Friday: After the mad rush to get to NY, then to the airport, we finally can relax as we fly across the Atlantic to Frankfurt and then onto Cairo - 7 hours & 4 hours hops. It is a balmy evening when we emerge from the airport, such a contrast to New York. The rep from Viking Cruises waits for us while we buy our Egyptian visas for $15, then together with another couple of our group, we make our way by mini van to the Sofitel al Gezirah, our home for the next 3 nights. Talk about another skilful driver! This 40 minute madcap ride will go down in our memories. The major road is wide but completely devoid of lanes or traffic lights even though it is intersected a number of times by roads out of which other drivers want to join our road. Like a lot of Asian countries, the biggest vehicles have priority, so we being in a mini van, were just a bit better off than someone in a little car or on a bicycle. There is barely a car which doesn't bear scars from road skirmishes. Seat belts rarely seem to be worn even though it is the rule that both driver and front seat passenger wear them. Utter chaos reigns, especially as it is Friday, the first day of the weekend and everyone is going out, all 9 million of Cairo's residents! Somehow our skilful driver manouvres us through the chaos and arrive at the very grand Hotel Sofitel right on the banks of the Nile which, at night, is very pretty. Our room on the 14th floor is a beautifully appointed super comfortable room. After having been on the move for over a day, we collapse into the luxurious bed for a very welcome sleep.

Saturday: At the meeting this morning all 10 of us are introduced to each other by Tarek, our tour guide. Even though this is basically a Viking River Cruise, our first 2 days are to be spent in Cairo before we fly to Luxor and join other similar small tour groups on the cruise. Apparently there were many more in our group originally, but after the latest uprising in Egypt just recently, quite a few Americans pulled out leaving just 8 of them plus us. First impressions of Cairo - crowded, chaotic, beautiful, lively and exciting.

It is warm and hazy, smoke haze we are told due to the practice of burning off which is supposed to be outlawed. Today we go first to a carpet school where young people are skilled in this traditional art of hand making carpets. We watch a demonstration of carpet making by one of the students and of course we can buy a carpet if we want to and will even get a 20% discount and free postage. Somehow I have heard this before. The silk and cotton/wool carpets are very beautful but we don't need one. However a lady from our group buys one for $3500. My concept of Egypt is changing rapidly as we drive along the dusty roads beside the filthy canal. Collection of rubbish is a public service problem in Cairo so people just dump it in the canal while others fish and swim in the same canal. After a traditional very tasty lunch, the time has come to go to see the pyramids. We are warned about the hawkers and they don't disappoint. They descend on us like vultures and even though we have learned to say "la shookran" which means no thank you, they just keep trying with every trick in the book to make you buy. We visit the oldest pyramid so far discovered, at Sakkara known as the Step Pyramid, before visiting the pyramids at Giza. Earlier this morning, it was quite hazy so seeing anything much in the distance was very difficult but now, the haze has lifted and we are suddenly confronted by this massive edifice in front of us. Everyone says how surpised they are by its size, but I am still surprised even though I know. We marvel at the engineering and mathematical know-how the ancient Egyptians had as we fight off an ever-increasing number of hawkers peddling everything from dancing camels to postcards ...... the downside of tourism. It is here that Brad chats to a hawker after dismissing him with his almost perfect "la shookran". It turns out the man lived in Melbourne for a few years. He compliments Brad on his wife saying that "she would be worth 15 camels! That has to be one of the strangest compliments I have ever had. I'm still not sure if it was complimentary or not!

Nearly all of our group go for camel rides - so much fun. This is included in our tour so we have no fear of being left out in the desert unless a large tip is paid as we have heard happens occasionally. The last port of call is the Sphinx where the crowd is even bigger than at the pyramids.

Dinner is a buffet at the hotel, where we sample some of the huge array of Egyptian delicacies on offer, some really tasty, others not quite so good. The variety is incredible making it easy for even the most picky of eaters to find something to their liking.