the religen, Islam. I also knew the story about Abraham! After that we took a little drive to a bazzar, where we tried to find an ATM, but no luck! So for lunch we had fallafel sandwhices with Aladdin, a girl named Jacqui, Tim, Lockie, Melanie, Phil, Wayne, Alce, Rachel and Rhiannon. When we were having lunch this man walked over to Alice, shaked her hand and kissed it!? Then we went to the Egyptian museum, drove home, had dinner. G.N.

Dec. 25

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S-!-!-!

Today we got up and saw presants! What I got for Christmas was in my stocking: airplane, English dictionary, 2 strawberry shortcake figures, chocolates, a big bag of mixed candy, scrabble cards, and a Polly Pockets car. And the big present was a BARBIE FASHION FEVER! which came with clothes, jelarey and shoes. From Mommy and Daddy, Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince, a digital watch (!), a mouse, etc. P.S. Santa also gave me a duck too.

We arrived at the entrance to the Giza Pyramids at about 10:00 and Jackie got us tickets and entered! First, me, little Jacqui, Lockie and Tim climbed up some of the rocks on the pyramid, before the Tourist Police came along.

Not busted yet! Anica and some of the kids scamper up the north face of the Great Pyramid

Then we went into one of the little Queen's Pyramids, where you had to go down really steep steps. Then we went on a CAMEL!!! (very fun)! Then we went to see the Cat-King-Tut-like Sphinx (neat-o-rama). Then we had a yummy lunch of pita and sauces, falafel, chicken, french fries and pudding. Then we went to the papyrus institute, went home, played, had dinner (on the train)! G.N.