Luxor April 25th- 27th

As you walk into the Karnak temple, with the hot Egyptian sun beating on your back, you look to your left and right. You see sphinxes with the head of a ram staring at you with a straight face as if watching you and guarding the temple. It makes you feel a bit paranoid because they look as if they are ready to jump out at you at any moment!

You rush through to the next room but still you see more statues. These are statues of Ramses II, bearing whips and looking at the Eastern sun. Beyond Ramses, you gaze at two large statues with pointed tops. These are obelisks. They have hieroglyphs and pictures all over them! You think to yourself and then you become conscious of the fact that the Washington monument looks just like these. You walk to the next room and see star shaped carvings on the ceiling. You look around and see scenes of ancient Egyptians all over the walls. When you walk outside and around the small cave there are carvings by Alexander the great. But in these pictures, he presents himself as an Egyptian not as a Greek. Next, you walk into an open courtyard with a large stone building in the back. You decide to go inside of the building and as you walk in you recognize a statue but you just can't put your finger on it. Then you realize, of course the statue looks like the crucifixion statue of Jesus Christ. This was added after the Egyptian times and during the Roman period, as a monument to Christ's crucifixion.

When you look at the ceiling of the building you see that the colors are still in tact. Then you walk around and you find it… The Obelisk of queen Hatshepsut lays just outside the temple. It has pictures of the queen on it represented as a man so that she could gain respect of her people as a pharaoh. It was knocked over when Thutmosis (queen Hatchepsut's step son) was destroying queen Hatschepsut's monuments.

You get out of the trance and go over to look at a large lake. This was probably used as a bath for the Egyptians. Finally, you decide to leave because you're tired and hot. So you take one last look at some of the structures and you head back to the hotel.

That night you take a horse drawn buggy to Luxor temple. From a distance and even up close it is amazingly beautiful. Going inside, you see that there are only few structures but it is still a nice temple. To the left you see a row of sphinxes again. You almost shudder at this sight. During the visit our guide explained the following: Slaves did not build some of the great Egyptian monuments such as Karnak, Luxor, and the great pyramids of Giza. At the time of Moses they did not yet have slaves because they were not at war with anybody and capturing slaves.

You sigh as you head home in the buggy.

The next day you put on your glasses as you step out of the air-conditioned bus into the hot sun. First you walk through the museum of the Valley of the Kings then you take a tram to the real thing! You walk through the gate and see all of the (63) tombs around you! The first thing you think of is Tutankhamen's tomb. So you look at a few other tombs but when you get to Tut's you go inside and look around with astonishment. It looks just like the books in social studies but… really here! Then you gasp as you realize that just to your left is the real king lying there! When you walk out you know that this is something you will remember forever! Lastly you go inside of the first tomb ever found in the valley and you get to see the whole thing.

When you're done there, you head down to the temple of Queen Hatshepsut. You quickly walk up the stairs and through the door. Inside is a small sort of shrine and you gaze at a particular one on the left because it still has color and it is beautiful. Then you look up and it hits you, the temple is built into the side of a mountain and the mountain is practically leaning above you! You run out of there with a sigh of relief. Then you walk down the stairs and see the shrines for Amon to your left and right. They are a bit destroyed but they are very interesting. You then get on a boat on the Nile River and sail back to the hotel for a rest.

Later you go to the mosque of Muhammad Ali (not the boxer). When you get inside you must respect the Moslem people so you take off your shoes. You browse through the mosque and see that it is very impressive for a religious place and it is astounding that this type of religious place is so beautiful. As you walk outside you can almost imagine what it looks like during a prayer ceremony with hundreds of people. You look around and get almost a tranquil peaceful sensation. Then you get lunch at a calm park/restaurant. Check in with us when we go back to Cairo and to Alexandria!

RS