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Posted by Beej (63.153.25.36) on 21:13:16 01/29/15
Greetings! In an effort to get myself off the couch, I booked a return to Egypt (had gone two years ago to take a class in hieroglyphics). The opportunity came up again, so I took the chance. Left the 10th from Bozeman, got all the right connections, and landed in Cairo Sunday night. We spent three days rambling through Memphis, Giza and Saqqara, to the Great Egyptian archeology Museum, and then flew to Luxor. Things were much quieter this trip, though we did see six staffed army tanks in front of the museum, and were cautioned not to take pictures.
At Luxor, we returned to the Winter Palace hotel, though this time we were in one of the new wings. The food was better than ever, and no one came down with anything as far as I know. We went to many famous ruins and the Valley of the Kings, and enjoyed an afternoon and lunch on the Nile in a historic Dahabeya (two-masted sailing boat, no engine, powered when needed by a separate tugboat). We tried the Egyptian version of Chinese food, and three of us ladies went to dinner another night in a horse-drawn "caleche", and were virtually kidnapped...the old "deliver the unwitting tourists to someone's cousin's store" trick. Fortunately our Fearless Leader and one lady's husband were on the lookout for us, and we eventually finished up where we were supposed to be.
The trip home was grueling. I came down with some kind of tendonitis in both feet, even though I took a cane. It was well used. Cleared Customs in Denver (after sorting everyone carefully by passport, they then rescrammble everyone by combining all the luggage on one carousel!) and caught the plane for Bozeman. Saw someone who looked a lot like Ballpark Frank in the Denver Airport, but finally decided, not unless he'd changed the face some...but it would've been nice to run into a friend. Got into Bozeman after dark, and faced the challenge of trying to remember where in long-term parking I'd left the jeep. Fortunately, things were pretty dry, so it wasn't too grim to tow my suitcase up a couple of lanes, until I recognized a familiar boxy profile and a license plate. Worse-case scenario, I'd have called GH and K to help me find the little red beast (two years ago, it was buried in a snow bank!). But all turned out well, and I will take advantage of GH's kind offer to coach me in Photoshop principles when she gets back herself. My camera tells me I've shot nearly 1000 images, and I'm looking forward to see what was captured.
Cheers, everyone!
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