Cruising Lake Nasser and Hieroglyphs, 6 October 2018

Cruising Lake Nasser and Hieroglyphs

After a good night’s sleep we arise at 6:45am  in time to dress and watch the boat depart from Abu Simbel. We have some extraordinary views of the temples from the lake, with an offshore breeze. We gather in a meeting room with AC and nice views for the long-awaited lecture on hieroglyphs Hassan has promised us. He has written each person’s fame in hieroglyphs, Arabic, and English, as a way to introduce the letters. He spells each name and give the meaning behind the letter (personal characteristics based on his own research) and hands out the sheets. He tells us which symbol goes with which letter:

D is the hand
As is an eagle
V is really f which is the viper
I is two stones
D is the hand
S is door lock
O is the baby quail
N is the wave of the Nile
E is a feather
W and o and u are the same sound which is the baby quail
Y is double e which is double feather
J is a snake
U and o sometimes is a flower
T is half moon
H is a house
P is a door,
L is the lion
M is the owl
C is basket
R is lips
B is a foot and leg
D  is hand
F is viper
G is a jar stand

Hieroglyph means the holy script or the script of priests, in Greek. The symbols are natural elements. Hieroglyph is not a language but a script, and was named hieroglyph. Ancient Egyptians were the first who had a written language, and it took thousands of years to formalize this. Writing is taking sounds translated into letters. Drawing is how they started to do this, and eventually the word nehet relates to the picture of a tree, or per relates to the picture of a house. Then to do verbs and adjectives, such as legs for walking but a rabbit for running or the adjective fast. Verb to find is the egret finding a worm. Giraffe is the verb to see ahead. Ancient Egyptians had giraffes, lions, elephants, etc. because desert became savannah during the rainy season. So the two legs and feet toward a house means I went home, two legs and feet turned away from the house means I left home.

What is the relation between the letter and the sound? Ancient Egyptians invented this relationship, thus eagle is A, etc. but it takes a long time to write like this, so it was it for walls of temples and tombs, official writings, but for shorter less formal writing, something simpler was needed. When papyrus came into being around 3,000BC, where they could use a feather and pen and ink to write quickly in cursive, began the use of a simpler script called Hieratic, which means shorthand. For example, the letter A is simplified to just the outline of the eagle, a single wavy line. Demotic then means the people’s hand, the most simple version. Then the Greeks come, Alexander the Great conquers Egypt, and they write Egyptian Greek script called Coptic (but Coptic is not a language). Egyptians had to learn Coptic to communicate, just as we transliterate Arabic into English letters. Coptic is still used in the Egyptian Christian church which is how Champollion was able to figure out the Rosetta Stone, which was written in hieroglyphs, hieratic, and demotic, thus he could decode it.

Numbers are a different story, and we will see this in a temple. 1 is a single stroke, two is two strokes, up to 8 strokes, at 9 there is a new symbol a split circle, 10 is like a horseshoe, 100 is a folded cloth 1,000 is a vase on a stand, 10,000 is a bent finger, 100,000 is a frog, 1 million is a seated man with arms up.

Why are there scenes on walls of temples? These are about offerings, the relationship between people and their god or goddess, with the king representing the people. There is always something given from the hand of the king, flowers, bead, jars, even tables laden with items. You will never see the god empty handed, the god will always have something in the pictures as the king makes an offering. The Egyptians did not have a currency, they did barter, so there is always an exchange. In the religion, they believe that when they give the gods something, the gods will give them something, or to get something from the god you need to please the god. What is in the hands of the god is not something material but is symbols, while people give materials to the god, why? They receive from the god life, stability, victory, peace, etc, because the religion is made up by priests, who receive the offerings and they give back something psychological. This kept people connected, and they used symbols of the most important things they need. Most religions have priests which serve as intermediaries, except for Islam (somewhat changed by misinterpretations of the religion). The relationship between the people and the gods goes though the priests.

The ankh is the noun life, or the verb to live or the adjective living, and the gods will always be holding an ankh, as the god guarantees life. Often the god is pointing the ankh toward the king. The ankh is the key of life in terms of symbol according to some, others say the key of life is the shape of the Nile. The delta plus the area into the Mediterranean is the circle, a long branch is the verticality of the Nile, and the horizontal part separates upper and lower Egypt. The Nile is the source of all water, as it does not rain in Egypt, and it creates arable land through flooding and silt. Without the Nile and flooding, there is no life, such as the seven lean years of the Bible, as Herodotus said, “Egypt is the gift of the Nile.” The other thing we see in the hands of the king is a staff, called was, which is authority. In some temples we see the ankh surrounded by two staffs above a half circle neb which means lord of, so these together which means lord of life and authority of the king. The god gives the king life and authority over his people. The king is the agent of the people with the gods, if the Nile does not flood and there is famine, the king gets the blame.

The white crown symbolized upper Egypt, the red crown symbolized lower Egypt. When united into a single crown, it shows unification, one of the most important things to clarify. If the king is shown with one crown, there will also be ones of the king with the other crown. The lotus flower is also like the shape of the Nile, which also related to life and guarantees resurrection and eternal life. Ancient Egyptians believed they would be resurrected through a lotus flower, and they needed to smell the scent to be able to come back, to make that connection. The lotus is the symbol of upper Egypt, and papyrus is the symbol of lower Egypt. Papyrus is used for paper, boards, baskets, hats, and more. If a scene shows lotus and papyrus together it also shows unification.

The duck with the solar disk is a title for the king, which is sa ra, son of the god Ra. In a cartouche this would also be shown before the King’s family name. Then the honeybee and barley plant means king of upper and lower Egypt. The king’s cartouche always had two parts, the family name under the duck and solar disk, and the the new coronation name under the bee and barley, something like the lion hearted, the brave, etc. The coronation name is frequently used, other times the family name. The name Rameses is the family name because Champollion could only read the family name, not the royal name.  Tutankhamun is known by his coronation name, because Howard Carter saw the royal cartouche first, thus this is how he is known. The cobra is often seen on walls, representing Wadjet, the goddess who protects lower Egypt, and the vulture Nefret who is the protection for upper Egypt. These two together also make the title king of upper and lower Egypt. We know the cobra as dangerous so we tend to see it more prominently than the vulture. No one can have these creatures on his forehead except the king, even if they had a golden mask like Tutankhamun. These creatures protect them from the same animal, thus worshiping a cobra protects them from cobra, the crocodile god protects them from crocodile, etc. The vulture with the wings at right angles will always be with the king, protecting him from above, one wing straight, one wing down, and holding the ring symbol shen, for protecting the king, whose name is protected inside the symbol of protection, and to fit this inside it is stretched out to an oval to become the cartouche. The vulture is the female, the male is the eagle. Champollion called this cartouche because it looked like the French word for the cartridge of a rifle. As a circle it is protection, as an oval it is a cartouche, and this came about around 2,500 BC.

The scarab symbolizes the god of creation and the symbol of resurrection and good luck, thus one of the most important amulets that people would wear.  Every creature gives life by giving birthing or laying eggs, but they had never seen a scarab giving birth or laying eggs, only the balls of dung from which emerged the scarab. Inside the dung was the egg but they could not see it, so it seemed that the scarab created himself. As the solar disk comes up at dawn and hides itself at sunset, thus a massive scarab was viewed as  pushing the sun disk through the sky, and at night they hide the sun in the reeds. Resurrection became how the sun emerges and dies every day and is reborn. The good luck aspect is because the annual four month of flood is follow by four months of cultivation followed by four months of dry. During the the dry season the scarab would dig a hole in the wet bottom, and they would be the first to emerge from the Nile bed a few days before the flood and the scarabs were seen running up the shore to signal the arrival of the flood. Thus the King stamps every decree with a scarab as a symbol of good luck, the harbinger of the flood.

