Cairo June 29,2008

Back again. So odd to use this internet. Nearly all of it is in Egyptian and you have to do everything from right to left. Their letters resemble squiggles and ,to me, are indecipherable. So I was talking about yesterday and our time in old Cairo. We also saw a water buffalo tied to a fence in the middle of the city (produces milk for the street). Everywhere you look there are minarets and mosques, apparently over 10,000. The streets in the old part are cobbled and sandy. Nearly every women wears a veil. The egyptians have become much more fundamentalist in the past 20 years.
After lunch we toured the Egyptian Museum. The most extraordinary artifacts stored in an unairconditioned 110 year old building that looks like something from an Indiana Jones movie. The whole 2nd floor contains the trove from King Tut's tomb including his 200lb. solid gold sarcophagus and the famous gold mask. We also saw 12 royal mummies, some pretty gruesome, as well as some animal mummies. One of the queens even had her pet mummified baboon by her side. The new museum opens in 2011 "inshallah" - Egyptian for God willing. Really it is deesperately needed- a crime to keep these priceless treasures as they are now. Sat evening we flew south an hour to Luxor-ancient Thebes- home of the Valley of the Kings.On the way to the airport we stopped at the site of the assassination of Anwar Sadat and his tomb across the street. sad, he held a lot of promise for Egypt. It was 27 years ago, doesn't seem that long.
Luxor
We are staying in the Winter Palace Hotel, the "grande dame" of Luxor and the nicest hotel in this city of 200,000. We have a large balcony with rattan chairs overlooking the palm garden. Cairo temps are cool compared to here. Today the temp is 116. Somehow, though I was very careful, I have developed the Pharoah's Revenge aka Mummy's Tummy. Fortunately I was able to get a magical Egyptian potion- Antinal- which seems to be helping. This AM we spent the day at the Karnak Temple- remember Johnny Carson? I cannot say too much because I was overwhelmed by the heat, feeling ill,etc. I learned a bit about the Pharoahs but pretty sure I won't remember much. This afternoon we rested beside the pools with some of our new friends.They actually have to cool the water. The pool is 79, outside 110.
By 5:30 the temp had cooled to 102 with occasional breezes off the Nile. An hour tour of the Temple of Luxor was enough to "temple us out" for the day. Some guy in a tunic singled Bert out and spirited him away to a hieroglyphic wall indicating that he would get a special blessing by touching his hand to his head and then the wall 14 times. This info cost him 1 egyptian pound- 18 cents. Cheap price for good luck.
In other news, we signed up for a hot air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings in 2 days. Already I am a wreck but we paid for it so I am going this time. Our wake up call is for 4AM for a breakfast at a farm village on the other side of the Nile so I am off to bed.