Day 10 Abu Simbel

Day 10 started out early, with breakfast on the

Hadeel, and then we caught a plane to Abu Simbel

to see the Ramses II temple.

Some of the group decided to sleep in and we would

pick them up at the Airport on the way back to Cairo.

We said Goodbye to all the crew from the Hadeel, and

it was very sad. We will miss them.

We took a bus to the temples, and the scope of the it was astounding.

This is another of the temples that was relocated from it's

original location in the 1970's. The statue the second from

the left was broken when they found it, and they moved

the whole temple and left the statue as they found it. Ayman giving us his infinite wisdom!

Group shot

The line of statues at the foot of the temple

Just as a size check, the small smudge in the doorway is Lou Ann!

This is the temple of Nefertari, Ramses II's queen. Smaller in scale and

with lots of Ramses statues, but very impressive none the less.

View from the side...

Nefertari's temple from the side

We returned via air to Aswan, and picked up the rest of

our group. The flight back to Cairo was uneventful,

and very short. We could see the pyramids from the

air and that was impressive. We had lunch at a very

exclusive restaurant, even though we were

underdressed! It was Egyptian Mother's day, so all the

restaurants were crowded. We took the bus to another hotel,

the Cairo Sonesta. Somehow The ones of us who had

paid for single accomodations got suites! This is my

three room suite that I only had 5 hours to enjoy.

I did take a jacuzzi bath and relaxed before my killer

plane ride home.

Yes, that is a round bed! Did not sleep on it,

but I did prop up my feet up.

H picked me up at 11:30, we got to the airport in plenty

of time. I left at 1 AM, got to Paris at 5, left

Paris for Salt Lake City at 10, and got to Albuquerque

at 4:30. With the time change, it was a

23 hour flight. That is the only thing that I

would change. Since I cannot sleep on airplanes,

I would spring for Business class or First class

just to have room and then take a sleeping pill!

This was the trip of a lifetime, and I

am so glad that I decided to go.