March 18, 2023 

I wanted to finish up this series of the blog.  We are home now.  We got up at 5am in Rome on Tuesday, March 14th.  It was a long day.... Flying is always hit or miss. Or near miss.  Tuesday was no different.  We flew to Paris and deplaned hurrying to make our Paris to Seattle flight.  We had a 35 minute walk just to get to the "border" in the airport.  Wouldn't you know the border was "closed" due to the computers being down.  We had 45 minutes left before our flight left.  Luckily, the computers came up and we were admitted to France.  It's odd because we never left the airport.  When I tried to use my boarding  pass at the gate, it didn't work.  Bob's did.  The lady finally got me through.  All morning I had been convincing myself that I wasn't getting sick.  Maybe I convinced my mind, probably not, but I sure didn't convince my body.  Our 10 and half hour flight was not too bad.  The food was horrible, but that's not unusual.  I was having chills and stuffed up nose, etc.  By the time we landed in Seattle, all I wanted to do was take my clothes off and get into bed.  Our flight the next day to Pasco was brief and easy.  

We are recovering for the second time in two weeks from Covid.  Things are looking up, we are better each day.  Here's some random thoughts about our trip.  

We are so glad that we went to Egypt and Rome.  We have missed traveling and the fun and memories that are made.  We are so glad to be home also!   

We took carry-on luggage only and let me tell you, it saved the day many times.  We were on 11 flights in three weeks.  It made a huge difference in getting around. 

The whole Covid issue is very different in Egypt and Europe than it is in the US.  People outside the US have pretty much realized that Covid is here to stay, like many other contagious and non contagious  diseases.  (I'm looking at colds, flu, Montezuma's revenge or what have you.)  It's important to be prepared, have your medications with you, but go on with your life and enjoy your travels.  Being locked up in our homes is not healthy mentally, spiritually or physically.  We can get Covid (or the flu) at the local grocery store. 

Here's a photo I wanted to post but forgot. This is our guide Salah.  He was wonderful!  He's a native Egyptian, technically a Nubian, and has been studying Egypt and her history for over 30 years.  He's been leading tours for decades.  He tells us stories as we stand in the tombs and temples and makes us feel as if we are there 5,000 years ago.  Another reason I took this photo was because I wanted to show how unstable the floors and walkways that we traversed during our trip.  It was hard on our feet, legs, knees and bodies.  But again, it was so worth it.  

Travel is the best education.  You learn so much and not just about history and geography.  You learn how to cope with the unexpected.  You learn what is really important.  You learn that your life is no more important than anyone else's life.  You learn to take your turn and when to stand up for yourself.  And you learn one of my favorite sayings "How important is it?"   The important stuff comes to the surface when you least  expect it.  If more Americans traveled outside the US, we would all appreciate how lucky we are to be living in America.  

Take less stuff!  Except for your traveling buddy, no one will ever see you again, and who cares what others think?  Leave room for small trinkets and memories. 

Nothing goes as planned.  When you least expect it there will be a fly in the ointment.  Be flexible.  If necessary, wear a rubber band around your wrist to remind you to be flexible.  Embrace the oops and be proud of how you adapt.

Everyone everywhere is just trying to live their life the best they can, just like you are.  

Try new foods and drinks.  

Be prepared to catch a good picture and write some notes.  It's important.  

Memories are what make our souls wealthy.  Not things.  

Bob and I have been blessed to have been able to spend the last 40 plus years together.  Navigating a life that has been impressive, fun, scary, more bountiful than we could ever have imagined, loving, and just plain amazing.  

We hope you have enjoyed following along on our journey.  It makes it more fun for us to know that others are hanging out with us.  Thank you.  

"Where ever we go, whatever we do, we're gonna go through it together!"  

