Day 32: Oct 6: Luxor

Today we arrived to Luxor via overnight train. We got in at 6:30 after a light breakfast of tea and cake. We both felt a little ill but we got everything together in time. I guess we didn't look ready because the guy kept coming back to make sure we were ready. Once off the train we were groggy and still waking up. Immediately upon stepping out of the station, cab drivers were basically at our throats like never before. We were not in the mood, and so put our angry faces and voices on. It didn't help, but we finally got someone to take us for a reasonable price to the Symphony cruise ship, one of many kilometers of boats along the banks of the Nile.

We arrived at our ship and checked in, trying to gather energy to explore Luxor. We grabbed a bite of apple and bread and headed towards the Luxor museum. It was really cool to see: there were dozens of statues recently excavated (within the last 50 years) from the Temples of Luxor and Karnak. There were also two mummies (!), one of Ramses I and one that we'd never heard of. It was cool to see the mummies, especially Ramses, who still had hair! But we weren't sure how we felt about putting someone's body in a glass case for everyone to examine, no matter how long he'd been dead.

After a couple of hours in the museum, my illness and fatigue started to hit me again, and we had to take a cab home. A nap before lunch did us well! We both had a very plain lunch, and felt a little better after eating. Thankfully, we were both feeling up to the afternoon's tours!

We boarded the tour bus (feeling a little out of place as we normally do all we can to avoid the big tours!), and made our way to the Temple of Karnak. The scale of the temple complex alone was impressive. It was massive! For example, in the entrance hall alone, there were 134 colossal columns in the shape of palm trees, which once supported the roof. There were hundreds of inscriptions and painted carvings on the walls, as well as 2 obelisks (thery're always made in pairs!) and a Sacred Lake where battles and performances were staged.

We left the Karnak Temple as the sun was setting over the Nile, and arrived at the Luxor Temple as dusk was falling. This was guarded by two gigantuan statues of Ramses II, and was the temple of his wife (whereas Karnak was his temple). As was traditional, Ramses II's temple was facing East-West, and his wifes was facing North-South, running along the lines of the Nile, representing fertility, and together forming the shape of a cross. The temple was especially cool to see as night fell and the lights were lit - it gave the place quite a magical feeling.

We climbed back on the bus and had a little time to kill before dinner, so Karla napped again, and I went off in search of electrolyte powder. (Successfully I might add...there must be a lot of sick foreigners in Luxor!)

Dinner was appetizing for me, but not so for Karla. It seems like she has the extended version of this thing. Poor kid. We made friends with this lovely Irish couple, who are also in our tour group, then met them upstairs after dinner for the bellydancing show. The first act was this man wearing a sort of hoop-skirt that remained suspended in mid-air, who spun continuously for 20 minutes. It made us dizzy just watching him! Next was the bellydancer. Despite the fact that neither of us has ever seen a live belly dancing show, we thought she was sub-par. At least she succeeded in making our new Irish friend dance, and we thoroughly enjoyed watching her boyfriend laugh at her. We didn't have enough energy to join in. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be well enough to fully participate in Bingo night. Who knew that we'd be on the senior citizen's cruise? Haha, not really.
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