That evening we flew to Luxor, the ancient capital of Thebes. The flight was about one hour and fifteen minutes. We didn’t arrive at the hotel and have dinner until after 10:00 p.m. The hotel was the Mercure. Our room was hot, the air conditioning did not go on until about 2:00 a.m. but worked after that We spent two nights there.
The food in Egypt was presented so beautifully but we couldn’t eat the salads because the food is washed in Nile water which is ver contaminated. Because of the Aswan Dam, the river does not run as swiftly as before to cleanse itself. We were told not even to run our fingers in the water if we were riding in a boat. We could only eat cooked food and peeled food. The hotel in Cairo peeled their cucumbers so we could eat them. Once or twice I cut the outside off of the tomatoes and ate them. Our meals were mostly served buffet style and we had a choice of chicken, beef and some lamb which was delicious.
Thursday, July 9, we had breakfast at 7 a.m., our usual time, and took the bus to the Valley of the Kings, crossing the Nile on a new bridge opened just last year. Many people live on the West Bank of the Nile but no one in the area of the Valley of the Kings. We drove through a range of mountains to the valley and it is SO DESOLATE. Not a singe blade of grass or little weed grown there. We were able to visit three tombs, and then the tomb of Tutankhamen. His is the only mummy in the Valley of the Kings. It is encased in one of his three gold coffins, covered with glass. It is very hot and sunny there. No flies or bugs but many pests (vendors). Our guide in Luxor is Refat, very knowledgeable. He can read the hieroglyphics on the walls of the tombs and explained what was written.
After finding that pyramids could not keep out thieves, the pharaohs decided to build tombs, hiding the entrances, in the desolate desert. That didn’t work either. They then decided to place guards in front of their tombs but the guards did the stealing. There is a village perched on the side of the hills that the government wants to move out There is no running water and new modern housing was built for them. They won’t move because at night, illegally, they dig under their houses for old tombs and treasure.
We visited the Ramesseum, the temple of Ramses II. It is a very large complex with a huge statue of Ramses II lying on its side. It is the largest statue of him, made of rose granite.
We also saw the Colossi of Memnon. They really are the statues of Amenophis II, which stood outside a palace, destroyed in the earthquake of 27 b.c.
We drove by the monument of Queen Hatshepsut (we were told to say "Hot-Cheap-Suit" to remember how to say her name. We were not able to visit it; it was the sight of some shootings earlier in the year. It is a very beautiful monument, very different from any other in Egypt. Behind her monument one can see trails going over the mountain to the Valley of the Kings, the only way into the place in olden times. I could see Amelia Peabody trudging over these hills.
That evening we were supposed to take a sail in a felucca on the Nile. The river runs north and the winds blow south so one can usually go in any direction. That day there was no wind. We were pulled out from the bank by two fellows in galabeeyas, the long robes used by men, then one fellow, with rope in hand, hopped on anchored boats and pulled us out into the river. There a diesel-powered boat towed us up the Nile. The boat eventually was towing three sail boats and spewing out black, stinky smoke. After awhile we were turned loose but instead of going downstream with current, the fellows started rowing us towards the shore. I guess if we had just gone with the current we would have passed by our anchorage. When we finally got close to shore, out jumped one man again and started to pull us in towards the bank, again hopping on the anchored pleasure boats. They were anchored because tourism was way down and were not in use. It was quite hilarious watching the man pull the boat to shore. Instead of a sail on the Nile we had a tow on the Nile.
As we drove on the west bank we saw the houses where Lord Carnavron and Howard Carter lived while searching for tombs. In Luxor, we drove past the Winter Palace, a famous hotel, and the Chicago House.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Pyramids in Egypt
Our first visit was to the site of Memphis, an ancient capital of Egypt. There we saw a huge statue of Ramesis II. We then drove to Saqqara or Sakkara (in Egypt and Israel one finds several different spellings of the same word). There we went into a small pyramid of King Teti, then into a mastaba, a flat-topped tomb, of Mere Ruka, King Teti’s advisor. There were many paintings on the wall.
We then saw the famous step pyramid of King Zoser, built by his architect Imhotep. It was the first pyramid built. We visited a silk rug factory where children and adults were weaving rugs. The children range in age 8 to 12 and work 3 hours per day. We bought a small silk rug and they threw in a tiny rug too. The salesman spoke Spanish which surprised me. I found Spanish-speaking salesmen all through Egypt and Israel. On our tour we had two Spanish-speaking girls, one from Mexico and one from Guatemala. I did a lot of translating for them.