Love, Bc and Gc  

 Cairo to Rome, Friday, March 10, 2023 to Monday, March 13, 2023

We stayed  at the Cairo Intercontinental Hotel.  This is a huge hotel right in downtown Cairo near the airport.  Lots of marble and noise.  We were assigned room 1609.  There are two different elevator banks.  One for rooms between floors 1 and 39 and the other for floors 40-60.  We’ve been in a lot of elevators, but none like this one!  We went to our appointed elevator bank where there are three elevators.  You punch in 16, which is the floor, then a letter comes up A, B, or C and you are to take that elevator.  We were given elevator A.  In we go, where there are no number buttons in the elevator, just an emergency button and a close the door button.  We waited until the elevator door opened and out we went.  Right there, next to the Shogun restaurant.  Hmmm.  I asked a nice man what floor we were on and he said “negative 2.”  Sure.  So we went back to the elevators and tried our “16” again, got in elevator A and met some other people from our group who were “riding the elevators” also.  After much up and down, we finally got to floor 16 and found our room.  

After our Cairo outing to the Coptic Church and resting a bit, we decided to go have a cocktail.  It was so noisy in the hotel lobby, so we found a quiet bar.  They had outdoor seating and it was heaven!  We were looking over the huge pool area, with fancy lights, perfect weather, nice servers and scotch and wine.  Dinner later was a buffet and you know large buffets.  Too many people and lots of food that wasn’t all that good.  Dear me, we may waste away to a ton.... ha!  Fat chance.  Hey, see what I did there?!

The next morning we had an easy time of getting to and through check in and customs in Cairo.  Mostly due to the fact that Viking provided us with a gentleman who knew where to go, what to do and when call bull on an errant X-ray guy.  Nice.  While we were waiting in line at Egypt Air there was this lady in the line next to us.  She spent a lot of time convincing the airline people of something.  I’m not sure that she could even fit in on entire row! 

We found our gate, sat and waited, then got on the plane.  We were up very close in row 24.  This will be important later.  There were about 3 or 4 rows of first class which were mostly empty, then the next rows started with number 23 and we were 24.  Doesn’t make much sense, but I guess rows 5-22 were given to some other plane.  In any case, they wait til the last minute to board then yell at us to hurry up.  We are all in and ready to go when the guy comes on the speaker and says “We need you to disembark the plane immediately.  Please take all your belongings.” Ok.  Bob stepped out into the walkway to gather our bags and nearly was trampled.  We got off the plane and heard rumors that we were going to get a different plane.  There are no loudspeakers to listen for.  Someone kind of yells something and hopefully enough people hear it will share the news with others.  Works well for us since we are so fluent in Arabic Egyptian.  We are told to go to gate B-22 which is downstairs.  We sit around wondering what is going on as there is no plane nearby and this section of  the airport is completely empty of other people.  Eventually we hear rumors that there will be a bus.  Sure enough, we get on the standing room only bus, hanging on for dear life as the bus goes all over the airport and finally stops at another plane where we get out and climb the stairs, with our luggage to our new seats in row 24.  Believe it or not they came on and yelled at us to hurry again!  We took off and a lady in row 24 on the other side of us had a hissy fit because the security officer is required to sit next to her.  She had a melt down and they moved her up to first class which is what she wanted in the first place.  You can’t make this stuff up.     

We got to Rome and the customs guy literally threw my passport at me with a disgusted look!   Too funny.  The taxi service Bob arranged for us flaked out.  So we went to the taxi station and found a nice man who took us to our hotel.  QC Termeroma Spa and Hotel was so nice!  After all that toting and lifting of luggage up and downstairs we needed a light meal and a drink.  Our waiter was so nice.  He found the perfect scotch for Bob and a lovely red wine for me.  We shared a large meat and cheese platter with yummy bread.  We were so tired! 

The next day, March 11, 2023 was our 40th wedding anniversary!  We are still marveling that we’ve been married for 40 years.  Talk about a blink of the eye.  

