Friday, April 03, 2009

Aswan, Egypt

Today was basically a free day for me.

This morning there was an optional tour to Abu Simbel. It seemed quite pricey to me and so I opted out. Those who went had to get up at 4 am, leave the hotel at 5 am, fly to Abu Simbel, look at the monument and return to Aswan in time for lunch at noon. The price was $250. Instead, I got up at 5:30, called Pat and went back to bed from 7:30 to 10:00 and even skipped breakfast.

We met for lunch and went to a Nubian Restaurant. More of the same—okra, eggplant & chicken. Pat would starve to death here!

Back in the room I took yet another 2 ½ hour nap. I probably won't sleep a wink tonight. I uploaded a few more photos and while looking at my photos I realized that a few years ago I scanned my grandmother's trip slides. Sure enough there was the file of her trip to Egypt in 1963. It was interesting to see that she had been to all of the same places I am going to. Since tomorrow is my camel ride to a monastery, I selected the photo of my grandmother (in her dress!) riding her camel at the Pyramids as the wallpaper on my desktop.