The eye of Horus is a protection from evil, not the evil eye, although it has spread to Greece and Turkey, and somehow became called the evil eye. Good and evil were symbolized by Osiris and Seth, brothers but Osiris is king, Seth skills Osiris, then his wife Isis goddess of fertility, she conceived a baby after Osiris is killed, she gives birth to the falcon Horus, who grows up to get his uncle Seth. She protects the young Horus with her magic. Seth notices that Horus is always ready for him, he realized that Horus is a falcon who sees Seth’s preparation from above, spying on him. Seth decided to trick Horus, he did nothing to prepare for the next battle, and to blind Horus. Seth tries to blind Horus in one eye and throws it into the darkness, Horus puts his hand over his bleeding eye, he cries to Isis for help, but this was beyond her powers. She had to call for the god Thoth the doctor god, who goes to look for the eye. He finds it in darkness in 16 pieces, he picks up the pieces of the eye in his hand. Sometimes this is tattooed on people’s palm every today. To put his eye back, Thoth would have to use all his healing power to heal it, so he says to Horus, from now on, I will be god of writing, and your eye will have the healing power.  So the eye of Horus means healing and has eternal protection, thus the meaning of protection. Sometimes the eye of Horus is combined with the cobra and wing of the vulture for ultimate protection.

Every single doorway of a temple has the spread wings, which protects against devils, without exception. At his is presented by the solar disk and the two wings of the falcon with two cobras. The gods had to agree by consensus about who is king, but Ra continues to disagree about putting Horus on the throne. In one instance, the goddess is dancing for the god Ra, taking off various items, Ra is is a good mood so listens about Horus. She tells Ra that Seth was capturing all the temples in Egypt, and they would simultaneously attack them, Ra then asks Horus to lend his wings to fly over Egypt, and with Horus’ wings he reflects the fire of Ra and the cobra would finish off who ever was left, but A few escaped so evil is never really gone. Thus the cobra and Horus and Ra together protects temples and tombs etc.

After the lecture we approach Kasr Ibrim. Kasr means palace in Arabic. Th Arabs who came further into the desert were not aware of temples, they lived in tents and did not have constructions of stone, so  anything built of stone was a palace. The biggest collection of buildings was at Luxor.  Al Akser means palaces in plural, from which the name Luxor is derived. The ancient name of the city was the word Was, symbol of authority. Arabs of the period began calling it Luxor. In between  the Greeks called it Thebes the hundred gated city. Also the word luxury derives from Luxor. There was a fortress called Ibrim which was a checkpoint on the trade route from Nubia, at a great bend in the river where boats had to slow down or even stop, thus the perfect place for a fortress, which goes back to Thuthmosis III. Octavian in  25 BC fought the Egyptians, he gets to Kasr Ibrim, constructed the fortress to be the border at Egypt and Nubia. It was called Primus meaning first, become Ibrim in Arabic. When the high dam was built, the lake swallowed the area and it became an island of which we can only see the top. Trade in this area was mostly animals, ivory skins, spices, birds, feathers. In return Egypt gave them wood work (the wood came from Lebanon and was carved in Egypt), crops, cotton, wheat and barley, papyrus, and beer and wine. Egyptians invented beer, and for workmen, two things were guaranteed, meat and beer. When Christianity came to Egypt, Nubians converted later, by the 7th century they went to the top of the fortress and built a cathedral which became the seat of the bishops of Nubia which became a pilgrimage site. While Islam came to Egypt in the 7th century, it came to Nubia in the 10th. People all converted, they just changed the icons to show the direction to Mecca and it became a mosque. It was used until 1812.

Hassan tell s the story of remains of a fortress that we see. Muhammad Ali in 1810s invited the Memluk leaders to a dinner, they had to leave their weapons outside, he beheaded all of them. One did not enter the room, he heard the sound of swords, he runs to his horse and jumps off the walls of the Citadel, the horse died but he survived, he came to upper Egypt. Ali was fighting the Memluks in upper Egypt, their last refuge was the castle, which was then destroyed by cannon of Ali in 1812. All we will now see is the top of the fortress, and some was moved elsewhere.

The Nubian temples’ locations were named after locations of villages. Mid-afternoon we head to Amada, site of another small temple saved from the location of the Nubian village below, some temples were hard to move because they were built into the rocks. These had to be moved as one piece, on a train flatcar, with shock absorbers and metal structures to support them. Since they could not bring a train engine here, they disassembled it and reassembled it but it was not strong enough to pull the weight of the rock, so it had to be pushed by teams of people, as in the old days. Also the flatcar was not long enough so they had to move it the 6 kilometers by moving one part of the tracks and then the other then rebuilding the first. It took 6 months. This was part of the UNESCO project, and individual countries made significant contributions. Those countries which made the biggest contributions got to take a temple which they could disassemble and take, thus they US got the temple of Dendera at the Metropolitan Museum, their is also one in spain, France, Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands

The temple we will see was built in 1,500 BC, by Thuthmosis. We enter the small hypostyle hall which leads to the vestibule and then the three inner sanctuary. We discuss our new learning about hieroglyphs to “read” the walls. One is Mas the word for water, Moses in Egyptian is Moshe and in Arabic is Musa. The vestibule shows the king being washed by  the two gods with life ankhs then the king is running toward the god, holding a T square which means he is going quickly to build a temple for the god. We ride a donkey cart to the next temple, built by Rameses II. In most of the large figures, the king is holding hands or hugging with the gods. This temple shows they procession of the god in the sacred boat led by the king holding a lotus flower. There is a high priest designated by wearing the leopard skin, although because only the king and his family could be depicted, it is actually the king’s son. Rameses had one principal wife and 20 secondary wives. He had 95 sons and 104 daughters, many of his sons who were heirs died before Rameses, because came to the throne at age 31 and lived to be 96. The gods with human heads were indicated by special crowns, the tall double feather indicates the chief god Amun-Re. Hassan also points out Amun-Mien the god of fertility, and he is shown as being part of Amun but with one arm (the other cut off by the men in the village who thought he impregnated their wives when they were gone the war, then realized he was a god), he is also shown with a large penis. We also see the king with the tree of life where each leaf represents a year of life, so this one has 96 leaves. Our third stop is the tomb of they mayor of a town 50 kilometers away, who started a system of nepotism back in 1100BC, so he could afford a family tomb.

The work of moving these tombs was competed about 1971, and there was no road to Abu Simbel until 1991. In 1995, the first boats began doing the Lake Nasser cruises, 3 days from Abu Simbel to Aswan, and four days from Aswan to Abu Simbel. During this time the tombs were left unguarded, because it was thought that no one could get here. Of course people did come, and they stole various statues and artifacts, even chipping out entire wall scenes in some cases. Now there are temple guards and security people here year-round who live here three weeks and go home for one week. We take a launch back to the ship and, quite hot and tired, come back to fresh juice and a nice rest before a lovely dinner. It is still warm even at night, so we take a turn around the boat to catch the breeze.