We went outside to look around the spa and were amazed at all the people walking around in white terry cloth robes and lavender jelly flip flops.  It was surreal!  They were drinking wine, eating a buffet of some sort of food that was filled with sauces and something else.  We felt very over dressed in our street clothes.  We tried to find a place to have lunch, but if you were not wearing the tribe costume there wasn’t much chance of sitting somewhere quiet.  We asked a guy who seemed to be in charge if we could buy a glass of white wine and and he said sure and handed us one each.  Ok... we went back to our room and ate the crackers with our wine they had given us in our breakfast basket that morning.  

  Our dinner that night was so lovely.  Excellent food, wine service.  We forgot to have the waiter take our picture.  Bob has snapped this one of me.  

The next day we caught a taxi to the seaside to have a slice of pizza.  It was Sunday around lunchtime and no place would seat us.  We found a take away place and sat along the shore front and ate pizza.  The $55 round trip was a good deal for the $6.00 pizza we ate.  When we got back to the Spa the White robed clan was milling about smoking and drinking wine.  

We had another lovely dinner and asked the waiter to take our picture.  Here we are married 40 years and one day.  

We are now at a Hilton attached to the airport.  We have an early flight tomorrow morning to Paris with a quick change over to a plane to Seattle.  Please say a prayer that we won’t have any more plane issues.  I think we’ve had more than our share so far.  

It’s been an unbelievable trip.  Three weeks of so many new sights, sounds, and history.  We’ve had so much fun.  It has been great to be able to travel again, see new things and share them with each other.  WE hope you have liked our blog.  It hasn’t been easy to post things, and I apologize for the misspellings, weird spacing and all.  It takes about 60-90 minutes to put a blog post together due to the software and internet.  But we did it!  

Take care everyone.  Happy travels to you when you go on your next adventure.  

Much love, Bc and Gc

March 7, 8 and 9, 2023. 

On Tuesday, March 7th we went to the Nubian Village and the Philae Temple.  We got on another boat with life jackets, and took the scenic way on the Nile to the Nubian Village.  The boat trip was so peaceful and beautiful.  The scenery is beautiful.  

The Nubians came from lower Africa and have been in Egypt for centuries.  The Nubian village is similar to all the other towns we have visited.  Dirt roads, people seeking things, mostly women.  In other cities only men sold objects.  In the this village the women are the sellers because the men have to leave the village in order to get jobs. We were invited into a home.  The home has a large courtyard, then there are rooms for various family members off the courtyard.  When a child grows up and has a family, they add a area for the new family.  In this particular home the matriarch had recently passed away.  They have this painting of her on the courtyard wall.  

Next we went back to Philea where we had been the night before.  This time we learned more about the specific temples and how they had to move this one several hundred years ago due to flooding of the Nile.  Talk about a moving nightmare. Imagine moving those temple walls and bricks up the Nile River to higher ground. 

On March 8th we went by horse and carriage to the Edfu Temple.  We’ve been on horse and carriage rides before but nothing like a horse race through Cairo dodging busses, motorcycles, people, cars and a bunch more carriages.  The carriages are not to sturdy and several times it felt as if the whole thing would fall apart.  In any case, it was something to laugh about.  

On March 9th we got up early and flew to Cairo.  We really hadn’t missed Cairo all that much. As I’ve mentioned before it’s noisy and dirty.  It isn’t a city that you can just take a walk outside your hotel.  It’s just not safe and it’s so dirty that it isn’t appealing.  Though the Mongolian dust fog was not as bad as where we left earlier.  

In the afternoon we took a bus ride to the Coptic Church.  This was interesting.  The Coptics are a Christian group that are similar to say the Orthodox Christian Churches.  The church was very old started about 22 AD.  We also were able to walk through the Coptic Museum. There were lots of icons and carvings.

Well, the internet has been making us crazy, so we haven’t been able to post as much as we’d like.  But we will keep trying.  We are glad you are still with us, even though the posts are spotty.  Keep checking back as we have a great story about flying from Cairo to Rome.  

Take care, Bc and Gc 
 

 March 5th and 6th, 2023 

We decided to rest a bit on Sunday and Monday.  It’s been very hot and the rough walking with the gazillions of people wear us out.  