At a lunch at a restaurant, I had to use the restroom. Our guide called them "Temples of Comfort. After I came out of the stall a man came into the area where the wash basins were holding out his hand for his tip! He quite surprised me. Every restroom has an attendant that you have to tip. In some places the attendants tear off 5 or 6 squares of toilet paper and give it to you to use; none in the stall.
After lunch we drove to Giza to see the Great Pyramids. What a sight, so huge! The largest (Cheops) was closed for repairs but I was able to go inside the second largest, built by Cheffren, the son. There are other names for these two pharaohs but these are the ones I know. It was not considered good from to build your pyramid taller than your father’s so Chefren didn’t but he did build it upon a plateau so it actually looks taller. The smallest pyramid of the three was built by a grandson.
To go inside I had to walk bent over for a long distance, walking on a ramps that had little boards across it every foot or so. I had to walk down, then could walk upright for a short distance, then bent over going down again. Then I came to the chamber where the sarcophogus was. It was just a large, empty room with the stone sarcophogus as the only item in it. We then visited the museum that houses the Solar Boat. The guide said it was a mortuary or funeral boat. It was found in pieces right by the Great Pyramid about 20 years ago and was very large and impressive. It took three tries and many years to get it put together.
One of the fun things we did was to ride a camel. Leon’s driver had a turban for him to wear so he looks quite authentic in our pictures. The camels had only one stirrup, to help you get on. It is a funny sensation as the camel gets up in sections. First you go forward as his rump goes up, then you lean backwards and the front part goes up. Interesting.
We drove by the Sphinx. It is huge but not as big as I thought it would be. Most pictures are taken at such an angle that it is made to look almost as big as the pyramids but it isn’t. Right in front of it is a little round park and behind that the city with shops and streets. It surprised me how close they were to it.
We then saw the famous step pyramid of King Zoser, built by his architect Imhotep. It was the first pyramid built. We visited a silk rug factory where children and adults were weaving rugs. The children range in age 8 to 12 and work 3 hours per day. We bought a small silk rug and they threw in a tiny rug too. The salesman spoke Spanish which surprised me. I found Spanish-speaking salesmen all through Egypt and Israel. On our tour we had two Spanish-speaking girls, one from Mexico and one from Guatemala. I did a lot of translating for them.
At a lunch at a restaurant, I had to use the restroom. Our guide called them "Temples of Comfort. After I came out of the stall a man came into the area where the wash basins were holding out his hand for his tip! He quite surprised me. Every restroom has an attendant that you have to tip. In some places the attendants tear off 5 or 6 squares of toilet paper and give it to you to use; none in the stall.
After lunch we drove to Giza to see the Great Pyramids. What a sight, so huge! The largest (Cheops) was closed for repairs but I was able to go inside the second largest, built by Cheffren, the son. There are other names for these two pharaohs but these are the ones I know. It was not considered good from to build your pyramid taller than your father’s so Chefren didn’t but he did build it upon a plateau so it actually looks taller. The smallest pyramid of the three was built by a grandson.
To go inside I had to walk bent over for a long distance, walking on a ramps that had little boards across it every foot or so. I had to walk down, then could walk upright for a short distance, then bent over going down again. Then I came to the chamber where the sarcophogus was. It was just a large, empty room with the stone sarcophogus as the only item in it. We then visited the museum that houses the Solar Boat. The guide said it was a mortuary or funeral boat. It was found in pieces right by the Great Pyramid about 20 years ago and was very large and impressive. It took three tries and many years to get it put together.
One of the fun things we did was to ride a camel. Leon’s driver had a turban for him to wear so he looks quite authentic in our pictures. The camels had only one stirrup, to help you get on. It is a funny sensation as the camel gets up in sections. First you go forward as his rump goes up, then you lean backwards and the front part goes up. Interesting.
We drove by the Sphinx. It is huge but not as big as I thought it would be. Most pictures are taken at such an angle that it is made to look almost as big as the pyramids but it isn’t. Right in front of it is a little round park and behind that the city with shops and streets. It surprised me how close they were to it.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
start of trip to Egypt, 1998
In 1998, it was time for a new roof. We had lots of help but the person who stands out in my memory was Alan H. The day he came to help was very windy and threatened rain so he and Leon were up on the roof trying to put a large, blue tarp over the areas not covered with shingles. The wind blew the tarp around and it was very hard to get it finally down and fastened.
