I will combine my final two days since few sites were visited in Cairo and Alexandria that even compare to the earlier portion of my trip. The 29th in Cairo (after I slept a bit from my early arrival) was a tour by car from Romel. He was the same driver I had for the Pyramids. He dropped me off in Coptic Cairo and I visited the Hanging Church, Church of St. Barbara, Greek Orthodox Church of St George and my favorite was the cemetery shared by them with its elab...

The unintended sixish hour drive to Luxor was great minus all the speed bumps in our worn out minibus. The stops at the Temple of Kom Ombo and especially the Temple of Horus in Edfu were a real bonus. Thank you felucca captain for sleeping in and making me miss my train. I owe you one. Kom Ombo is a Greco-Roman temple from the 2nd century BC split for two gods; the Falcon God and the Crocodile God. Bummer the crocodile museum was closed. It evidently houses 40 ...

The Cairo to Aswan train takes ~12 hours and it is difficult to sleep. The train stops often and locals like to talk loud and angry on their cellphones. It was surprisingly cold but wearing my sweater and using my little down jacket as a blanket worked great while teeth around me chattered (my new Mammut down coat rocks for these trips). Arrived and one of many "guides" was yelling Clin-Tone. He, two Swedish guys traveling the world and I walked to the nearby h...

12/22-23/2011 The flight went well. All those days of travel at home paid off and Air France Business Class was sweet. A long layover in LA allowed me to get some work done before rushing to the LAX Marriott and checking my work laptop, charger, phone, etc. until I return. Good idea, eh? Flew to Paris in style, hung out in the Air France Lounge and boarded for Cairo. I lost a day in travel since I am now 12 hours ahead of PST. Landed Cairo at 7:00 p.m. on the...