On Sunday we took a walking tour of Esna.  This is a very poor area, but of course they have a temple!  During the walk around we saw the temple and did a little shopping.  I found fabric!  Beautiful Egyptian cotton fabric by the meter.  Here are some shots of our walkabout. 

You have one of these hanging on your front door, right?

On Monday we decided not to take the Aswan Dam tour as we have a dam within walking distance of our home and visit it frequently.  And, another nap was in order!  We did take the Temples of Philae Sound and Light show.  This turned out to be quite the excursion.  The tour began at 6:15 in the evening.  We rode the bus to meet some boats to take us across the Nile to the temple. We were given life vests to wear.   Remember that it was dark. You know what was next, X-Ray.  I wasn’t going to take off the cumbersome life vest, my whisperer gadget, unwind myself from the cords and lanyards, so I just walked through X-Ray dressed in all my stuff.  The X-Ray beeped red, but nobody cared.  Bob did his usual of walking through an unplugged X-Ray machine.  

The boat we were on had either water in the gas or a dirty fuel filter my Navy guy said.  It would go for a bit and quit.  The two young boys, boys! would yell and keep cranking on the motor and it would start eventually.  I’m sure you can see where this is going.  In the middle of the Nile about halfway to where we were supposed disembark the boat quit altogether.  No amount of yelling fixed it.  The wind was up and we quickly were blown sideways.  Some of you know that Bob and I were in a boat fire on the coast of Montevideo a few years ago.  We had to abandon ship and it was a very frightening experience.  So here we are in the Nile, hanging onto each other clutching our life vests.   Saleh called someone and another boat came to push us to the shore.  

Once on shore, they had given us a small flashlight with a lanyard of course, to help us.  Saleh gave us our tickets and we proceeded to the entrance.  You know what was next.  We had to go through X-ray.  I wasn’t going to take off my life vest, whisperer thing, wires and cords to put my bag through, so I just walked through.  It beeped red and nobody cared.  Bob did his usual walk through the unplugged X-Ray machine.  

Around 200 of us walked up the stairs and over uneven granite floors to stand and listen to Orisis and Irisis discuss how everyone still loves her and her temple.  After about 20 minutes we walked some more, in the dark remember, downstairs to sit and listen some more.  The lights were pretty, but 45 minutes into this presentation we were done.  So, make a note.  This excursion is probably one you can miss.  Thank goodness once we found out way back to the boat, they had found a different boat for us to take back to the other side of the Nile.  It was a pretty trip back.  

Hope you enjoy the latest updates.  Stay tuned!  

Bc and Gc.  

March 4, 2023

I know I keep saying this, but what an amazing day!  As I write this I am sitting in my lovely suite on the boat cruising down the Nile, using technology to transfer photos, type the story and then post it to the internet.  This blog post is about Kings and Queens that lived in the 16th to 11th century BC.  It’s hard to wrap my head around it all.  

We got on the bus at 8am to drive to the West Bank of the Nile.  We went to the Valley of the Kings, the Tomb of King Tut, The Valley of the Queens and the Howard Carter House.  It’s been rather hot, in the 90’s F.  These areas are rather forlorn looking.  Great piles of tan dirt/sand.  Not a tree, bush or even a weed grows here.  The hills surrounding all of this probably have even more tombs hidden in them.  

Our first tomb was King Tut.  We walked down the steep entry way and are allowed to walk around, take pictures within 5 minutes.  King Tut died young at 19.  So they had to hurry up and build his tomb.  

Here is King Tutankhamen mummified.  Those feet!

This is inside his tomb.  

A short distance away is Ramesses IX’s tomb.  Here is a picture of his tomb.

And another short distance is Ramesses IV’s tomb. 

Then we drove a short distance to the Valley of the Queens.  Here we saw the tomb of  King Tut’s favorite wife, Queen Nefertiti. Her tomb was the most colorful of all the tombs we have seen.