David Barlow was married in June to Elann Romney in the Salt Lake Temple. It is always a pleasure to attend a grandchild’s temple marriage. The reception was held in a chapel near the temple. It is the chapel with a stained glass window depicting the visit of the Father and the Son to Joseph Smith.
A wonderful trip had been planned and finally came to fruition. (I will be quoting from the journal I kept as it is hard to remember all the wonderful things we did and saw) It was a trip to Egypt and the Holy Land hosted by BYU. On Sunday, July 5, we spent the night at Nancy’s in Salt Lake and the next morning Ryan Barlow, who had been staying the summer with her, drove us to the airport. We met BYU travel people there who gave us our tickets and fanny packs. They had already given us two BYU blue carry-on bags. We had two suitcases to check plus the carry-ons.
We flew out at 8:15 a.m. and with a couple of stops, arrived at JFK airport in New York City, where we had a four-hour wait for the 9:50 p.m. flight to Cairo. Several of our fellow travelers knew people I knew. Our travel guide was BYU professor Monte Nyman. It was a very long flight and we arrived in Cairo around 3:30 p.m.
Our Cairo guide was Mohammed and he and the tour bus met us at the airport and drove us to our hotel in Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo. The city seemed to have many gray cement buildings, lots of them seemed unfinished. Many buildings had windows or shutters trimmed in lavender, blue, orange or green paint. There was a mixture of poverty and wealth, modern cars and little donkey carts.
Our hotel was a SuissOtel called El Salam, very fancy, a nice room but the toilet didn’t flush well. I had to fill a wastebasket with water to flush it. We advised the desk and it was later fixed. We had brought two little bottles of water so we could brush our teeth that night. We knew we would have to buy water every day. The cheapest was buying it from the bus driver. The currency is called pounds and the coins piasters. We soon found we had not brought enough $1 bills. Everything is "One Dollar or Two Dollar" pronounced "dollah".
The breakfast buffet was fabulous! There was a table with breads, cereals, and sweet rolls. A table with jams along side fresh fruit. A table with cold cuts and salads, and a table where you could have eggs fixed any way you wanted. There were potato cakes, beef sausage, crepes, pancakes, orange and sweet lemon juice. What a feast! We could only eat things that you could peel or were cooked, no raw foods.
Every morning on the bus we sang a hymn and had a prayer. I was chosen the music leader so I chose a hymn every morning and led the music. BYU had given us headphones so we could hear Bro. Nyman wherever we were. Such a blessing. Other tour groups we saw didn’t have the headphones and had a hard time hearing their guides, all trying to get close to their guide to hear.
David Barlow was married in June to Elann Romney in the Salt Lake Temple. It is always a pleasure to attend a grandchild’s temple marriage. The reception was held in a chapel near the temple. It is the chapel with a stained glass window depicting the visit of the Father and the Son to Joseph Smith.
A wonderful trip had been planned and finally came to fruition. (I will be quoting from the journal I kept as it is hard to remember all the wonderful things we did and saw) It was a trip to Egypt and the Holy Land hosted by BYU. On Sunday, July 5, we spent the night at Nancy’s in Salt Lake and the next morning Ryan Barlow, who had been staying the summer with her, drove us to the airport. We met BYU travel people there who gave us our tickets and fanny packs. They had already given us two BYU blue carry-on bags. We had two suitcases to check plus the carry-ons.
We flew out at 8:15 a.m. and with a couple of stops, arrived at JFK airport in New York City, where we had a four-hour wait for the 9:50 p.m. flight to Cairo. Several of our fellow travelers knew people I knew. Our travel guide was BYU professor Monte Nyman. It was a very long flight and we arrived in Cairo around 3:30 p.m.
Our Cairo guide was Mohammed and he and the tour bus met us at the airport and drove us to our hotel in Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo. The city seemed to have many gray cement buildings, lots of them seemed unfinished. Many buildings had windows or shutters trimmed in lavender, blue, orange or green paint. There was a mixture of poverty and wealth, modern cars and little donkey carts.