Lake Aswan and Abu Simbel, 5 October 2018

Lake Aswan and Abu Simbel

We get up at 1:30, close our bags and practically sleepwalk to the bus, where we have a small snack on the way to the airport. It is a very quiet ride. Then on to the Egypt Air flight to Aswan, where we unload, and get on the bus for about 3-1/2 hours, another quiet ride with much sleeping. Midway we stop at an open air rest stop, mud brick walls with a vegetation roof, simple bathrooms and a counter serving hot tea and cold drinks. It reminds me of some of the places we stopped in Kenya. Inside the refrigerator with the canned cold drinks is a small white cat who has just jumped in – because the fridge is not very cold, she is just cooling down, not actually cold. Across the street we see a real mirage, rocks which seem to be reflected in the “water”, it is easy to see how people could be fooled by this.

We are now on the 3.5 hour drive to Abu Simbel. Apparently some trips fly earlier in the day to Abu Simbel but must depart the same day, whereas we will go onto a boat to explore Lake Nasser and more of the Nile, thus the need to take a later flight and the long bus ride. All around us is flat desert, rather like Nevada, and a long straight road with power lines along the right side stretching as far as the eye can see. It is somewhat forbidding looking, but this is likely because I am not especially drawn to his desert so it seems harsh to me. A few people I know who love the desert (especially in California during wildflower season) praise its beauty; someday I will have to see that. Hassan advises everyone to rest - it is 8am and we have been up for almost 7 hours - and we’ll have a stop in about 2 hours.

On the latter part of the bus ride, Hassan gives us an introduction to the area. Muhammad Ali was king of Egypt and Sudan as were his descendants, but after 1962, Sudan became separate, and Nubia being the southern part of Egypt was divided between the two countries. Ancient Nubia was the source of gold for Egypt, where it was mined long before 3,000, so the unification under the early pharaohs meant Egypt wanted influence over Nubia. By the Middle Kingdom, Nubia had a strong influence and was powerful, but by the New Kingdom, Egypt conquered Nubia. If Nubia ever revolted the king would send a garrison or even go himself with an army to subdue it. The name Nubia in hieroglyphs means from the land of gold.  It was a source of gold until 500BC when  it was mined out, so by the time the Greeks came, they were less interested in Nubia without gold, and Nubia became independent through this Greek period. Nubia at one point invaded southern Egypt to try to get this area back during the reign of the Romans, and both Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar fought them all the way back to their capital in what is now Ethiopia.

Why are Nubians different than Egyptians? In Egypt, the Nile is one long river from Aswan to Giza, and the south of Aswan the river goes in bends, into the desert, lots of rock such as red granite, which blocked the river at various cataracts. This made it very isolated, and armies could not get through, so the Nubians did not mix with other ethnicities. Thus the Nubians were very dark black African in features, while Egyptians were mixing with other Mediterranean people and thus looked more varied. Today the Nubians are mostly Sudanese, and known to be extremely kind people. They have two dramatic blood mixtures. In the 3rd  century AD after troubles with Romans, they were attacked by Libyans who came from the desert, Nubians complained to Roman emperor, and he pays the people on the eastern side to make a shelter for Nubia. At that time Nubians convert to Christianity, and people moved to the valley. This is when the Nubians encountered the Bedouins of Libya and there was some mixing, even though they were still the purest race in Africa. In the 16th century AD a Turkish Sultan ruled Egypt and Sudan, the Sultan sent a garrison to Nubia, and this garrison was a Bosnian garrison. The Sultan seemed to forget bayous them, and they settled and intermarried. They were blond haired people with light eyes mixed with the black African Nubians, thus there are some interesting mixtures of features among Nubians.

Nubia was in a valley along the Nile, hemmed in by mountains. Most were fishermen, some were farmers. The villages were built on the river and terraced so all houses could handle the flood water.  When in 1964 Egypt started building the Aswan Dam, most of Nubia would be underwater. The Nubians had to be moved north and south, northern ones went to Egypt, southern Nubians moved to Sudan. The split of 1952 was like the split of North and South Korea, families were split.  This was a forced move, the government built new settlements for them, one of them is Kom Ombo, which we we will visit later. Some did not like this, some moved to big cities and other areas. Some expected to come  back to Aswan and reinvigorate their ancient culture. People here speak fluent Arabic and a local dialect which is Nubian. In 1973 when Israel and Egypt were fighting, Nubians were used as coders speaking and decoding messages in their rare the language, like the Navajo code-talkers in WWII. As people spread to other areas, they lost their native tongue and their marriage options, as inter-marriage was frowned on. Thus people came back to the area, and the government built schools etc. for them, and people have re-gathered in this area.

We are on the high desert surrounding what was the ancient valley. Egypt is now tying to reclaim land in this area, starting businesses, and building new cities. Out our window is an ocean of flat sand, so this seems rather ambitious. Egypt will be giving Nubians priority to settle in this area. They plan to reclaim 4 million acres of the desert nearer to the water. Later today we will be going though an area that is beginning to be reclaimed, there is a system of bringing water from the lake thru viaducts and pumps into the new areas.

As we approach Abu Simbel it is fairly quiet as it is Friday, a day of worship, and many people are not out until noontime. The move of the temple of Abu Simbel took almost four years, and the archaeologist we met last night spent most of that time cataloguing and registering items from the temple. The workers drawn to the restoration site often stayed, although the only access was by water, not by road which was not built until later. We will be sailing on the Prince Abbass, a boat specially built for this area, with external staircases, like the movie “Death on the Nile.” The actual boat used in the film is called the “Eugenie,” no longer used, and we see it later, docked and looking quite abandoned. Hassan tells us that Lake Nasser is huge, 300 miles long, part in Egypt, part in Sudan, and our boat will allow us to explore various parts of it. As we drive toward Abu Simbel, we see pyramidal mounds, thought to be some of the inspiration for the built pyramids, but they are actually the tops of what were once mountains. We also see two of the new settlements with housing and factories rising from the desert. We come to a junction where left is Egypt and right is Sudan, Sadi Halfa, so there is a checkpoint which is essentially a border.

Abu Simbel is two temples, one for Rameses II and one for his queen Nefertari, 1400BC. These two temples are cut out of solid rock, essentially a sculpture. Why were these built here, so far away from Cairo? Religious reasons: when the king dies he becomes a god. Rameses could not wait, so he built this to enshrine himself, hoping it would be accepted locally and eventually be accepted in lower Egypt. Nefertari was Nubian, so it was also thought he would be accepted here as a god. But by 500BC, most in this area had converted to Christianity, no one used the temples, and they were gradually covered by sand. In 1838, a treasure hunter was told by locals there was something around here, he was able to find the crowns on the heads, but he ran out of money. He covered it up, then died and never came back. Another treasure treasure hunter 40 years later, an Italian named Belzoni came, he spend a lot of money to remove the sand, and he found a fabulous temple and artistic treasures he sought. This created a huge interest in tourism, and people sailed from Cairo to see this magnificent temple.

The plan to build the dam affected a few small villages, a number of small temples, and Abu Simbel. Egypt tried to get funding form the World Bank to save the area, but they were not successful. From this effort came a successful appeal to UNESCO, and ultimately was born the idea of UNESCO world sites.  More than 50 countries decided to help pay to preserve these treasures via UNESCO cooperation. In most cases the solution was simple: move the temples. But Abu Simbel is carved from a mountain, so they had to move the mountain.

