Oh, the Places You'll Go!

This is the last post of my Israel/Egypt Tour 2010. Ya me, I finished telling the story within a year!! Thanks for coming along.

Oh, the places you'll go.

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

A New Testament period stable where I got to contemplate the humble birth of the Savior.

The sacred pit, where the Savoir spent the night alone just before his trial in the Palace of Caiaphas. This was a sewer of sorts, and this is where one thinks about the fact that "Christ descended below all things to rise above all things."

Caesarea, and the steps that Paul used to board ships to Rome and to serve his various missions.

The Nile River in Egypt. This is where one gets to think about Old Testament stories, plagues, locusts, parting of the Red Sea, the passover, etc...

The Citadel of Salah Al-Din. This is the prayer rug that many Muslims use when they are here and it's one of the 5 times a day to pray.

The pyramids of Egypt.

Finally, the beaches of Hawaii! No better place to finish a great trip than Hawaii in November!

And as Dr Suess says:

You'll get mixed up, of course,

as you already know.

You'll get mixed up

with many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step.

Step with care and great tact

and remember that Life's

a Great Balancing Act.

Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.

And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you suceed?

Yes! You will indeed!

(98 and 3/4 percent  guaranteed.)

The Pyramids of Giza

The Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Khufu is the first of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. It is the oldest building in the world and HUGE!!
The Great Sphinx with human head and lion's body, is a colossal sculpture cut from the Giza bedrock. (Look someone got his nose!)

The Pyramid of Khafre (in the back there). The pyramids were built about 4500 yrs ago. Guess what the main purpose of the pyramids was? Oh, I knew you would get it, a tomb for a King. (talk about ego!!) 

This is the other side of the Pyramid of Khafre, just an indicator of how HUGE the pyramid really is.(Oh the things one can do with a camera!)

"Walk like an Egyptian!"

(Can you hear the music? I'm singing it now!!)

Shopping anyone? So much to choose from, and yes sometimes I fell prey to the tourist trap, oh what the heck, I'm on vacation!!

The three large pyramids of Giza. From left to right, Menkaure, Khafre and Khufu. Cairo in the background, and Dixie Dee in the foreground. (Just wanted a picture of me with one of the Seven Wonders of the World.)

It's Friday 19 November 2010 and the last full day as a tourist in Egypt. Sad to say, it's almost time to pack up, and hurry up and wait in line, go through scanners, remove belts, shoes, etc... and then look for a winter coat. Leaving all the sand and heat for the snow and cold of Alberta! Ahhh, is that a good thing???

I think I have one more post about "Interesting sights 2" from my trip and then I've pretty much told the story. Thanks for coming on the trip with me, I hope it was somewhat interesting and that you've learned a few things, I know I learned alot of things and I hope I can keep them in my mind and heart. I have much to be thankful for and one of them is the opportunity to experience the Middle East. Another is the chance to "Run today where Jesus Walked!"  Experiencing Israel and Jerusalem really does help make the scriptures come alive for me. I've said it before, but I didn't have to go to the Holy Land to know that Christ lived and died for me and mankind, but it is fun to read about things like The Garden Tomb and have memories to go along with that reading.

Cairo

This is the greeting I received, in the hotel room, in Cairo, Egypt. A very very nice hotel. I was rather surprised that I was travelling in so much style.

Just a shot of our room, a nice room indeed. 

Everytime we entered the hotel we had to do the security thing, oh man I don't think I'll ever do that much security in 10 yrs in North America, as I did in 2 nights in Cairo.

A view of the street from our hotel room. Busy, busy at night, cars and people everywhere, honking etc... Too bad I didn't get a picture of the streets as we were driving from the airport to the hotel. Bumper to bumper traffic for as far as the eye could see and on the 3 lane streets I counted 7 cars across, I don't know why they bothered with lines on the road. So what do you say for that, door to door traffic along with bumper to bumper for miles and miles? I'm still amazed that our big bus got through it and to the hotel in relatively good time.

Not the greatest picture(I know) but it gives you an idea of how many people were in one spot. They are waiting to get into the "Colossal" mall that was right off our hotel. Life doesn't start until after 6pm in Cairo.

Same spot from our hotel room in the morning. No one is around at all. (and no, it's not 6am, it's more like 9 or 10am) not a car to be seen or heard.

The best I could do to give you an idea of the size of the mall we went to. West Edmonton Mall is childs play compared to this mall. It has all the stores one would find in Canada or the USA and then some. Oh the people, so hard to describe how many people were in this mall at night. We thought we would go to the food court for supper, but to stand in line that long for junk food, nope, decided to go back to the hotel room and order in. Alot of young people were hanging out in the mall, hanging out with friends and doing the cell phone thing too. They were all walking somewhere, but I couldn't figure out where they were all going, but going somewhere they were! We had to be careful not to lose each other. To say that it was a bit overwhelming would be an understatement!

