We had the option to take a hot air balloon ride early this morning, but we decided against it.  The rest of our group went and had a good time.  We waited for them in the bus.  The view of all the balloons up in the air was pretty neat to see.  I’m glad we didn’t go because they didn’t really go very far and it seemed very smoggy this morning. This is my best picture through the bus window. Sorry for the weird color.

We all left for Valley of the Kings.  Apparently they only have so many tombs open each day and they change which ones are open.  Tutankhamen is open every day.  Our guide gave us the choice of paying extra to see two other tombs.  One only cost around $5 and the other cost around $60 (for Seti I) We saw the blueprint of the tomb and it looked massive. Mohamed said that you have to pay extra because there is a lot of bas relief in the tomb and the colors are pretty vibrant, so they want to limit the number of people who go inside.  It is the same with King Tut.  We had to have an extra ticket for it.  Mohamed told us we should see Ramses I, III, and IV (you get to visit three tombs with your original ticket to enter Valley of the Kings).  Ramses the I is the smallest tomb.  It only has one room. Tutankhamen has four, but you only see two.  Ramses IV had a long hallway with a sarcophagus at the end.  Ramses III was the biggest.  It is still being excavated.  I loved every minute of exploring the tombs. 

We entered Ramses IV first. It had a long hallway with niches (about three on each side) that used to contain all the king needed for the afterlife.  At the end of the hallway there was a big sarcophagus with some beautiful bas relief designs on it.  I loved all the hieroglyphs on the walls, it was like fancy wallpaper.   The colors that were still there were also amazing, especially the blues and yellows were so vibrant. 

Before we went inside The Valley of the Kings, Mohamed showed us pictures of what we would see inside.  One of them was on the ceiling on the Ramses IV tomb. It is a woman with the sun. I also noticed a lot of snakes carved on the walls.  Mohamed said it was for protection. 

Our second tomb was Ramses I.  It is the smallest tomb in The Valley of the Kings, but one of the most impressive.  It is pretty deep down, so you have to climb down. There is one room with an impressive sarcophagus and beautiful blue walls with incredible carvings.  I loved seeing Osiris (he is the green guy) on the walls.  

The next tomb was Ramses III. This one was pretty big and elaborate. At the end of the tomb, the tunnel continues and they explain that they are still excavating!  

The last tomb we entered was King Tutankhamen.  We had to wait for people to come out before we were allowed inside. It’s a good climb down as well, but did not seem as deep as Ramses I.  When you enter the room, you see his mummy immediately.  His face was damaged when the mask was removed.  You can’t take a great picture because there is a railing around the glass case. There is a guy standing there who will take a whole bunch of pictures of you for a tip.  It was worth the $1. How else will you get a picture of his face?  There is also a room with one of the boxes that housed his coffins.  They had to scramble to get this tomb ready because he died so young (19). 

After The Valley of the Kings, we stopped at Hetshepsut’s temple. She was the illegitimate queen who exiled her stepson and took over.  Her stepson was Thutmose II and he was one of the most successful kings in battle.  When he returned to Egypt to claim the throne, he made a point to erase Hetshepsut’s reign everywhere he could.  Although the temple remains, her cartouches are chiseled off the walls.  If there is a carving depicting her, it is also chiseled out. It makes the viewing of the walls interesting because here is an an offering to Osiris from…a blank wall, Here you see Anubis giving no one the Ankh.  I think it is an excellent way to exact revenge.  

We had a momentary stop (just to take a picture) at the two big statues of what the Greeks called Memnon.  They are so huge.  They are not in great shape, but they are standing (one with the help of reconstruction). 

I really enjoyed the fact that the tour company that we chose, has us go to people’s houses to eat meals.  This time we stopped at a local’s house, who used to be a high school teacher, but is now the director.  I asked him a few questions about high school since I loved teaching it.  You could tell he had a passion for working with kids too.  He said his family has always lived in that area and Mohamed told us that the house was built on land that his grandparents possessed.  His son lives with him on the upper floor with his wife and children.  He served us soup, which only had orzo in it, but it was quite spicy and one spice was cinnamon. They had homemade bread, which was incredible, babganoush, green salad, vegetables, white beans in sauce, rice, beef, and chicken.  It was a lot of food and it was the best meal I have had in Egypt.  I really enjoyed the vegetables, rice, beans, and bread.  My husband, who is a super selective eater, ate a whole plate of the chicken because he liked it so much. We walked down the dirt road back to the bus all pleasantly full and enjoying the sunshine. 

We stopped at a shop in which they carved stone. They gave us a demonstration and then brought us inside to see if we would purchase anything.  My husband and I really wanted something nice to bring back made of stone.  They gave us a free drink and we toured the store.  They had items in the very back that were unbelievably detailed.  I wanted a basalt Anubis and Jef picked a canonic jar with Anubis’ head, which used to hold the liver of the mummy.  They were not cheap, but we wanted a nice souvenir, rather than a cheap knockoff from the market. We were surprised that only two other people in our group went into the store.  I think they were exhausted from early morning hot air balloon ride. 

Our hotel in Luxor was the Sonesta St George.  It has a very impressive lobby.  They gave us cold hibiscus as we waited. We relaxed in our rooms for an hour and a half and then four of us met Mohamed in the lobby to go to a government owed jewelry store and to visit the Luxor museum.  He hailed us a taxi and all five of us fit in the station wagon.  It was a quick trip and cost 100 Egyptian pounds for all of us.  We walked on a lovely promenade by the museum and then onto the Main Street for the. store.  I was not terribly impressed with their selection.  I ended up buying a shiny silver eye of Horus with a chain. 

The Luxor museum is small, but I thought their collection was very interesting.  I especially enjoyed the detail in the statue of Thutmose II.  The examples of blueprints for the tombs and the two mummies we saw.  One of which was found in Niagara Falls and was recently returned to Egypt. They think it is Ramses II. 

We returned to the hotel on our own in a taxi that cost the same, but the guy wanted to take us to the market, then as we got out, he wanted a tip.  It’s always something.  We rested again, then met Mohamed and two other members of the group to go out for Italian.  My husband had a pizza and I had pasta and a large bottle of water and our meal cost us $10.  It’s always a good idea to go where the guide says to go.