Abu Simbel is massive. Each statue of Rameses II weighs more than 1,000 tons. The temple is 65 meters with all sorts of columns, chambers, etc. Various proposals were made to handle it, moving it as one piece, preserving it under a dome, and others, some dangerous, some infeasible. The main temple weighs 250 tons, and 440 hydraulic jacks would have been required to lift it. Finally a local sculptor came up with the idea, which a Swedish firm adopted: bury the temple under sand again to support it, then use electric saws to cut the upper section of the temple randomly, keep the rest under sand to preserve the structure, then cut it into slices to be moved manually, maximum weight 30 tons each so they could be moved by a crane. Meanwhile, water started building up from the dam, and they were not sure how much time they would have. They worked 24/7 on this, against the clock. Everything was photographed and registered in case they lost some parts of the temple. Once the last piece was moved, water covered the site. Thus there are two miracles, Rameses creating the temples in the first place, and the people cooperating to save the temple in the 60s (1964-68). Then after moving it had to be rebuilt of course, which took more time.

We arrive at Abu Simbel about 11:00am, and it is breathtakingly hot. I know it is dry heat, but 110 degrees is still 110 degrees and not something I’m good at. We trail behind Hassan from the parking area, where we jettison all unnecessary items except water, hat, and camera, and more water. We traipse up the stone path, already feeling the heat and the tiredness of having been up since 1:30am. Then suddenly we turn a corner on the path and the enormous statues of Rameses loom ahead, and they are indeed magnificent. They are a light sand color, truly monumental, flanked by steep walls and fronted by a collection of animals and various creatures on the parapet in front.

Entering the temples we are greeting by the massive hypostyle hall with huge statues of Rameses and walls covered in carvings of the king smiting his enemies and making offerings to the gods. Everywhere is his double cartouche (about which Hassan will lecture tomorrow). Each side has four low-ceilinged  side areas, also encrusted with carvings of the king making every sort of offering imaginable to many different gods. The doorways are protected by images of a hawk and additional scenes of Rameses flank the doorways. We go into the vestibule and inner sanctuary, each with carvings of different themes which I wish I could read. My class on Ancient Egypt included a lecture on hieroglyphs but I cannot yet really decode these. It is so hot and I am beginning to fade, but we press on to the temple Rameses built for Nefertari, with large sculptures of her and Rameses surround by their children below. Inside it has a similar style, with carvings of the kind and queen, and encouraging her to be seen as a goddess. Again, I wish I could really understand the carvings and what I am seeing. After lots of photos of the outside (we are not allowed to take photos inside), it is midday, about 12:30, and time to meet back up the hill near the entrance.

We walk a short ways across a path and the sand to our ship, the Prince Abbass. Our bags are already in our room, which is a spacious junior suite, really very nice. The cool shower feels delicious, and I can see that I will be changing clothes at least twice a day given the heat. We unpack our things and rest a while. Around 4:30 is afternoon tea, and Hassan explains that drinking cold drinks in the heat is a shock to your system, it is better to drink something hot like tea, which I imagine is why the British kept the tea tradition in hot places like India and Egypt. Then we leave for the sound and light show at Abu Simbel. Various voices play the gods and king and queen while dramatic lighting plays across the surface of the two giant temples. The battle scene showing the carvings of the armies meeting as the background turns blood red is especially effective. We head back to the ship for a lovely dinner in the spacious dining room – it is our group of 20 plus a Spanish group of about 12 in a dining room for 160 people – and then fall gratefully into a comfortable, cool bed.

Giza, Oyramids, and Camels, 4 October 2018

We awake early, which I think is the everyday plan for this trip … I will adjust. Trying some new things for breakfast: ful with different toppings, the tomato salad, the delicious Greek-style thick yogurt with honey. Then off to the bus for a 7:00am sharp departure. It looks clear again today with a light breeze, and we can see Jazeera Island (jazeera means island in Arabic) across the Nile. Jazeera was once a place of palaces and spacious homes on the water, but they began to be torn down in the 60s and replaced by high rises, so what was once bucolic is now quite crowded. Everywhere as we drive from Cairo into Giza, it seems that the buildings are either under construction or crumbling.

Hassan begins a history talk on en route to Giza. Around 3,000 Egypt was united and writing was codified. After 300 BC Alexander conquered Egypt, beginning the Greco-Roman period. The Romans 5en ruled Egypt for centuries, from 100BC to 800AD, until the Islamic Arabs took over, then later the Turks. Egypt is a unique mixture of ethnicities.

In 3000BC, King Narmer from Upper Egypt tried six times to conquer Lower Egypt, and after that, the new capital was established at Memphis, halfway between the two states. The early royal tombs were flat bench- like rectangles, called mastabas, built of mud bricks. In 2700 BC, King Djoser had the genius architect Imhotep was the first to decide to use limestone and add three more benches to the flat mastabas, then a few more, thus the Step Pyramid with six steps Sakkara. Then King Senefru’s architect decided to flatten the sides and he built the first what we now call a pyramid about 2,500BC, and halfway through he realized he had the wrong angle and the pyramid would collapse outward, as they used no mortar, only the pressure of stone. He decided to minimize the angle and thus became the Bent Pyramid. The king was not pleased, so he ordered a new pyramid nearby. The architect made a wide bottom and the pyramid was very short but stable. Senefru (father of Khufu) then wanted a taller pyramid , so they built farther north of Memphis with a heavier stone, in the area of Giza. Here the Great Pyramid was built. Khefren (Khufu’s son) built another pyramid nearby, a smaller pyramid but at a higher elevation, so it looks bigger than his father’s pyramid. Photos of the three pyramids make the smaller pyramid look larger. Over time, the pyramids became smaller and they moved back toward Memphis. The Giza pyramids were covered with smooth limestone from the mountain near the Citadel, massive blocks that were fit together tightly to look like a single piece of stone. This also helped to hide the entrance to the pyramid to foil tomb robbers. As the pyramids were constructed, they left three gaps in the ceiling, and as they buried the king, they pulled out the wooden beams that held the final blocks so they would block access. Sadly this did not work long term. Tomb robbers heated the stone so it would shatter, allowing them to dig away, but they did not get in right away. There is a maze of corridors to confuse robbers once inside, but finally it was actually an inside job, the builders knew how to rob them. By the 18th dynasty, the kings decided to forget about the pyramidal shape, and put their tombs hidden in the Valley of the Kings.

We suddenly get our first glimpse of the pyramids, behind some large apartment blocks, it is breathtaking. Immediately next to it is the massive construction of the new Great Egyptian Museum, faced with white limestone or marble, which will be huge. Nothing larger than the pyramids can now be allowed to be built nearby. Much of the stone from the pyramids was taken to build various things in the nearby Citadel. Then in 1830, Muhammad Ali was going to have a dam built by a French architect. After calculating the cost of using pyramid stones vs. a nearby quarry, the architect convinced Ali that the other quarry would be cheaper, this the Pyramids were saved.

The Great Pyramid’s original entrance is the Chevron shaped area. A 10th century sultan was trying various ways to enter the tomb including this way, but by then  the tomb had been robbed long ago. In the 2830s and 1840s, many artifacts were taken - really stolen – and sold to European collectors.

