APRIL 3, 2008 – SAFAGA TO LUXOR & KARNACK

BEFORE I FORGET: We believe not all of our emails are getting through since we have sent emails to some folks and we get odd emails saying they’re worried about us. So as long as I’m putting up a blog or otherwise have contact, you know we’re OK. Please pass this information along to others.

There were 53 of us going on the overland but the convoy from Safaga to Luxor included 300 from the ship. The others were on day trips like we did last time. The convoy this time was longer and while there’s security everywhere, it is still somewhat less than in 2004. There are armed security on each bus, a police escort in the front ( and I think the rear as well)…you get the picture. The side roads were closed to let our busses pass everywhere. And there are “chick points” at regular intervals (that’s how they were spelled too). They put up barricades so that any vehicle has to zig zag to get through.
MOSES: Yes, it’s true. We were part of “followers of Moses”. Moses took us through the desert for four days only but he is an excellent guide. He is wild about American movies and Clint Eastwood is his idol. The tour guides in Egypt are all licensed Egyptologists and Moses son has just graduated and will be starting his career as a tour guide soon.
Abercrombie and Kent, now often called Akorn, was the tour company. We were with them last time and had a great experience so we were pleased when told they would be the company. And the name carries some weight: Going through X-ray at the airport, the X-ray police wanted to confiscate my sun tan lotion. One of the tour guides, we were 22 in our group with our own guide; other groups had a similar ratio. The guide spoke to the policeman in Arabic and heard him say Abercrombie, so we compromised: the guide kept my suntan lotion and returned it to me later.
Now this happened at only one X-ray machine mind you. And many of us were carrying one or two liter bottles of water, often inside our backpacks, and they were never confiscated. On the positive side, we never had to take our shoes off. On the plus or minus side, depending on your viewpoint, at almost everyplace we had to go through X-ray, we had to do it twice. This wasn’t just the airports; it was the hotels, and all of the sites we visited.
My sleeve complicates matters but we managed with the help of the guides and Ed so that it wasn’t too much of a problem though I got some very strange looks in some places.
We traveled on an air conditioned motorcoach on an “agricultural road” to Luxor. It looked like it too. You’d see poor little donkeys working their hearts out hauling these wagons full of green produce and the driver sitting atop.
VALLEY OF THE KINGS: First off, and this includes the whole trip, we never had any temps that went above 90s. That doesn’t mean we didn’t get hot and dehydrated, but the experience wasn’t nearly as arduous as it was in 2004. We toured a few of the tombs here. You need a separate ticket to see Tut’s tomb which is largely excavated at this point; we saw a lot of Tut stuff at the Museum in Cairo. There were scads of other tourists and they take you to the site on the Egyptian version of the people movers at Disneyland.
There are 62 pharaohs buried here and there’s still some valuable property in many of these tombs. There are guards everywhere and lots of locals in the gebaya at each entrance to check your tickets. The level of preservation of the items in these tomb, including the paintings, is really quite remarkable. They have not been renovated, merely cleaned so the original shows at it’s best.
TEMPLE OF HATCHEUSUT: She was Egypt’s only female Pharaoh.This was just a photo stop, but this would be a very interesting place to go inside.
COLOSSI OF MEMNON: We did get off the bus here, but it was just an elongated bus stop. Last time, we didn’t even get to stop.
SONESTA ST. GEORGE: This was our hotel for the night and the lunch location, the same one we visited in 2004. It is right on the Nile and a great location; calm, serene and so on. We had lunch, checked into our rooms, and had some time to clean up and rest. We were able to get BBC News here and there was a great debate, held in Monterey, CA. the panel included one of the founders of Google, Carl Bernstein, an African journalist, a psychologist, Queen Noor of Jordan, and others whose names I can’t recall. They discussed news today: how it’s gathered, how it’s consumed, regulation or not, ethics, and so on. Fascinating. Great mental dessert.
TEMPLE OF LUXOR: While touring this, Ed and I realized that we had only been driven around this on our last visit. This time we went through it. It was dedicated to the god Amun a fertility figure. Karnack and Luxor were originally connected by the Avenue of Human-headed Sphinxes, stretching almost three kilometers between them.
KARNACK: No, not Johnny Carson’s Carnack (but wasn’t that a howl?). Here we arrived at sunset and walked through Karnack while a sound and light show entertained us at each spot culminating with a seated conventional show at the end. It was Friday night and the Imans were moaning out their prayers in the background which I found very distracting and annoying, but which some felt enhanced the validity of the experience. I was also somewhat disappointed with this show as I had expected something different than we experienced. Too much to explain here; neither of us is sorry we went but we wouldn’t do it again nor recommend it.
SUPPER: Was outside between the swimming pool and the Nile River. There was a belly dancer who was truly awful. A young girl who swung around in stereotypical moves Miss Piggy would do. I was stunned. She was followed by what I’ll call a “whirling dervish” and this guy is amazing. They twirl for the longest time (we aren’t talking just 10 minutes here) and does things to keep you looking. We were tired just watching him. The food was buffet and BBQ and terrific as all the food was on our trips.
Hotel: At least 5 star, very comfortable, all toilets have a bidet hose nearby the commode. I just knew this would be important information for you to know.