Our hotel was a SuissOtel called El Salam, very fancy, a nice room but the toilet didn’t flush well. I had to fill a wastebasket with water to flush it. We advised the desk and it was later fixed. We had brought two little bottles of water so we could brush our teeth that night. We knew we would have to buy water every day. The cheapest was buying it from the bus driver. The currency is called pounds and the coins piasters. We soon found we had not brought enough $1 bills. Everything is "One Dollar or Two Dollar" pronounced "dollah".
The breakfast buffet was fabulous! There was a table with breads, cereals, and sweet rolls. A table with jams along side fresh fruit. A table with cold cuts and salads, and a table where you could have eggs fixed any way you wanted. There were potato cakes, beef sausage, crepes, pancakes, orange and sweet lemon juice. What a feast! We could only eat things that you could peel or were cooked, no raw foods.
Every morning on the bus we sang a hymn and had a prayer. I was chosen the music leader so I chose a hymn every morning and led the music. BYU had given us headphones so we could hear Bro. Nyman wherever we were. Such a blessing. Other tour groups we saw didn’t have the headphones and had a hard time hearing their guides, all trying to get close to their guide to hear.
Monday, November 2, 2009
July 1997 trip back east
Time for another fabulous trip. In July 1997, we first went to the Romriells in Austin. We love visiting all of them and had fun enjoying their wonderful swimming pool. It is always like being at a resort to visit there. We headed east and visited the Shiloh Tennessee Civil War battlefield. We were given head phones so we could listen to all the information about the various places. we saw as we drove around the battlefield. We saw Pittsburgh Landing and the Shiloh church, they were prominent in that terrible battle. The first day, the South prevailed, the second day, the Union carried the battle.
We then went to Nashville, or rather White House, to visit Rob and Erika and family. The kids are really growing up. Rob gave us a tour of Starstruck, Reba’s publishing company. We then proceeded north, with Rob giving Leon a ride in a big semi-truck that he drives; I followed behind. After a few miles, we said goodbye to Rob and continued on into Kentucky.
We stopped at the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, KY and watched them build the cars. It was most interesting to see the cars roll off the assembly line, all ready to go. We also drove by the United States Bullion Depository Fort Knox Kentucky. That’s its official name. One can only look at the building from afar off. No samples!
In Fort Knox is the Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor. That was really interesting. Lots of different models of tanks, from very early models to huge modern ones. Also, lots of memorabilia of Gen George Patton, including his car and lots of pictures. Kentucky is so green, a beautiful state to drive through.
We continued on and arrived in St Louis, or Creve Coeur, where Mark and Sharon live Their three children had also really grown a lot. We were able to attend a session at the St. Louis Temple with Mark and Sharon. Then they, and their kids took us to Grant’s Farm. It used to belong to Gen. U.S. Grant and is now owned by Budweiser and has a huge Clydesdale breeding farm. There were other animals also, but the horses were what was so special. It was so fun seeing those beautiful horses. Then back home. Mom came back to live with us and we continued enjoying living in Mt. Pleasant.
We then went to Nashville, or rather White House, to visit Rob and Erika and family. The kids are really growing up. Rob gave us a tour of Starstruck, Reba’s publishing company. We then proceeded north, with Rob giving Leon a ride in a big semi-truck that he drives; I followed behind. After a few miles, we said goodbye to Rob and continued on into Kentucky.
We stopped at the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, KY and watched them build the cars. It was most interesting to see the cars roll off the assembly line, all ready to go. We also drove by the United States Bullion Depository Fort Knox Kentucky. That’s its official name. One can only look at the building from afar off. No samples!
In Fort Knox is the Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor. That was really interesting. Lots of different models of tanks, from very early models to huge modern ones. Also, lots of memorabilia of Gen George Patton, including his car and lots of pictures. Kentucky is so green, a beautiful state to drive through.
We continued on and arrived in St Louis, or Creve Coeur, where Mark and Sharon live Their three children had also really grown a lot. We were able to attend a session at the St. Louis Temple with Mark and Sharon. Then they, and their kids took us to Grant’s Farm. It used to belong to Gen. U.S. Grant and is now owned by Budweiser and has a huge Clydesdale breeding farm. There were other animals also, but the horses were what was so special. It was so fun seeing those beautiful horses. Then back home. Mom came back to live with us and we continued enjoying living in Mt. Pleasant.
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