The Great Pyramid is truly enormous, hard to really comprehend until you look at the very tiny people near the base. Most of what we know comes from Herodotus’ book written in 500BC, more than 1,000 years after they stopped building pyramids. The priests  of the Great Pyramids who were his guides had to make up answers at times as the knowledge had long ago disappeared, so it it’s not always accurate. For example:  the pyramid is 223 square meters, about 13 acres, 147 meters high. It was the highest building in in Middle East until 1961 AD, when the Nasser Tower was built. It is estimated to be 2.3 million stones, each averaging 2.5tons, thus 6 million tons of stone. The first question Herodotus asked was show long it took to build? The priests told Herodotus it took 30 years to build, but it was probably 10 years of preparation and 10 years of building. The builders were in groups of 10 whose leader reported up in groups of ten and one hundred then to 1,000, and in charge was the brother of Khufu. This project required complex planning to build housing, secure food, hospitals, supplies, and work areas, but Khufu ruled for only 23 years, so the building had to take less than 30 years, as kings usually did not start their tombs until they became king. This plateau was also a cemetery for all kinds of people and the quarry was below toward the Nile. The huge stones were ferried by water which flooded for months of the year, and at this time villages were built on mounds for protection from the floods. Next question: how any people did it take to build this? They told Herodotus 100,000 people, but that would have been 10% of population, not feasible, but it could have been 100,000 over 10 years. Probably people would be working for a period, like national military service. During the flood, farmers have nothing to do, so then they work on the projects for the king, also during the four dry months after harvest. The word pyramid is Greek, although they did not have them. The hieroglyph for pyramid is: per house, ra god mid avenue. Thus, this is the avenue to the house of the sun god. So when the king is buried there the king becomes divine.

Last big question, how did they build it? The priests gave hm a made up answer, that they had used wooden cranes for building. Herodotus asked was it one large crane or several but they did not know. The discovery at Karnak in Luxor in the 1880s answered this question, we will see the original mud brick ramp used to build the pyramids. Earth, sand, rubble, and gypsum were used to build the ramp, and they continued o build the ramp around the pyramid to the top. Each stone had to be dragged around the spiral, all the way around. The stones were. Bed on a sledge of legs pulled by people. As the finished the top of the pyramid, the began facing it with the limestone and polishing it, dismantling the ramp as they went down. Quite a brilliant system really.

The pyramids were built in three stages: the base and entrance, then the next level with chambers, then the grand gallery was added. At last we have a chance to go close the the pyramid, and can climb up to the first level of the entry where we peek in and we take a few photos. Up close you realize  how truly massive these stones are.  As we descend, we are approached by various vendors who a remarkably persistent. One tells Barney he has a great beard, he looks like his father, then wraps his head with a scarf and the photo taking begins. He of course wants a fee, Barney offers $1, the man says he cannot change it in order get more, then I have to pull him away to meet up with a group and a guy from the tourist police who is our escort told the vendor to accept the $1 and move on. We gather under an umbrella for some relief from the sun and it is only 9:00am!

The pyramid complex has three main pyramids plus the subsidiary structures and a causeway that leads from a funeral temple, and all is surrounded by a massive wall of enclosure. In 1954, huge parts of the pyramid were covered with sand, and the architect Kamal El-Malkh, helped clear it out. As the sand was cleared out, they found slabs sealing a chamber. They removed the slabs and found an incredible wooden boat, the front was 5 meters high, the rear was 7 meters high, but it was in thousands of pieces, it was reassembled by a local boat maker and is now displayed in a museum. We see the huge 5x10 slabs lined up near the Museum, each weighing several tons. We see the exhibit of photos of the clearing of the slabs and the boar pieces, there were a total of 5 boats, including this one, plus others who had already been discovered and dismantled. There were 41  slabs in the pit, all preserved here. We see a photo of the buried boat in its 6501 pieces in  three layers.  They used a system of triangles to have a Water level to get the slabs flat. We go upstairs to see the actual boat which is huge and spans the length of the room. In any ways it reminds me of the Viking longboats we saw n Oslo, except this boat was lashed together as it was intended to be disassembled, rather than sealed to spend its life at sea. On the upper level we see the king’s cabin up close, the rods supporting the cabin are tied to the deck and extend up through lateral and longitudinal planks that support the structure, all lashed together at the corners. The oars are immense, probably about 30 feet long. After walking the length of the boat again, we exit the museum, which was mercifully air-conditioned.

We reassemble and take the bus up to the panoramic view and camel rides. We see how the Khefren pyramid, while shorter than the Great Pyramid, is at a higher location so it appears larger, the third pyramid is even smaller, and had a red granite outer casing, and the red granite came from Aswan. Because it was not easy to use for building elsewhere, most was left near the pyramid, and they are trying to rebuild it.

Many of us want to do the camel ride, and Hassan arranges with the boss to get us camels. The boss and his men and boys bring over 18 of the huge creatures who look much bigger up close than the ones walking in the distance. The sway of their gait is so smooth, gently rocking from side to side, but the getting up and down looks awkward at best. They chose each of us to a specific camel, probably related to weight and height, we get on the saddles, lean back as the camel arose, and then right ourselves. My saddle is slipping a bit – I remember this happening once while I was riding a horse, so I compensate a bit by leaning the other way, and it seems to settle as he blew out his lungs. It was an exciting experience. The camels carefully navigate the very rocky path back to the main pyramid, most tied to one or two others and led by one of the crew. They all seem to have American names, like Charlie Brown and Batman…. mine is named Mickey Mouse. He likes to get up close to he one he was tied to, which is a little unsettling for the person riding that camel, so I start to talk to him to slow him down, as I have no reins or other way to control him. His ears rotate back and he is clearly listening to me, which was fun. After a few minutes I adjust to his gait and it is  actually quite comfortable. Quite a bit of picture taking happens, and the guy leading my camel takes photos of me and Barney holding hands, and while we do, the two camels started nuzzling each other, which was sweet.

Now we are off to the Sphinx, which means image of the king., located in front of Khefren’s pyramid, like a gravestone identifier. The Sphinx is where the quarry was for the second pyramid and most of the mound was still blocking the view, and people would remove the rocks. The Sphinx is the head of a man and the body of a lion, showing the king as the strongest animal. We descend from the plateau with the view, and the workmen’s village is on the right. We see the Sphinx first in the back, then around in the front. It is carved from one massive piece of stone. In ancient times, people would sail the water, then walk up to the Sphinx. The story about Napoleon’s cannons shooting off the nose is false. The true story, which is well documented, is that during the Middle Ages, there was a rumor that there was a god inside the Sphinx which would destroy their village. One person wanted to show people that there was no god inside, so he climbed up to break off the nose, noting that if there were a god inside it would raft. Nothing happened of course. The enclosure of the Sphinx is made of overlapping red granite blocks, even at the corners which are actually carved into opposing corners on each level. Near the entrance is a pit where the beautiful statue of Khefren was discovered. Commoners could come this far to pray at the temple. Only the king’s relatives and high officials could go up higher toward the funeral temple. This was also the place of the last stage of mummification where the public could come and say goodbye to the  king. The Sphinx itself it quite massive, and even though the nose is gone, the detail of the eyes and ears is till visible, after thousands of years.

 We depart the Sphinx for a lovely lunch  at Aboushakra, mixed grill with pita and various topping(hummus, babaganoush, yogurt), and a delicious and refreshing lemonade with mint. Our view out the window is of the Sphinx and two of the pyramids, quite stunning. As we leave the restaurant, we see hundreds of multi-story brick apartment buildings, and Hassan told us that 20 years ago this was all agricultural land. The apartment blocks all look unfinished, and because the law does not require buildings to be finished, most look not yet done. If there are frames in the windows, the building is occupied, if not, it is not occupied. Often additional stories are added but not finished for many years. Some of the area is really fairly slummy, with unfinished buildings, tiny lanes between the building filled with all kinds of waste and debris. Some of these building are 10 stories tall without an elevator.