APRIL 4, 2008 – TO ASWAN

We had a wake up call at 5:30 am and were on the bus by 6:30 am; this means we do our showers at night and suffer with bed head all day. What the hell: you’re not supposed to look good on vacation in the swealtering heat anyway.
FLIGHT TO ASWAN: Egypt Air flew us everywhere in Egypt and Moses was constantly amazed as they have traditionally had a reputation for poor service, and never being on time. Both reps were countred with our experiences on this trip. We arrived at Aswan at 8:40 am. This is a sweet little town with old and new parts and it’s right on the Nile. Very picturesque and serene. I wouldn’t mind spending time here doing nothing.
While our luggage and such was taken to the hotel, we went to visit the High and Low (older) dams. I didn’t know there were two of them. The older dam had been heightened several times before the new dam was built. Egypt approached the US to help in building the High Dam and John Foster Dulles refused so Egypt asked Russia which did provide the money. This was a bad mistake on the part of the US but we had had many years of good relations now.
PHILAE TEMPLE: This was an unexpected surprise. We took a motorboat ride to Agilka island where this temple had been moved from the former location which is now under water. It’s mind boggling to me how they have so successfully moved these ancient cities and reassembled them perfectly. And the degree of preservation is indescribable. Restorations are done to preserve the integrity of the original work, not to make it look like it did when it was first built.
UNFINISHED OBELISK: This is at the quarry which supplied ancient Egypt with most of the stone used in the various building projects. The obelisk illustrates the method used to make them and the problems, for example, a defect in the stone that precludes its use, often after the work had progressed a long way. There were 5 little puppies here and a Japanese tourist was feeding them. One of our ship mates fed them water and we spent almost as much time with the puppies as we did the quarry itself.
VENDORS: There have been vendors at most places, some more pushy than others. They have many clever techniques which I won’t recount here because if I did, I’d never be done with this blog. Just chalk it up to lessons learned to survive in the 3rd (and some 1st world) countries.
LUNCH: We went here for lunch and to rest in our hotel rooms. This hotel is on an island in the middle of the Nile so you have Nile river scenes on all 4 sides; it’s glorious as every room has a great view. It’s called the Movenpick (a Swiss company) Elephantine Island Hotel. We got there by taking a local ferry boat across.
FELUCCA RIDE: At 4 pm we all met for a ride on these sail boats on the Nile called fellucas. We are now in Nubian country, the upper Egypt (this is the southern part of Egypt; lower Egypt is near Cairo; The Nile is the only river that runs South to North—trivia question alert). These people are black skinned and look more like your typical African. The felluca is an interesting sailboat that I can’t adequately describe. The fellows who sail it (it is so quiet on it; reminded me of the hot air balloon ride!) zig zagged across the Nile and took us around the islands. We saw many interesting sights along the way including the boat where “Death on the Nile” was filmed, Agatha christie’s famous book, and women washing serving trays in the Nile. Young boys swim out to the boats, or more commonly, have little wooden boats they could have made which they paddle with flat pieces of wood about 6 inches square. The sneak up behind the boats and hide just out of sight and hang on for a free ride—pretty dangerous for so many reasons.
The Nubians played music and sang for us using something that looks like the Irish: Bouharain (boy that’s slaughtering the spelling but perhaps you’ll recognize it: the flat, drum played with a small stick except that the Nubian’s play it with their hands only. Eventually they had all of us up dancing and this included not just swaying and motions with your arms, but jumping up and down too. It was a good way to end the ride which also included (surprise!) trying to sell us trinkets. We contributed to the drums for tips to the guys.
DINNER: this was a Buffet dinner at the hotel. Food was universally good at each location and included the usual foods you’d expect plus many local, and always delicious, dishes. Then it was off to bed to try to get some sleep before we had an early morning rise.

