6/20/10
We are docked at Qena. It is where we docked yesterday for an optional tour of the city. It is the cleanest city in all of Egypt; there is a contest every year, and it has won the last few years. And by clean I mean clean, no trash, local areas taken care of, etc.
We woke up and after breakfast bussed it to Denderah temple. This is a greco-roman temple(built during greek or roman occupation of Egypt) for the cow goddess Hathor. The far side of the temple has one of the few remaining reliefs depicting Cleopatra and her cartouche. There were some beautiful reliefs all around, the colors are amazing.
Once inside the temple, past the hathor-headed coloumns, you look up to see a beautiful blue decorated ceiling and a black ceiling. Restoration is at work here. A cleaning solution that will not interfere with the paint is being applied to the ceiling to restore it to its former glory.
We go through the temple and walk our way up to the roof of the temple. Once there we see a modern relief for the very first horoscope. It was named after the god Horus. The horoscope was taken by the Louvre to be studied, and has never been returned. the view from the roof is amazing and you can see for miles.
Next we climb the whole way back down and some of us go even farther into the crypt of the temple. There are no mummies there, it was never used for bodies. Beautiful jewels and precious treasures were found here. It is small and a squeeze to get through, but the colored reliefs inside are amazing. Up close and personal. Anne went with me and on our way out she gave me her camera to take a picture of her climbing back out. She was not the only one who did this, and it became a great joke.
I found Mark on the way out as Grandma and Karin left earlier with Dorothy to sit by the shops and cool off. Grandma bought a red hat to protect her head from even more sunburn. I asked Mark to take a few pictures of me next to a huge column and in front of the temple with my phone so I could send the pictures to Mom along with the update.
When we met up with Dorothy, apparantly Grandma and Karin had been talking about why I chose Egypt for a senior trip, so she gave me a hug and told me I will make a wonderful Egyptologist because I have the passion for it. It was really sweet and I really hope one day it will be true.
When we got back to the River Anuket I changed and headed up to the pool deck with a book and a water bottle. It is paradise up here. The view of the riverbank is beautiful, and the pool is perfect for my purposes. I sat in the shallow water edge that was most of the pool and read. The water came up to my waist while sitting and I was perfectly cool while sunbathing and reading. I feel great after being out in the hot sun all morning.
We are skipping dinner today because after lunch we really weren't hungry and we were promised popcorn with our movie in the lounge after dinner. We were watching Death on the Nile. I shopped during dinner before going up to claim a seat. I bought a red carnelian and alabaster vase for Mom, a camel sandglobe for Austin, and little statues and pyramids for my librarians.
We were the first ones who went to claim a seat in the lounge and got the best seats and several refills of poporn. We were the only ones who really wanted it, and some of the other people gave us theirs. I really enjoyed the movie even though I couldn't get through the book and the movie was pretty old.
Today was a really great day.
We are docked at Qena. It is where we docked yesterday for an optional tour of the city. It is the cleanest city in all of Egypt; there is a contest every year, and it has won the last few years. And by clean I mean clean, no trash, local areas taken care of, etc.
We woke up and after breakfast bussed it to Denderah temple. This is a greco-roman temple(built during greek or roman occupation of Egypt) for the cow goddess Hathor. The far side of the temple has one of the few remaining reliefs depicting Cleopatra and her cartouche. There were some beautiful reliefs all around, the colors are amazing.
Once inside the temple, past the hathor-headed coloumns, you look up to see a beautiful blue decorated ceiling and a black ceiling. Restoration is at work here. A cleaning solution that will not interfere with the paint is being applied to the ceiling to restore it to its former glory.
We go through the temple and walk our way up to the roof of the temple. Once there we see a modern relief for the very first horoscope. It was named after the god Horus. The horoscope was taken by the Louvre to be studied, and has never been returned. the view from the roof is amazing and you can see for miles.
Next we climb the whole way back down and some of us go even farther into the crypt of the temple. There are no mummies there, it was never used for bodies. Beautiful jewels and precious treasures were found here. It is small and a squeeze to get through, but the colored reliefs inside are amazing. Up close and personal. Anne went with me and on our way out she gave me her camera to take a picture of her climbing back out. She was not the only one who did this, and it became a great joke.
I found Mark on the way out as Grandma and Karin left earlier with Dorothy to sit by the shops and cool off. Grandma bought a red hat to protect her head from even more sunburn. I asked Mark to take a few pictures of me next to a huge column and in front of the temple with my phone so I could send the pictures to Mom along with the update.
When we met up with Dorothy, apparantly Grandma and Karin had been talking about why I chose Egypt for a senior trip, so she gave me a hug and told me I will make a wonderful Egyptologist because I have the passion for it. It was really sweet and I really hope one day it will be true.
When we got back to the River Anuket I changed and headed up to the pool deck with a book and a water bottle. It is paradise up here. The view of the riverbank is beautiful, and the pool is perfect for my purposes. I sat in the shallow water edge that was most of the pool and read. The water came up to my waist while sitting and I was perfectly cool while sunbathing and reading. I feel great after being out in the hot sun all morning.
We are skipping dinner today because after lunch we really weren't hungry and we were promised popcorn with our movie in the lounge after dinner. We were watching Death on the Nile. I shopped during dinner before going up to claim a seat. I bought a red carnelian and alabaster vase for Mom, a camel sandglobe for Austin, and little statues and pyramids for my librarians.
We were the first ones who went to claim a seat in the lounge and got the best seats and several refills of poporn. We were the only ones who really wanted it, and some of the other people gave us theirs. I really enjoyed the movie even though I couldn't get through the book and the movie was pretty old.
Today was a really great day.
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