trip to Luxor

Forget what I said about no laundry on Tuesdays, or homework on Saturdays. There's just too much going on next week for that nonsense! Museums and Cairo will just have to wait.

Everything worked out for the Luxor trip! We left on Thursday evening, first class tickets, and arrived in Luxor at 8am(??) on Friday. There was a travel/tourist information building across the street from the train station so we went there (very nice bathrooms) and talked to a woman about what to do. We had no solid plan. We walked to the Nile and boarded a ferry to the other (west) side where we went to Valley of the Kings and saw three tombs and then Queen Hatshepsut's tomb which is sometimes called Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple. I hopped a fence/gate and went into the temple and got caught but everything's okay! I can tell you that story later ;) After the ferry ride back to the other (east) side we lunch and it was so-so. Next we headed to Karnak Temple, that was huge. These places are pretty spread out and have walls or artifacts that you can reach out and touch, not much security. No photographs were allowed at the Valley of the Kings but I managed to snap a few. It so so so so so amazing how well preserved these places are. Especially at Valley of the Kings, these tombs (that have been raided of course) have walls and walls of depictions of the Pharaoh doing his thing and the gods/goddesses who love him for it. Some walls did have a glass fence so protect them, but definitely not all.

inside Hatshepsut's tomb! EEk!!

After Karnak we waited for a train ride home. We boarded second class at 7pm. Cairo had a time change so we arrived very early, 5am but felt like 4am (because of the time change!). We weren't in Luxor for long, only one day. And we went to three places, there are probably 15 times as many awesome things to see there, so I'd definitely like to take a trip back. It doesn't have to be soon, however, just some time before I die.

Tonight I saw the Taming of the Shrew, our theatre arts people did a production of it. It was pretty good! We dressed up, which is always fun. This weekend I might go to a museum though, and perhaps a birthday party. I guess it depends on where I am with the three presentations and four essays. Wish me luck! I love you a lot.

sunrise back at campus. [Cairo skies making me smile]