A view of the city of Cairo from one of the mosques we visited. 25 million people live in Cairo. (Huge!!! or should I say Colossal?)

Kelly and I with Cairo in the background.(Master of the obvious, I know) Really shouldn't take pictures facing into the sun eh? Just notice my "Brazil" shirt. That shirt made me a popular tourist, as all the locals love soccer and Brazil must be a fairly good team. Too bad you can't hear the locals say "Hey Brazzil"! I got the thumbs up everywhere I went.  Oh some of the lines I got from the boys working the tourists, rather entertaining that is for sure!!

Just to get you ready for the next post. I bet you can't guess what it will be about? I'm going to leave it at that for now. For the record, I'm very glad to visit a city like Cairo, but I don't want to live in a city like Cairo.

Interesting Sites. Hummmm?

Humm.. A big bus following a lady driving her sheep. Oh this lady was some upset with us taking pictures, I have no clue what she was saying, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't "Hey, can I pose for you?"

Notice how she kept the sheep from running away from her!

What makes you think this sign was translated by a non English speaker? Just so you know the W.C. stands for Water Closet, a british term.

For chocolate fans out there! This is how chocolate is kept for the tourists, as it is rather "hot" in Egypt, and chocolate has to be kept at the right consistency to be truly enjoyed!

Just some education to go along with that chocolate & soda.

I couldn't get over this, the unfinished buildings were everywhere!! Blocks and blocks of unfinished buildings. So much I don't understand.

Work truck, I think! Notice the waterway behind the "truck" raw garbage is strewn all along it's banks for miles. We are so lucky to live where we do and to have the infrastructure that we do!! We have so much!

"Hey, that guy in the grey suit, I saw him at our last bus stop."

"There he is again, I wonder what that bulge is and why is he where we are?"

"Oh, I get it now!! He is the last one on and the first off our bus!" Wow, so much I take for granted.

These were a few of the things that made me go hmmm and made me grateful for where and how I live. Travelling is truly one of the best educators I know.

Egyptian Temples

On our cruise on the Nile River,we stopped at various Egyptian Temples. After a while they start looking and sounding the same. It was interesting to note how big and intricate their temples are. So much info here, but I have to admit I've forgotten quite a bit of what was said. 

The hieroglyphics are extensive and tell quite a story.

I find it cool that these carvings have lasted so long and interesting that someone took the time to "jot" all this info into rock.

Notice how deep into the rock this image is. Wow, labor intensive I would say.

Here's the picture I took of Kelly, trying to be one of the warriors you see there on the wall. The ones with no right arm are the wicked warriors I do believe.

This is the view Mike had of Kelly doing her thing for me. Our guide is telling us stories and we are messing around. (Maybe that is why I can't remember all the stories, I was distracted.)

OK, I want to play too! My effort at being armless!

And this is Mike's view of the same picture. Our poor guide, we were perhaps a bit distracting, but we had fun.

Ok, Ok, I guess it's time to get back in line and listen.

Kelly doing her thing again, it was fun. I wonder what he thought?

Some interesting characters, selling their wares. Those are cigarettes. I wonder how old this guy is?

See, interesting guys all over the place.

We'll end off with the "happy guy" for the Egyptian Temples.

Just in case you are wondering, I'm up to 17 November 2010, day 12 of the tour. I may get this done before Nov 2011, thanks to all my followers, I appreciate your comments and for any "stalkers" who choose not to comment, I appreciate your interest too. I'm just lucky enough to be able to see and experience these things. It's nice to have a way to share it.

The Nile

We made it into Egypt, crossed the deseret in the bus, took a plane to Aswan and boarded a cruise ship on the Nile River. The soil along the Nile is very fertile. Notice the green, lush vegetation long the shore and the desert beyond that.

Some of the sights along the way.

The Nile River is 4184 miles long, the longest river in the world.

Cool, see he is the same color as the rock.

More activity along the shores of the Nile. Interesting to note that Southern Egypt is called Upper Egypt, and Northern Egypt is called Lower Egypt, due to the fact that the river flows from South to North.

Cooling off on a hot day.

This is a cruise ship very much like the one we're on.

Fun to wave at as we pass by.

Time for prayer.

This was fun to watch, as they were right in front of our boat. "Hurry guys, we are much bigger than you!"

"Ah, made it, now we'll rest and watch you go by."

The end