Egypt - Nile River

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins and antiquities dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art.

So, now let’s take a short trip down the Nile River, considered by most experts as the longest river in the World; however some scientist have recently said that the Amazon is longer. But who is counting or measuring? At over 4200 miles, it is long, but we only cruise about a tenth of the river!

For those of you who have cruised on many of the famous rivers around the world, this cruise is somewhat different. First, in Egypt when your tourist agent says, “Five Stars”, don’t believe him. Although the food was pretty good, the boat was old and not well maintained. The most interesting about the cruise was the docking and departing at each site.

It is estimated that there are somewhere around 230 cruise ships cruising between Luxor and Aswan, which is about 430 miles as the crow flies. Of course much longer via a boat. With this many boats on the Nile and without a sufficient number of marinas to dock, it gets to be quite hectic getting on and off your boat. Instead of each boat tying up at an individual dock, there are as many as six to eight boats tied to each other and one must walk through each boat to get to shore. Interesting!

A view of our boat with a couple other boats tied together!

Another shot of a boat to the left tied to our boat and another one in the back!

I called this shot, "follow the leader". Just a few of the hundreds boats on the way to Aswan.

Life on the Nile!

The temple of Kom Ombo about thiry miles north of Aswan.

One has to be a pretty good Captain to maneuver around so many boats!

Balloons flying over the Nile and the Valley of the Kings, just behind the mountains in the background.

One of the many villages on the east side of the Nile; the west side is mostly desert.

Egypt - Valley of the Nobles

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins and antiquities dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art.

Today we are in the Valley of the Nobles which is located on the west bank of the Nile River in the Luxor area. This site has tombs cut into the rock and the mountains for Nobles and high officials who served the Pharaohs. During this period, the Egyptians lived on the East side of the Nile with tombs on the west side. This is true with the Valley of the Kings, which we will discuss later. It is estimated that their are over a hundred tombs, many of which have not been opened.

In this shot you can see the entrance to some of the tombs in center at the back. One can easily see why they buried their dead here, pretty barren place!

This is an example of what one of the tombs looks like, in fact this one belonged to Ra-Mose, one of the most important of the Nobles buried in this valley. (Note: pictures were not allowed inside the tombs and as such I did not take this picture; I got it from the internet; not sure were the author got the picture!! I promise!)

This is the entrance to one of the tombs, though not Ra-Mose. The inside was hugh and many, many carvings and paintings on the walls and ceiling. The number 331 actually indicated that this is Noble Penne tomb.

Another shot with the tombs in the background; also note the homes or shacks in the center left. Years ago there were homes all over this area. When the tombs started to be discovered the homeowners would cut a hole in their floor of the house and go down and steal the precious artifacts. The government finally caught up with them and started moving the people and demolishing the homes.

Egypt - Aswan

I'm always amazed at how easy it is for Jenny to meet new people and enjoy them; especially kids. She is amazing! She can not possibly pass kids on the streets or anywhere without stopping to say hello.

This picture was taken in the Botanical Gardens in Aswan. It looks like the kids are having a lot of fun with Jenny, and they are!

(More later on our Egypt trip, but I saw this picture and I had to stop and send it now)

First Snow - Winter 2010

(photo taken with my iPhone; I'm almost as good as Peggy with my phone camera)

The first snow of the year! Yeah, I know that some of my family maybe laughing at me because Raleigh, NC had its first snowfall of the year (and maybe its last!) several weeks ago. Although we only have about three inches, but there is more coming today and the next several days.

The first snowfall always changes one perspective; all of a sudden it is Winter and all the activities that goes with it. Also with this snow, it looks like we will have another White Christmas, which we have experienced for the past twenty years in beautiful upstate NY and we are still not too old to look forward to each year.

Egypt - Ancient City of Memphis

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art.

In this posting I wanted to go to the ancient city of Memphis, which doesn’t exist today but there are a number of modern cities that lie within the old historical borders of ancient Memphis. The ruins are about 15 miles south of Cairo.

The Step pyramid or the Pyramid of Djoser is the oldest of the pyramids and built about a hundred years prior to the Pyramids of Giza. What started as a single step, ended with the six steps by the end of Djoser approximately nineteen year rule. It is easy to see how the pharaohs transition from the step pyramid to the true pyramids of Giza.

Shot taken inside the Temple of Djoser.

Ramesses II statue is currently in a temporary museum just outside of Memphis. The 32oo year old statue was reconstructed in Cairo in the mid-fifties, but taken down because of the deterioration from the city. This 83 ton statue will be moved next year to the new Grand Egyptian Museum due to be completed in Cairo in 2011.

Ramesses II statue in the open air archeological museum in Memphis. There are many statues of Rameses the Great in Egypt; he rule for over sixty years and lived to be over ninety years old. I will be discussing his Abu Simbel Temple later.

Picture taken in Cairo, not Memphis, but wanted to show this picture. As I indicated earlier, Egypt is a third world country. I saw this scene many, many times and of course more frequently outside of the big cities. It reminded me of some of the pictures I took in the early eighties in the interior of China.

Egypt - Giza - November 2010

Jenny and I were fortunate to be able to go to Egypt recently to see some of the amazing ruins dating back some 5000 plus years. The Egyptian Government, with the help of many other governments, have done a beautiful job of restoring some of these priceless work of arts: yes works of art. As a result. many of the sites we saw are in really good condition.

I have so many pictures to post I will break it down to several posts in keeping with, what I think, that short posts would be better for all.

Great Sphinx, as a symbol of Egypt, is as easily recognizable site as the pyramids. Built probably about 50 years or after the pyramids.

A close-up of the Great Sphinx. I had to crop this picture in order to get it without so many people around. As with many of our world Heritage Site, we are loving these sites too much. I hope they will be here for my great-children to see!

The three Pyramids of Giza: Khufu, Kafhre, and Menkaura built in honor of three Kings around 2600BC. The oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one still in existence.

As you can see, the city is fast encroaching upon the Giza Pyramids.

Jenny enjoying the local culture!

Update on Bennett - December 2010

We were happy to have the kids here for Thanksgiving. Here is the latest picture of Bennett. Now at a little over three months; it is amazing how much he has changed in just three plus months.