Well I didn't make it to the hot air ballooning excursion this morning. Had a bit of a crusty might. Worrying about the world when I really shouldn't. Anyway, we got our luggage out and headed down for breakfast.

I'm just really happy to be leaving this crusty ship.

While we were eating the group arrived from the hot air ballooning excursion. They all said it was truly an experience. I'm sure they'll be plenty of hot air ballooning trips in my future.

Gladys called us to get our day of touring started. "Isis, let's go."

We started at Luxor temple. Seemed to be right in the middle of the strip. We got here before the sun started to get hot.

The Avenue of the Sphinx's stand guard as we walk in.

Luxor Temple is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the River Nile in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was founded in 1400 B.C.E. , Known in the Egyptian language as ipet resyt, or "the southern sanctuary", the temple was dedicated to the Theban Triad of Amun, Mut, and Chons and was built during the New Kingdom, the focus of the annual Opet Festival, in which a cult statue of Amun was paraded down the Nile from nearby Karnak Temple (ipet-isut) to stay there for a while, with his consort Mut, in a celebration of fertility - whence its name.

The earliest parts of the temple still standing are the barque chapels, just behind the first pylon. They were built by Hatshepsut, and appropriated by Tuthmosis III. The main part of the temple - the colonnade and the sun court were built by Amenhotep III, and a later addition by Rameses II, who built the entrance pylon, and the two obelisks (one of which was taken to France, and is now at the centre of the Place de la Concorde) linked the Hatshepsut buildings with the main temple.

To the rear of the temple are chapels built by Tuthmosis III, and Alexander. During the Roman era, the temple and its surroundings were a legionary fortress and the home of the Roman government in the area.

After touring, we load back up on the bus and head over to the Karnak Temple.

The history of the Karnak complex is largely the history of Thebes and its changing role in the culture. Religious centers varied by region and with the establishment of the current capital of the unified culture that changed several times. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the Eleventh Dynasty and previous temple building here would have been relatively small, with shrines being dedicated to the early deities of Thebes, the Earth goddess Mut and Montu. Early building was destroyed by invaders. The earliest known artifact found in the area of the temple is a small, eight-sided temple from the Eleventh Dynasty, which mentions Amun-Re. Amun (sometimes called Amen) was long the local tutelary deity of Thebes. He was identified with the Ram and the Goose. The Egyptian meaning of Amen is, "hidden" or, the "hidden god".

Major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the Eighteenth dynasty when Thebes became the capital of the unified Ancient Egypt.

Thutmose I erected an enclosure wall connecting the Fourth and Fifth pylons, which comprise the earliest part of the temple still standing in situ. Construction of the Hypostyle Hall also may have begun during the eighteenth dynasty, although most new building was undertaken under Seti I and Ramesses II.

Almost every pharaoh of that dynasty added something to the temple site. Merenptah commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court, the start of the processional route to the Luxor Temple.

Hatshepsut had monuments constructed and also restored the original Precinct of Mut, the ancient great goddess of Egypt, that had been ravaged by the foreign rulers during the Hyksos occupation. She had twin obelisks, at the time the tallest in the world, erected at the entrance to the temple. One still stands, as the tallest surviving ancient obelisk on Earth; the other has broken in two and toppled. Another of her projects at the site, Karnak's Red Chapel, or Chapelle Rouge, was intended as a barque shrine and originally, may have stood between her two obelisks. She later ordered the construction of two more obelisks to celebrate her sixteenth year as pharaoh; one of the obelisks broke during construction, and thus, a third was constructed to replace it. The broken obelisk was left at its quarrying site in Aswan, where it still remains. Known as The Unfinished Obelisk, it demonstrates how obelisks were quarried.

The last major change to Precinct of Amun-Re's layout was the addition of the first pylon and the massive enclosure walls that surround the whole Precinct, both constructed by Nectanebo I.

In 323 AD, Constantine the Great recognized the Christian religion, and in 356 ordered the closing of pagan temples throughout the empire. Karnak was by this time mostly abandoned, and Christian churches were founded amongst the ruins, the most famous example of this is the reuse of the Festival Hall of Thutmose III's central hall, were painted decorations of saints and Coptic inscriptions can still be seen.

Now after this day, only the Lord knows how tired of sweating I am. I ran for the bus, just to fall into my seat and open the vent, so that cold air could just blow down on my head. I can't imagine how many bottles of water I've drank.

