We got up waaaaay too early and packed up all of our stuff. We left my large bag at the hotel with all of the heavy stuff and laundry in it. We were a little late getting to breakfast and I checked out while Becca went upstairs to grab some food. After checking out I went upstairs and grabbed a quick breakfast and then we headed down to the lobby. We made it to the lobby by 5:00 and got on the bus. Then we waited around for everyone to get on. Then the tour leader got on and called out a few names of people who had either not checked out or who needed to pay for mini-bar expenses. We eventually got rolling at around 5:40.

As we were a bit late, our driver took the opportunity to really move. I feared for the safety of anyone foolish enough to get in the way of our bus. We were averaging about 50-60 mph through city streets. We arrived in plenty of time for our flight and no one was injured.

Here are a couple of interesting facts about traffic in Egypt. First, most cars do not turn on their headlights at night. When asked why this was, our driver Ahmed explained that "it is because they are idiots." Becca hypothesized that it may be because cars could see fine by the street lights and people felt it rude to have lights on in other drivers' faces. However, I don't think that the drivers had headlights on outside of the city either. I am really leaning toward Ahmed's explanation. Another interesting traffic fact is that there are no traffic lights, or at least very few -- like about a dozen in all of Cairo. One of the results of this is that in addition to traffic police at most busy intersections, people cross the roads pretty much anywhere. The cars generally try not to hit the pedestrians, but you have to wonder what the life expectancy is sometimes.

Our flight to Luxor left late . . . I knnow, hard to believe. it took about an hour and was uneventful. We were met at the airport by Halem, the chief MISR travel representative in Luxor. After leading the rest of the tour to the bus going to the cruise, we were led to a minibus to take us to our hotel, the Jolie Ville Möevenpick, which is located on its own island in the Nile. Specifically, it is on Crocodile Island. The island is so named because it resembles a crocodile and not because there are any crocodiles in the area. In fact, all of the crocodiles are above the Aswan dam.

Our guide, also named Ahmed, was quite pleasant and we explained what we wanted to do and see and he told us what was available and how much it cost. We had two half-day tours included and we decided to do the Temples in the afternoon and get to the Valley of the Kings first thing in the morning. We checked into the hotel and then met back at 10:30 to start our temple touring.

We headed over to Luxor Temple first. Ahmed told us that a convoy of 20 buses was due to arrive around 11:00 a.m. Sure enough, just after we arrived a whole bunch of buses showed up. The Luxor Temple is huge. It reminded me of the Forum in Rome with its scattered pieces and lots of part created by different leaders over a long period of time. Each pharoah added his, or her, own temple, statue, obelisk, or combination of all of these. You can still see the original colors on some of the columns and walls.

One of the best preserved pieces is an obelisk erected by Hatshepsut. She was the first female ruler of Egypt and her stepson, who would have taken the throne if not for her, was not overly enamored of her. When he became pharoah after her death he attempted to erase all mention of her and her temples. However, as the obelisk was dedicated to Amun, a God he revered and did not want to upset, he could not tear the obelisk down. So he walled it up instead so that no one could see it. Of course this had the effect of preserving the obelisk from the elements. You can still see remnants of teh silver and gold that once covered the obelisk. The covering was used as a beacon, much as lights on minarets and church bells are today, to draw people to the temple.

You enter the temple on a path between two rows of ram-headed sphinx. The lion's body represents strength, while the ram was sacred to Osiris. You then pass through a gate in the wall and enter an open courtyard with columns, statues, and some temples on the sides. After passing through another gate you enter what used to be a covered room with 134 columns. Each column represents one of the towns of Egypt at the time of Ramses II who built this section. The six columns bordering each side of the line between the entrances represent the six largest cities in upper and lower Egypt. They are taller than the surrounding columns -- big enough for 50 or more people to stand on top of one. The roof was higher in the center and there were slats in the walls between the lower and upper ceilings that allowed light to come in.

After seeing Karnak we headed for some lunch. Our orders to Ahmed: "No buffet!" We went to a restaurant on the second floor, overlooking the main street, which adjourned the Nile. We had our choice of steak or chicken, and I went with the chicken. The chicken was roasted and at first looked like it had bones in it, but it turns out that it didn't. It was quite good.

After lunch we headed over to the Luxor Temple. It is much smaller than the Karnak Temple. The two are connected by a road lined by ram-headed sphinx. Much of the road has been buried and recently the government has been making efforts to restore it. This is something of a problem as much of the road is currently under roads and houses. So the Egyptian government is denying building and renovation permits for land adjoining the road and relocating people to other land when possible.

There are two sections to the temple. You enter at the newer section, built by Rameses II, which is to the North. Much of the older section has long been covered over and, in fact, a mosque was built on top of it, and is now about 20' in the air as a result of excavation of the temple.

After the Luxor Temple we headed back to the hotel. Becca scheduled a pedicure for 5:00 and we were to meet back in the lobby at 6:45 p.m. to head over to the sound and light show at Karnak Temple. Given the difficulty in having dinner in less that two hours, we decided to schedule room service for 6:00 so that we would have plenty of time to eat and get to the lobby.

Becca and I napped from 4:00 to 4:45, and then Becca went to her pedicure and I took a few sunset pictures. I even managed (inadvertently) to catch Anne and my mom in a boat at sunset (boat is on right side of picture at right). I ordered room service and scheduled it for 6:00 and then wrote in my journal for about an hour. Becca got back at 5:45 and dinner showed up at 6:10. I had the fried shrimp and fries and Becca had the homemade lasagna. The food was excellent, and the whole thing cost us about $25. We also managed to make it to the lobby in plenty of time. The hotel had an Internet terminal that cost £5 (less than $1) per 15 minutes, so we sent a couple of E-mails.

We headed back to the Karnak Temple for the sound and light show. They do three shows a night in a variety of languages. The English version is the middle show, at 7:30, on Saturday nights. The show lasts 90 minutes and the three shows overlap. So there were some lights going on in the back of the temple while we were waiting to start. We did not figure out that the shows overlapped until later, so the early lights made us wonder a bit.

We met up with some of the other people on the tour. They had gone to the Valley of the Kings in the afternoon, so we swapped stories about what was good. We also found out that a bus carrying Turkish tourists had gone into the canal, killing 4 and injuring 24.

The light show was interesting, if a bit long. The temple was certainly very nice when it was lit up. They traced through portions of Egyptian history and explained how parts of the temple were constructed. As we headed out we could hear the final show of the night going on.

We headed back to the hotel and I got back onto the Internet to send quick E-mails to my dad and Becca's parents to let them know, on the off chance the heard about the tourist bus, that we were still OK. Meanwhile, Becca asked the front desk if she could see a doctor. She was not really feeling better, and it seemed like a good idea to get it checked out. And what was the cost of a house-call at 10:00 p.m. on a Saturday night, plus four types of medicine? £300 ($50). Not too bad.

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