Viking Tour of Egypt
                                October 2010

First morning, Cairo and the Nile from our hotel room.




This is a step pyramid, which is older than the great pyramids.




Mandatory tourist photo with pyramids in the background.




We were cautioned that somewhere in Egypt there may be an honest camel driver,
but watch out. One of their tricks is to take you out into the desert for the
agreed-upon fee, then demand more money to take you back. However, our tour
guides were locals and put them on their best behavior.




Largest of the three great pyramids.




I wanted to get a shot of the policeman at the base of the pyramid to show the size
of the blocks of the great pyramid, but the camera moved all on its own a bit to
the right.




The Sphinx.




We visited the Alabaster Mosque of Mohammed Ali in the Citadel (Cairo).




We took a balloon ride in Luxor. Here they are firing up our balloon, with the
basket lying on its side.




Getting ready to take off. The lady next to Ginger is Margaret, and behind
Margaret is Adrienne. Both are musicians. Adrienne is an organist with a Masters
from Eastman, and Margaret has a Masters in piano from the University of Illinois.
We enjoyed their company throughout our tour.




Temple of Hatshepsut, viewed from the balloon ride. We visited this later.




On either side of the Nile is a band of green, running the length of Egypt. This
view from the balloon shows the sharp line between the green areas and desert.




Many balloons!




The Nile, from the balloon.




Climbing in and out of the basket of the balloon was not easy. People who could
not manage it were lifted in and lifted out at the end of the ride.




Back on the ground, Ginger in front of the Temple of Hatshepsut.




Vivian, our enthusiastic guide throughout the tour. She gave excellent
explanations of what we were seeing.




We were staying on one of our two ships that day, and when we got back, we
found that the attendants had made up our room and used a blanket to create this
crocadile. They put Ginger's green bag of dried fruit in its mouth. The next day, it
was an elephant!




Jim, enjoying the good life cruising on the Nile.




Everywhere we went we were besieged by vendors. Here they came out to the
ship on boats. They would throw something up onto the deck, and they wanted
people to take it and then throw down money.




There was a Galabeya party on the ship. Galabeyas are dresses worn by both men
and women. For men, they are very plain and loose fitting, comfortable in very
hot weather. Ginger bought one to wear for the party and that she can wear
around the house at home.




This is the entrance to one of the many temples that we saw. The scenes depicted
on the left and right of the entrance are identical. At the bottom right, the figure
represents the king smiting his enemies in the presence of one of the gods. It is
doubtful if we saw a single temple without such a scene.




The temples consist typically of a series of chambers. This is the inner-most
chamber. The small house on the middle would have held a statue of the god
to whom the temple is dedicated.




Ginger and friend. This is at the temple at Edfu, which is particularly well
preserved. The black granite statue is the god Horus, who is represented with
the head of a falcon.




The column on the right is a section of an Egyptian calendar. The vertical bar
represents one, the arch represents 10. The top entry has two bars and two arches,
representing the 22-nd day of the month. Below it is the 23-rd, 24-th, etc. There is
a special symbol for the 9 in 29, and below that is the last day of the 30-day month.




Ginger, on our falucca ride on the Nile. A falucca is a kind of sail boat.




On the Aswan high dam. The monument in the distance marks one end of
the dam and represents a lotus flower. There are actually two dams at Aswan;
a nearby low dam was built by the British.




Jim and Ginger on the Aswan high dam.




We were on one ship below the Aswan high dam, another above the dam. This is our
ship, the Prince Abbas, above the dam.




Sunset on Lake Nasser, shot by Ginger.




We bought this papyrus, which we will probably frame and hang in our dining
room. Ginger saw a demonstration of how papyrus is made.




We watched some large raptors on Lake Nasser.




The temples are filled with hieroglyphics and scenes such as this one, where the
figure on the right is offering incense to the gods seated on the left.




Three scorpians. This picture cost me $1. At this site there were men handling
scorpians and other critters. If you took a photo, you were expected to pay them
something.




Fishermen with nets on Lake Nasser.




Abu Simbel: Temple of Nefertari, queen to Ramses II, viewed from our ship as we
approached the site.




Great temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, viewed from the ship. Look at the
people to get an idea of the scale. The temple on the inside is very extensive. All
of this was cut from a solid rock. It was all going to be flooded by Lake Nasser
when the Aswan high dam was built. Fifty nations, including the U.S., came together
to save it. They cut the statues and entire temple into blocks and moved the blocks
to high ground.




The four colossi in front of the temple are all of Ramses II. Between his legs are
figures of his children, and his wife is the figure on the left.




Ginger at the Temple of Ramses II.