EGYPT! Cairo, and Luxor

When we arrived in Egypt I was amazed. I never expected it to be so how would I say this modern? No. More like Europeanized (if that’s the word). We drove on the right side, the steering wheel was on the right side but if it sounds like the U.S.A. it was not anything really close. Well maybe some parts. When we arrived at the airport we got a taxi and headed for the Marriot Hotel. When we got there after a long drive in traffic we tried to check in but they wouldn’t let us and said that we had reservations t the other Marriot Hotel, Marriot JW, on the other side of town. We weren’t happy about this, especially because we had to pay like 40$ for the ride there, but we dealt with it and when we got to the hotel were amazed about how nice it was. The beds were soooo comfortable (I was really happy about that because we had been sleeping on rock hard beds for the past 2 countries). It took about 20 min. to walk to our room because it was such a big hotel. I mean by big like it had 5 swimming pools, 5 restaurants, a bunch of shops, a 9 hole golf course, a water slide, a few kids playgrounds, and like 3,000 rooms. My sister, mom, and I explored a little then my sis went back to the room with my dad and my mom and I went to dinner at a nice Italian food place. The next day we had breakfast at a really nice but really expensive breakfast buffet, checked out, and then headed to our net hotel (the one booked before our cruise). There we relaxed, read, got internet (YAY!), drank fruity drinks, and then my sister and I got to get a horseback riding lesson. Allysha just rode around but I was really being taught how to post and man it’s kind of hard at first but after a little bit of practice it get easier. I can honestly say my back side and legs hurt the next day (and maybe the one after that). The next day at 2 in the morning we had to wake up, put our bags outside, go for a quick meeting about our cruise, got on the bus, and drove to the airport. We flew to Luxor and then there got on our ship. We met our awesome guide Hanan and the most awesome handler person, Hanny. After a few min. on the ship we got on the tour bus and headed to the Valley of the Kings! It was absolutely amazing! We saw Ramses the 3rd, 4th,and 9th’s tombs. Then my sister and I ran back to the ticket counter to get tickets to see no one other but King Tutanhames (King Tut’s) tomb! It was really tiny but awesome! It was special because King Tut’s body was actually in the tomb (which is special because he’s usually on tour). But to see him in his actual tomb! How many people can honestly say that? All in all the tombs were amazing! The artwork and hieroglyphics were beautiful. And the fact that they are still intact is amazing! Next we got back in the bus and headed for the Valley of the Queens. The only queen tomb we saw was Queen Titi’s. It wasn’t as nice as the king’s but it still was pretty awesome! In the Valley of the Queens we also got to see Queen Nefertiti’s Stepson’s tomb. It was the best tomb because most of it was still intact. The colors were amazing, and vibrant! After the Valley of the Queens we hopped back on the bus and went to Queen Hapshepsut’s temple. It was really neat because it was built into a mountain. Only the front part was available for us to access but it still was amazing! After the temple we went to the alabaster making place and saw how they made the alabaster things (which is the main industry besides tourism and agriculture). All of us (us meaning the people on the cruise as well as my family) were hungry so we got on the bus, stopped at some statues for a picture, went to the ship, got our rooms (which were nice for it being a small ship), and then got lunch. After lunch we went to see the Karnac Temple (the biggest complex of temples). It was huge and amazing. It was originally covered with soil from the Nile. There was an artificial lake, lots of pillars, lots of carvings and sculptures, and a few obelisks. After that it was dark but we headed to a temple and it was beautiful with the moonlight on it. It was kind of hard to see it because it was dark but it still was neat. Then we got on the bus and headed to the ship where we had dinner and all went to bed early (unless you went to the night show which I heard was lame and which we didn’t go to).That night we set sail (well it didn’t really have a sail but you know what I mean) heading south.