Next up was Queen Hatshepsut.  This was another short drive to her Temple and tomb.  It is reported that Queen Hepshepsut dressed a man because it wasn’t proper to have a woman rule Egypt.  Also, it is reported that the Queen had an affair with the architect of her tomb. 

All around is reddish sand and dust.  Mounds all over the place.  We realized that there are probably more tombs and temples under all that dirt.  It’s overwhelming.  Another thing.  There are thousands of people who go through these tombs each day.  All breathing and touching the walls.  I wonder if at some point the Egyptians will say no more.  But then again, these tombs and  temples are a big money maker for Egypt.  

We have been dutifully looking for any sign of the BBOY.  But with all the mounds of dirt, tombs and temples we think it could be right in front of us, we just can’t see it.  

The MS Antares is a beautiful ship.  The rooms have dark wood paneling and are very spacious.  The crew is wonderful.  It’s small which we like.  There are 31 staterooms.  The food is very good and plentiful!  We can’t say enough about our tour guide, Salah.  He has been doing this job and studying  about Egypt for over 30 years.  He tells us stories about everything we see.  Salah makes it feel as if we are right there  with the people who built these tombs and temples.  

This day was very important.  To walk into the tombs and see the work that had been completed thousands of years ago, it’s sobering.  We are having so much fun and enjoying ourselves.  

Take care, Bc and Gc.  

 

March 3, 2023 

Today was a slower day, and boy did we need it!  

When we first checked into the boat Bob noticed they had massages for a very fair price.  We jumped on that, scheduling 3 different services each!  (That’s how reasonable they were and how sore we are after the flights and the past several days of walking over uneven granite and marble surfaces in the heat.)

We each had a 1 hour massage in the morning and it felt so good!  

We set sail around 8am to go to Qena.  We were there in an hour and half.  At 2pm we got off the boat and did the routine of getting on the bus, tangling ourselves up in wires, hats straps, bags and carrying more water.   Qena has about 10 million people.  It’s a very rustic city, with tumble down homes and businesses.  The traffic isn’t nearly as bad as in Cairo.  

We drove a short distance while being escorted by two old Toyota trucks carrying 2 men in back with rifles, one in front of the bus the other at the back.  There was a police officer on a motorcycle in the lead.  I didn’t know if I should use my princess wave or hunker down on the floor of the bus! 

Here’s what usually happens at Temples, Pyramids and Tombs.  We get a ticket from Salah our guide, then give it to someone at the entrance to be punched by a man with a one hole punch, then we go through security. Like every security in the world it’s chaotic and noisy.  Add in that we have to remove our bags and put them through an X ray machine, which entails untangling ourselves from all the stuff around our necks.  Then Bob goes through an X Ray machine that is turned off due to his pacemaker and I go through a regular one.  There is a lot of beeping and yelling and people go through so fast that the X Ray machine never really resets from the previous person.  It’s an exercise in chaos and futility.  Then we hope we get our bags on the other side, find our ticket and use the bar code on it to pass through a turnstile.  This exercise can happen up to 4-5 times in a day, depending on how many places we are going through.  It’s craziness!

In any case, Dendera Temple is beautiful.  

All the temples are magnificent and huge.  The work that is done inside the temple is done over hundreds of years for various Kings.  The pictures on this temple show stories of Ptolemaic rulers, Roman Emperors, goddesses and the lifestyle of the ancient Egyptians.  

This guy is outside the entrance to the Temple.  He is a dwarf and is a God of fertility for women.  

Check out the ceiling below. 

At some point people moved into the temple and lived there.  The ceiling was absolutely black with soot.  They cleaned it and found these colorful stories and carvings.  

At some point, sorry I didn’t get the century, a religious group found the temple and decided they didn’t like the faces on the carvings , so they carefully chipped away all evidence of faces.  That was a lot of work and took many, many years.  

I was amazed at how hundreds of these gods were set up on the capitals.  See how it looks like they will fall over?  