Modern Egypt is 102 million people, but only 7% is the arable land and cities, 93% is desert. Egypt is the size of modern France plus Germany, but the cultivated area is the size of Belgium, with 1,200 people per square kilometer, but it goes up to 55,000 inhabitants per square kilometer in parts of Cairo, one of throat densely populated areas in the world. The birth rate is  not that high, around 2%, but still 2 million new people a year. Almost everyone is concentrated in the delta and in Alexandria and Cairo. The population of Cairo in the 1950s was 2 million, it is now 25 million. Birth control here is free, yet Egypt grows because the base is large. Once the Aswan high dam was built, new islands emerged in the Nile in areas that people began to settle and now they are quite built up. This was one of the places that many Iraqis fled to after 2003, and now from Yemen as well, overall 5 million immigrants. 65% of the population are under 30 years old, and more than 40% are under 18 years old, so this is a very young society. There is a plan to reclaim millions of acres from certain valleys of the desert where they can get water.

Traditionally, Egypt is Sunni, and the Fatamids who came to this area brought Shi’ism with them in the 12th century. The Fatamids were here for 200 years, and Egypt tuned back to Sunni faith after Saladin reconquered the area.

We depart Giza, drive through the City of the dead, s earl miles of small open air mausoleums lining the road. Originally this was outside Camino but Cairo grew around it and now it is within. We head toward the Citadel. The last Shi’ia Caliph was weak, his two top  ministers ran everything, one asked the Crusaders to come, the other summoned Salahdin. Salahdin was able to defeat the Crusaders before they arrived in Egypt, where he then fought  both ministers. the.  The week Caliph hired him, a Sunni, as a prime minister. When the Caliph dies, Egypt goes back toward Sumni, and he is offered the title of sultan and built the Citadel in1176. He expected  the Crusaders to come back, so he chose this spot, next to the limestone quarry which provided limestone for the pyramids , choosing the best mound on which to build the Citadel, based on what was driest. The Citadel was built in 2 sections, the walls and defensive areas, and then the barracks and the mosque. Saladhim never moved to the citadel, but his nephew did and ruled from here, as did his successors for 700 years. The second era of building was the Memluk era, the word Memluk means slave. The family of Saladin used to bring young children to be brought up at the royal palace to be their bodyguards, these were children captured from Asia Minor, Syria, and Iraq, who were sold in the markets as slaves. They became the best fighters and the bodyguards of the royal family. They ended up taking the throne themselves within 200 years, and they then ruled for 500 years, a period of isolation until the 19th  century. When Saladhin was building the area, they dug wells and got good fresh water. They dug deeper and they got salty water, but then there was no going back, so for t 200 years the citadel had to have water delivered, and then the Memluks built aqueducts to bring fresh water. The Memluks were quite divided and fought for the throne. As each leader became king, he was often assassinated, thus the mosque had a special secret exit. By the 16th century, the Ottomans conquered Egypt. They employed the Memluks as governors, as they were good at collecting taxes. Finally, came the era of Muhammad Ali around 1803, founded the last royal family (King Farouk was the last of the dynasty in 1952). After 500 years of isolation, the French were a surprise, bringing new weapons (rifles) and the French seemed like aliens to them. The French spent 3 years here, and they were fought by everyone, Egyptians, Turks, and British.
 (Napoleon’s purpose in invading Egypt was to cut Britain’s communications lines to India. Napoleon evaded the British by sailing first to Cyprus when the British expected him in Alexandria, and then to Egypt, thus tricking the English. Then the British came back, and they crushed the French Navy in 1801 and the French had to return to France via British ships, and the had to leave everything here. This is why the Rosetta Stone discovered by Champollion is in the British Museum, not the French.

The French started a parliament and an education system in Egypt. One of the Turkish officers (from Albania) was named Muhammad Ali, and he was chosen to head the government, but the Turkish sultan thought he was too charismatic, and so he fought Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali and his grandson Ismail Ali started everything that is modern Egypt. Muhammad started a new way of farming, introduced the crop cotton (from South America), he began an Egyptian army made of Egyptians, and the Egyptian empire begins to enlarge. The British signed a treaty and kicked the Alisin the 1860s. New rules allowed girls to go to school, and bridges were built across the Nile. In 1952, there was a military coup, now seen as a revolution. Kids at school in the 60s were told that the royal family were foreigners, even though they were not.  Ismail had lots of loans from England and France but could not pay them back, so he sold the Suez Canal to the British in 1882. The British ruled with the royal family from 1882 to 1952.

For his mosque, Muhammad Ali hired the same architect as the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. The mosque has a four corner dome, four semi domes, and a central dome, all held by four pillars, built using freestanding blocks of stone. These are the only two mosques in the world with this design, others tried but were unsuccessful. It is an incredible design inside, and does look so much like the Blue Mosque we saw in Istanbul, though somehow a bit less shiny. This mosque was built in the 1830s. The nearby green dome is made of mosaic stone. We enter the mosque, removing our shoes, and then enter the central courtyard, decorated in detail with the late afternoon sun angling through the filigreed windows. The style of this mosque is unique as it is Turkish in style, being a copy of the Blue Mosque. We sit in the shade of the fountain, where people wash before entering the mosque to purify, every time before praying. Hassan notes that there is some water purification ceremony in every religion. There is a massive cistern to store fresh water that goes under the courtyard. The main elements of the mosque are: the minaret (someone had to climb five times a day the huge minaret, probably 100 feet or more), the courtyard, and the worship area. A mosque should have a certain number of minarets based on where it is positioned with regard to the city or suburb, if in the middle of the city they need all four, if on only one side, they only need one. The call to prayer is called the summons. They crescent symbol came from the dishes originally on the roof to fee birds, and it became a symbol of Islam. The alcove indicates the direction of Mecca. The massive pillars have an inner corner which goes up to the dome, to which is balanced the corner of the upside down triangle which tops it, thus distributing the weight of circular dome into four pillars arranged in a square. Here, Muhammad Ali is buried in the golden corner mausoleum. Outside we have a panoramic view of the city. On the parapet, we see below us the massive Hassan mosque built by the Memluks, and next to it is the mosque built by the royal family, and the late Shah of Arian is buried there (he was related to the Egyptian royal family).

By this time, we are all tired and hot, and we walk slowly toward the bus, more than a few people fall asleep on the way back. A shower and fresh clothes felt great, and we went downstairs for a talk/lecturer with a renowned archaeologist eh9 was Hassan’s teacher when he was an undergraduate. He has asked her to speak to the issues confronting modern Egypt and women, and she provided a fascinating view rather different than what we might have thought. After the lecture,  go to the mall restaurant Hassan recommended for a simple dinner, went back to the room and packed for our 1:30am alarm.

Egypt Ancient and New, 3 October 2018

Cairo, Egyptian Museum, 3 October 2018

We arise at 5:30, have an early breakfast and briefing, and we are off in Cairo traffic to the Egyptian Museum. We’ll have a tour with Hassan and then some time on our own. We drive along the Nile, lined with boats and barges, and a light breeze is blowing on this day when it will be around 90 degrees.

We arrive at the famous Egyptian Museum, which displays about 100,000 objects, less than half the collection. The exterior features stone tablets carved with the list of the kings of Egypt.  We go in, and the first thing I noticed is that contrary to what I was expecting, this museum is not air-conditioned. This will be a warm morning, glad I brought a fan (which I send so vigorously it finally broke).