I was so tired, I just knew I was not going to the Sound and Light show tonight, at the Karnak Temple. Besides too many of my Tripadvisor buddies, advised me to stay away. We made out way back to the hotel.

In Luxor, the City of Palaces, the accommodation should also be fit for a king. The 285 exclusive rooms and 19 suites of the Steigenberger Nile Palace are stylish and comfortable. Warm sand tones and generous architecture provide modern luxury in a pleasant, Middle-Eastern atmosphere.
Three restaurants are ready to surprise guests with first class, creative gourmet cuisine. The main restaurant, "The Nubian", offers a selection of local and international dishes in its buffet while the "El Tarboush" has a wide choice of Lebanese dishes. In the "Casa di Napoli" guests can enjoy authentic Italian cuisine in the heart of Luxor. Freshly made cakes, ice cream and fresh juices can be found in the "Café des Délices". The three bars are ideal meeting places for casual conversation when the work is done: the Pool Bar "Tropicana", the "Arabesque" with its aromatic shishas (water pipes) and the "Nile Bar and Lounge", where one can spend the day relaxing and enjoying the fabulous views over the Nile. A Thai Restaurant and a Saloon Bar.
This hotel is gorgeous. Our luggage was waiting for us in the lobby. We'd gotten our keys but the maintenance staff was mopping the floor in front of the elevator. I grabbed my bags and went around to the other elevators and headed up to my room. I just wanted to flop on my bed.
When I'd gotten upstairs, a young man was waiting to be of assistance. He brought my luggage in the room and opened the curtains. He put my large suitcase up on the luggage rack. Of course, I tipped him. These guys work hard and are very anxious to please.
Now for me, first things first. I changed my shoes and headed down to the business center. The guy there was very helpful. He said that internet in my room would be cheapest. Each hotel's internet is a bit higher than the last, but it's still worth every penny. Each hotel runs around $15 for 24 hours.
I waited for my call from the T-Shirt guy. He called promptly at 6 P.M. and I headed down to the lobby. I showed him the photo of the cartouche that Valorie wanted and he said that he could make it and deliver it tomorrow night. I paid them for the shirts which really look nice. I'm really pleased with them. And personalized with my name in a cartouche on the back of each, is really cool. $12 each. The other store where I could get no help wanted $18 each and that didn't include my name on the back of each.
I headed back up to my room and jumped in the shower. I had to get that heat off of me. I lounged around a bit and surfed a while, waiting for dinner. I also stepped out on the balcony to take some photos of the beautiful courtyard. The hotels are just gorgeous.
I check the tariff chart. This room runs between $175 to $225 per night. Hmmmmmmm. It's well worth it.

Ellen and I headed on down for dinner. We had to walk through the courtyard to the other side of the hotel. The air wasn't so hot at night.

We'd made out way to the dining room only to find other members of our group in an uproar. The staff was trying to have our group eat outside. Well, you all know, just getting off the ghetto ship, I was not about to eat outside. First, it wasn't exactly a cool breeze blowing, secondly we're in Africa and the flies are horendous. And I can't stand flies. After the women got these guys straight. They insisted that it was only because we had such a large group. Didn't matter, we also love air conditioning too.

We sat down to enjoy a wonderfully prepared buffet. It was huge. With lots of stuff I'd never eaten before. Presentation was outstanding. I actually had something other than potatoes tonight.

Drinks of course, weren't included, but I didn't mind, as I had the best iced tea, ever. It was served in a Tom Collins glass with ice and mint leaves. Ummm, Ummm good. $5 a glass and they added a tip to each one.

I didn't venture to the Karnak Temple for the Sound and Light Show this evening, heard it wasn't really worth the $55 anyway. We journeyed back to the room and I surfed a bit. I heard some noise in the courtyard and went over to take a look. There was a Sufi Dance Show going on there.

Ellen and I sat down in the seats on our small terrace and watched the show awhile. I started to get a bit warm and headed back into the room. The clothes I'd washed earlier, were just about dry. The air is so hot and dry, it doesn't take long. I thought this was a bit ghetto, but saw that most people had some type of clothing hanging on their terrace to dry.

I surfed a bit more, filled out my postcards, packed my backpack for tomorrow's excursions and called it a night.