Unfortunately our Tour Company for Egypt booked flights, Paris to Rome to airo instead of direct Paris to Cairo. Of course when we got to Cairo one of the bags was missing. It had to be the one with our clothes, not the one with the boys goodies etc! We have been wearing the same clothes for 1.5 days and just couldn’t face another day in them.

I just couldn’t see myself buying a new wardrobe in Cairo.All long and heavy with matching scarves

The first night at our hotel, there was a huge Wedding on the outside pool deck, below our balcony. The music was deafening. I don’t know how the wedding guests coped. We certainly didn’t. Darren who never complains called the Desk twice. It was still going at midnight. Unbelievable.

We are off to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx this morning.

Woken up this morning at 3.00am by a call. They found the bag. Hurray!!Great they found the bag but did they need to call soooooo early!!

Clean clothes.

Down to breakfast. The best ever. Darren is in heaven. Hot Pita Bread and all those strange things he likes.Strawberry Juice – I could become addicted.

Walked the streets of Cairo last night. Very noisy but friendly.

Went to Giza to see the 3 Pyramids. There are hardly any Tourists here in Egypt so it was terrific. Uncrowded, little traffic and easy to see everything.

Then we went to the old capital Memphis to see the giant statue of Rameses111. What a spunk. He only had one wife until she died. After he then had 42 more and had 163 children – busy boy.

The area is surrounded by Date Palms and is very lush. Crops and vegetables are grown all around the district. It is now considered to be part of the countryside. Kids riding on donkeys

And crazy drivers. There can be no more building in this area as they believe ancient tombs and treasures and buried in the area.

The people are so happy now and only want the tourists to return. It is their livelyhood. The army who is running Egypt is searching for the “lost” billions all over the world. Our guide who is also an Egyptologist was fantastic.

Tomorrow we fly to Luxor to board a big boat. Time to relax.

The MS Royal Lilly was fine. We had a nice Cabin with a full window to vuew the passing banks. They were very green with crops and Date Palms in places and just desert with small mountains in other parts.

We stopped at Luxor the first day to see the Temple of Luxor and the Temple of Karnack. Both were amazing. Its just wonderful to be in the midst of Ancient History.

Next morning a 3.30am wakeup call to go Hot Air Ballooning. Off the boat, onto a small wooden boat, across the River Nile, into a small bus and then to the balloon site. Fantastic to watch them fill the balloons and see them stand vertically. A few instructrions by the Pilot, climb into the basket (16 peoplke in each) and off.

Just wonderful to see the Valley af the Kings and Queens from above together with Queen Hatshepsut’s grand temple.

The Architecture of this is amazing. We got to 3000’ and not scary at all. The only sound was when the gas cylinders were ignited.The dawn was fantastic!! The sun was huge and the red sky very beautiful. We could see for miles. A highlight of our trip.Landing was amazing. As there was little breeze the pilot was able to guide us back to our take off spot with a gentle landing.

From the balloon we went to visit Hatshepsut’s Temple. The temperature was rising and it was becoming extremely hot.The temple was very beautiful with tall columns carved with lotus flowers and papyrus. Hieroglyphic’s cut deep into the stone and carvings coloured with bright blues, yellows and reds. These were 5000 years old. Unbelievable.

On the way out you are surrounded by souvenir and trinket sellers. They are everywhere.

Then to the Valley of the Kings. We went down into some tombs. They are cool and beautifully decorated with carvings. We had a guide for the whole time explaining all that we were seeing. Our last stop for the day was the Valley of the Queens. The temperature was soaring. This is where Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamen’s Tomb in 1922. It is the only tomb in Egypt that was not robbed. It was found with all his treasures for the afterlife, his mummy, golden casket etc.

Today his mummy and inner coffin is still on display in his tomb. Most of the other treasures are in the Cairo Museum.

New pics Soon!!