We begin by seeing a few of the treasures from each era. Pre-history is considered before 3000 BC, around the time of the unification of upper and lower Egypt by King Narmer. The Narmer Palette shows him on one side with the crown of upper Egypt and on the other side with lower Egypt,  as he conquered lower Egypt. Originally the king was often shown as a bull to symbolize strength, later his became the lion which as shown with the body of a lion (stronger than a bull) and with the head of the king – the Sphinx. The palette shows two long-necked lions whose necks are intertwined symbolizing upper and lower Egypt, so that as they would pull they would be bound more tightly together. In 2700BC Djoser had a famous architect named Imhotep, the first to start building with stone, which is the Step Pyramid at Sakkara. Djoser’s statue is the first life size one, and was found buried on an angle on its back, with two holes above it so he could see up to the stars. We learn Nat there are three different types of false bears: long and straight for the king, long and curly for gods , short and straight for high officials.

Moving to the Old Kingdom, we see the black basalt panel from 2500 BC which shows the king Menkaure in the middle, to his right the goddess Hathor, and to his left the god of the local provinces (there were 42 provinces, thus 42 of these beautiful panels were made). We see a beautiful alabaster coffin from the Old Kingdom, though later they transitioned to more rugged stone, the coffins inside were usually of wood or metal-covered wood. Hassan discusses the canonic jars, which held the lungs, kidneys, liver, and intestine, the heart was kept in the body as it was necessary for the judgement of Maat, and the brain was dissolved by a salt. We see the wooden statue of Sheikh el-Balad whose real name was Ka-pur; when he was unearthed it was thought to be real when light reflected off his painted whites of his eyes, 2500 BC. When Hassan projected light on his eyes from below he looked quite spooky. We see the statue of Khefren, of the second dynasty, one of the most beautiful statues on earth, from 2500BC, made of Dolomites, a vey hard stone, the hardest on earth after diamond. It is unknown is how this was carved, as they did not have diamonds, and it takes something harder to carve any material. Their hardest material was copper. The falcon god Horus embraces the king from behind, not visible from up close (only the king is seen), but the head of Horus is seen from a distance. We view some ushabtis doing various tasks, kneading bread or brewing, from 5th century near Sakkara. We see the tiny statue of Khufu about 3” high and made of ivory, which was done quite later. Ironically Khufu built the largest building through most of history, the great Pyramid. We then see the multi-colored statue of Ra-Hotep, brother of Khufu and the general of the Army, with his wife Nefret,  whose name means beautiful. During the time of Khufu , making statues was forbidden, so this beautiful piece was technically illegal; rather than being buried in the tomb, it was wrapped in linen, and buried for thousands of years, which explains its excellent state of preservation. We learn that all Egyptian gods had families, a wife and a son or daughter, a triad, symbolic of the importance of family in Egyptian life. Another statue family group shows a princess with husband a dwarf, who were renowned for doing fine gold work, and their two children, the fate(r sits cross-legged with the children standing below his perch, visually serving as his legs. Children in Egyptian art are always shown with the faces of adults.

We transition to the Middle Kingdom, which followed the first Intermediate Period, a time of chaos when many of the skills of fine artistic achievements of the more stable Old Kingdomwere lost. A dark stone statue shows the king, whose proportions are quite off due to this (Barney and I are in this photo). The face of (Senerset?) displays the worry and fraughtness of the period. A king who rules in a period of chaos must focus on his people not himself, rebuilding his country not building giant monuments to himself. This is a parallel to today post Arab Spring. Around this time the elaborate braided wigs came about, showing the Asia Minor influence of those kings around 1800 BC. They brought their fashion of wigs and broader features, an African look. They brought with them the chariot and introduced horses (1800BC), a huge military advantage. They ruled lower Egypt for 200 years until the Egyptians learned to breed horses and improve their weapons, then the kings from Luxor invaded lower Egypt (Ahmose) and thus began the 18th Dynasty. A beautiful partial head of Hatshepsut, who has to claim she was a man to be on the throne, based on a legend about her birth as the son of a king (similar to the story of the birth of Jesus). After she came to the throne, she never again appeared as a woman, however, her successor broke most of her statues and erase she name from many of her monuments.

We move into the New Kingdom area, to the room of Akhenaten, originally called Amenhotep IV, the “heretic” king who turned Egypt to worship a single god, the disk of the sun Aten. His son whom we know as Tutankhamun was originally Tutankhaten after his father. These works are stunning, not only for their totally unique style – narrow, elongated head and body, rounded hips and almost a female shape to the Pharaoh – but also for being often broken in the aftermath of his death, when Tutankhamen was forced to change his name and restore the religion and worship of the state god, Amun-Re.

We go upstairs to the exhibit of Tutankhamen, which will soon be moved to the new museum that opens in 2020. He was not really running the country, in part because he was so young, and things were really being run by his advisor, Aye. Tutankhamen is famous largely because his is the only tomb ever discovered unrobbed. The debris from a later tomb helped hide Tutankhamen’s tomb, so it was sheer luck that Howard Carter’s staff person found it. More than 5,400 objects were found in the four-room tomb. There are four golden shrines, a stone sarcophagus, then the wooden coffins, then the golden coffin, and inside it the golden mask on the mummy. Each was brought into the tomb in pieces and assembled inside the tomb, with even instructions for assembly (I.e., front-west) inscribed on it. It took about three years to remove everything from the tomb. The inner mask weighs 14 kilos of solid g9ld, and the golden coffin weighs about 240 pounds. Almost everything is trimmed or covered in gold. The golden shrine being held by the goddesses covered the alabaster box which contained the canonic jars. We see his golden beds as well as a folding bed amazingly preserved and 3,000 years old.

At this point the group has free time in the Museum, so we head back to the Tutankhamen treasury, where the gold mask lays. On the way we found another size room filled with glorious jewelry, faience glass beaded necklaces, elaborate huge earrings, golden collars that covered a mummy’s chest, gold and lapis lazuli rings, and complex pectorals which were more than a foot wide. All this done by people, each tiny bead and piece of precious stone laid by hand. The craftsmanship’s is stunning. Then on to the treasury, where the most gilded and famous pieces await. The beautiful gold mask has a three-layer glass bead necklace below it, which we realize stretched from ear to ear, based on the discovery photos. We see his two gold-covered coffins with remarkable inlay work and delicate etching of the gold, and over and over the cartouche of Tutankhamen. Even more jewelry was displayed, large ceremonial earrings (no human earlobe could have supported the weight), a series of gold vultures about 3” tall, each one posed slightly differently, an extraordinary gold and beaded pectoral.  Our meeting time approach, so we headed off to the bathroom ( glad that Hassan gave us the correct  small change), and back to the bus.

Then n to the U.S. Embassy where we are to receive a briefing from some of the staff. Once we arrive, we see some amazing feats of bus driving, as the driver had to back up the bus into traffic to make a sweeping turn into the embassy compound and Hassan ad the the security guy literally walked out to stop traffic so he could make this maneuver. We go through security and into the Embassy, which has a monumental and somewhat severe architecture that is suited to Egypt, into the warm and in it8g public room of the building. We are served a series of juices and teas which is quite refreshing, and plates of sweets and tiny spicy savory bits. The Chargé d’Affaires is quite literally in charge as no ambassador has yet been appointed, he has been in Egypt four years, gave us some great background on political and economic development, and the US role Egypt. He was joined by the heads the consular, cultural, economic, and political sections, who provided in-depth views of modern Egypt . It was great to see what smart and accomplished people represent the US in Egypt.