We took a walk through the temple and went up stairs.  Check out the carvings on the hallway wall!

There was a bad-relief on the ceiling of the innermost temple room.  It was a sculptured Zodiac sign exactly what we see today.  If you would like to see it, you can check it out at the Louvre in France.  It was moved there in 1821.  In the Dendera temple it’s just a pretend one that is sprayed black.  It’s rather odd looking.  

 

We went back to the boat with our motorcade and as soon as we arrived the boat set sail for Luxor.  

We had a lovely dinner that consisted of Egyptian food as well as American food.  So that’s was a nice day and very  interesting.  

Stay tuned for tomorrow.  It was amazing!

Bc and Gc  

TheTh

March 2, 2023

We thought yesterday was busy!  Today was wonderful and exhausting.  

We were up at 4am to put our luggage out, eat breakfast and get on the bus to go to the airport in Cairo for our flight to Luxor.  It really doesn’t matter what airport you go to, the chaos of processing 68 people through gathering the luggage, transporting it and the people through various forms of security, checking the luggage and then loading the plane is crazy time.  But we succeeded.  It’s noisy, confusing and not fun.    The Viking tour chartered a plane from a petroleum company so we were not involved with the local travelers.  Our flight was just one hour.  

Here’s a shot leaving Cairo.  Cairo is a city that isn’t probably one of our favorites.  We never felt safe enough to venture out of our hotel.  The city is very dirty.  Trash everywhere, the canal is filled with refuse, the buildings are torn apart, dogs and cats roam looking for food and the noise of so many people is unnerving.  

Here is the view of Luxor as we landed.  Luxor is very green as it is on along the Nile.  There are less people, but there is still the refuse, broken down homes and animals roaming.  

We drove to the Karnak Temple.  It is a beautiful and overwhelming place.  The Karnak temple is the largest religious building ever built.  It was built over 1300 years beginning in the 16th century BC.  It is huge and amazing to walk through. 

We boarded our boat MS Antares in time for lunch at 1:00pm.  We have a lovely suite, with a sitting area and plenty of room to stretch out.  One wall is windows so we can watch the scenery as we travel.  We were so tired, but still had safety exercises to do, as well as unpacking.  I laid down and fell asleep for about an hour.  Bob woke me up so we could go on our next tour to the Luxor Temple.  I will admit I was a bit cranky, and even considered not going to the Luxor Temple at 5:30 pm.  I’m so glad we went.  Again, an amazing walk through time.  The Luxor Temple was built circa 1400 BC by Amenhotep III and Ramses II.  It was a beautiful sight at night.  

We came back to the ship and by the time we got into bed it was 10:30 pm.  That was a long day!  

You know when you travel, all sorts of things happen.   Both good and bad.  Mostly good of course.  The cruise people have loaned each of us a “whisperer”. I love it and hate it!  You wear a lanyard with the box attached to ear buds.  This way we can hear our guide easily around all the other people talking.  However, I have nearly choked myself many times between the ear bud wires, the lanyard, the hat chin strap, and the bag I’m carrying.  No matter how carefully I wrap the various wires and lanyard around the box, it always comes out in a tangled mess like this.  I almost threw it out the window of the bus, but then remembered that it’s not really mine to give away.

We are still waking up around 5 am, but that’s not really a bad thing.  Each day is filled with more tours and more amazing sights.  It never ceases to make us pause and wonder what it must be like to live here surrounded with thousands of antiquities as you go about your day and life.  There are so many temples, statues and they keep finding more all the time.  It must be surreal to pass by acres and acres of items that are hundreds of thousand years old as you are trying to make a living and live a your life for today.  

We have a security presence around us when we travel by bus and when we are visiting sights.  It is a blessing and also a realization that we are so lucky to not have to worry about this type of security issue when we go about our life at home. 

This trip is one of those trips that we will never forget and will change our perspective forever.  

Hope you are enjoying our blog.  Please excuse the random margins.  Blogger has a mind of it’s own!

Bc and Gc.