Back to the hotel, and a short nap and some notes. We get ready for dinner, and decide that we will do the balloon ride in Luxor, so exchange se funds to pay f9r that. It should be quite exciting. The. We gate with the group for dinner, a short bus ride across the Nile to the restaurant the The Blue Nile for dinner. We go over the Embaba bridge which was built in 1852 for the king’s invitation to dignitaries to see the pyramids without having to change carriages to cross the nile. It was built as a drawbridge when most ships were sailing ships with tall masts, then rebuilt somewhat lower when steam powered ships came into being. The bridge includes symbols of many friendly nations, and it is the oldest bridge in Cairo. We go by the Cairo Opera House, which was supposed to host the premiere of Verdi’s Aida but the space was not finished in time, so they began with Rigoletto.  It was destroyed in the 1950s in a fire, and the rebuilding was financed by the Japanese, who insisted that the premier piece would be a four-hour kabuki piece, a somewhat odd choice for an Egyptian audience. The Opera season is not on at this time, so sadly we cannot see it.

Hassan provides some interest history of Cairo. In the 18th century it was not large when Napoleon conquered it in a battle of which took place near the bridge, but Napoleon, ever the PR guy, knew that the Battle of the Pyramids sounds so much better than the Battle of Embaba. By 1882 the English had taken. Supposedly this is when the nose of the Sphinx was shot off by a cannon, but it happened many centuries before. In 1798 there were no buildings between the pyramids and Cairo so the pyramids 20km away were easily visible. We are en route to The Blue Nike, a restaurant on a barge in he Nile. We have delicious hummus and baba ganoush, a mixed grill of kofta and chicken, and a chocolate cake, with wine. Cairo at night is so lit up, with neon and colored floodlight everywhere. Hassan describes  the itinerary for tomorrow at Giza, which will include a camel ride which Hassan will orchestrate for us. In the distance along the Nile we see brightly lit Cairo Tower which was the tallest building in the Middle East until almost 20 years ago.

Back to the hotel, some writing work, and then off to bed for another early start.

Iconic Cairo, 2 October 2018

We are in Cairo, Egypt at last, or at least, exiting the airport. A 13-hour flight from SFO to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, which was quite nice for economy (some of our group flew business class). Both Barney and I slept a bit, and we arrived with plenty of time for our transfer to the plane to Cairo. By the time we arrived in Cairo it was about 11am Oakland time, but it was the day after we left, the 1st of October. We got our visas, met with the group, went through customs, found our luggage, and porters got our bags to the bus. Our tour director, Hassan, greeted us and gave us a briefing, including that the bus would have a police escort to the hotel and a security guide rides on the bus, always. We arrive at the hotel and fall into bed … it has been a long two days. And we have a view of the Nile from our window, which is pretty cool.

Wedding rehearsal, 1 September 2017

Wedding Rehearsal

We wake up early, Madeleine does laundry while Barney makes breakfast, and so gather what we’ll need for the rehearsal. We dress and drive to Staithe House, the Bax family home in Brancaster Staithe on The Wash, an inlet of the North Sea. When we were here a few years ago, we went kayaking with a Briony  the water, and Barney was brave enough to go in swimming with her (I was not, it was much too cold).

The house and gardens looks stunning. A huge tent fills the ear years near the seaside trail, and a team is busy finishing installation and setting up tables. The rose garden looks magnificent, everything is blooming, and there is a new Woden arbor under which the Emory will take place, which tomorrow will be decorated with flowers. We find Briony, who introduces us to Ivan the cellist, we’ve arrived early so we can run the piece with him before the actual rehearsal starts. We go through it a few times, get the tempo set, and then it is time for the rehearsal. Madeline bee to see Natasha, we say hi to Simon and Charlotte, meet the bridesmaids and Jerry the officiant, and find our places. Ivan plays the entry music, Natasha looks so happy, Geoff’s mother does her reading, and then it is time for us to sing. It goes perfectly – what a relief! – and then Briony reads one of her poems called “Counting the thunder” and we’re almost all in tears as she chokes up a bit at the end. They Jerry goes over how he’ll do the comments and the vows, and Ivan pays the Queen of Sheba music by Handel for the exit. Everyone seems quite relieved that the rehearsal not so well. Of course there are many background details Briony and Natasha are a bit concerned about, but we are confident all will work out given their great teamwork.

Back to Burnham Market to buy hats! Madeleine and I have our dresses to help with selecting a hat. We go to Pensey’s, the amazing hat Place Barney and I visited last trip, where he got his nice wool fedora. Walking into this satire is like walking into a rainbow. Hats of every color land style for ladies, and quite a selection for men as well. The owner is ready for visitors needing hats, and she fusses over each hat selection, bringing out several candidates to help match the shoes or the dress. Madeleine chooses a sweet pink disk, not to big, not too small, and I find a lovely cream and white brimmed hat with matching purse. Barney faithfully holds dresses and shoes and gives words of approval on final selections. We leave with a large hatbox, large enough to hold both hats, and cross back to The Hoste for the rehearsal luncheon.

The large terrace is set for the rehearsal luncheon, three lovely courses, beautiful flowers, and a few speeches. Everyone seems a bit relieved, and we head back to the cottage after Barney has a chance to view their Lord Nelson exhibit, of important dates and some memorabilia. The Hoste was his base of operations for many years, and he was from a nearby town; William Hoste, whose family owned the inn, was a ship boy for Nelson, and one of his favorites, late becoming a renowned sea caption who was the model for Captain Aubrey of the Patrick O’brien novels. Soon after, Camden and Emilie arrived Camden who knows Natasha from Head Royce as well as Wellesley, and Emilie who is a friend from Wellesley. Every one settles in and unpacks, and the girls have a chance to chat. Then it is time to get ready for the welcome drinks party, and we walk back to The Hoste. The cocktail party is packed, all the out of town guests of which the ere are many. We ,eat some of Simon’s relatives, eat some amazing local oysters, and return home for a good rest.

London to Norfolk, 31 August 2017

London to Norfolk

We leave the Airbnb place (nice location but odd, no toilet paper when we arrived, lots of food left in the refrigerator) and haul ourselves to St. Pancras station. As always, the Enterprise car rental is the least expensive, as they are always located in some odd place not at the main airport or train station (as we learned in Paris). After quite a bit of traipsing around with our luggage, we finally find it inside the parking garage by the station. The car rental guy, Hamid, is extremely helpful and spends a lot of time with Barney on the car operation and showed me the GPS. We have a BMW sedan, as there will eventually be four of us plus luggage.  We decided to stop in Cambridge for lunch, which is very much a pedestrian town with limited parking. We find a small café, I have a chicken salad and Barney has a filled frittata, and we head out to walk around the town. You have to buy tickets to go into the actual college buildings, so we content ourselves with walking through the Medieval streets and visiting the Great St. Mary’s church, where the earliest scholars and students met for lectures, before the college buildings were erected.

Back on the road to Kings Lynn in. Or folk, where we will pick up Madeleine. She has been backpacking along Hadrian’s Wall, an 85+ mile walk she has done in about 10 days, allowing plenty of time for the many archaeological museums along the way. After some bad directions from the GPS and circling the train station three times, we finally connect with her, and are so happy to see her! There is a grocery store nearby, so we get some basics for breakfast, and head to Burnham Market. At The Hoste, we get the keys and head just outside the main square to the cottage,  3-bedroom, 3-1/2-bath place with full kitchen, dining room and living room. We settle in and go back to The Hoste for dinner, Barney had duck, I had a lobster shrimp salad (local shellfish) and Madeleine has an unfortunately dry cod. We head back to practice the song a bit, and get ready for the wedding rehearsal tomorrow.