APRIL 5, 2008 – LONG DAY WITH 3 FLIGHTS

BREAKFAST: Too early wake up call and off to Aswan Domestic Airport at 7:30 am. The hotel has agreed to let us have the rooms until 6 pm today so we don’t have to put our bags out until 5:45 PM. Hallelujah!
AIR EGYPT AGAIN: This is the time my sun tan lotion was confiscated; Mohammed, the tour guide for group two, returned it to me in Cairo, bless him. By this time I had asked them to try to get me window seats on the right. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. The first time, we were in first class, the second time, I was alone in a seat on the left side of the plane (not the right) and Ed was back in the back of the plane. By the time we had our flight from Aswan to Cairo, it had gotten the right combination of seat requests. Forget about preboarding after you leave the states however. You’ll be stampeded if you’re not careful. Handicapped (and I’m not bad) haven’t a chance honest to God. You find yourself protecting each other.
ABU SIMBEL: This is the temple you will recognize that was moved due to the building of the High Dam. It was built by Ramses II, Egypt’s longest ruling Pharaoh, and is one of the most recognizable images in the country. There are actually two temples that have been moved here; the second is for Ramses’ favorite wife Queen Nefertari. There former home is now underwater in Lake Nasser.
Words don’t do justice to these two temples. One is like Stonehenge and the places in Ireland where the sun hits a certain place twice a year on the solstices. In this case, it hits 3 statues. However, the ancients had it right and the engineers who arranged this move (and what a public works project that was!!) were one day off! Now isn’t that amazing! Again the state of preservation is remarkable. The colors, where there are paintings, are fresh and easy to behold.
We had carried box lunches with us from Aswan this morning, and we ate them at the rest house near Abu Simbel.
AND AIR EGYPT TO ASWAN: We finally got to the hotel (after flight, bus ride, ferry ride across the Nile) about 2p. this is when I could have kissed the hotel manager who allowed us to have our rooms until 6 pm. We took showers and had plenty of time to pack and rest a little.
The schedules where we have a few hours in the afternoon to rest in these hot climates are such a sensible itinerary no matter what the age of your tourists.
PAPYRUS FACTORY: This was fun learning how it is made and seeing all the beautiful stuff they make. We watched these young ladies use water color to make cartuches for customers. Ed and I were interested in some papyrus paper to bring to Hank and Erna for their water coloring. The ole world bait and switch was alive and well. We were quoted on price per page for 11x17 page and were taken to the counter to buy it where the price increased 4 fold; it went downhill from there and we walked out without anything.
I fell down on the way into this factory but felt fortunate that I still had my Reid sleeve on. It pads my arm well and served as a cushion for the fall. I wound up with some wrenching and a black and blue mark on my legs, but otherwise uninjured. I try to be very careful on these outings since the surfaces are uneven and I often can’t tell the depth of the earth in front of me. Also, they often have marble stairs without a railing to use. We all talk about the danger in walking no matter how young and fit you are.
BBQ DINNER: Again great food, right on the Nile near the swimming pool. We had a violinist as we arrived for supper, another whirling dervish (these guys are something else), and later a Nubian group of musicians, singers and dancers. These guys pulled a bunch of us into the dancing which reminded me of the hora danced at so many family weddings. It was fun and kept us awake when all of us were crying for sleep.
LAST AIR EGYPT: 7:15 pm we followed Moses and Mohammed to the Aswan airport for our flight to Cairo. We arrived in Cairo at 12:30 am and got our luggage around 1 am. Great 5 star hotel, Semiramis Intercontinental. However, we hardly got our money’s worth, we were here such a short period of time.

APRIL 6, 2008 –CAIRO

The 6:30 am wake up call was not appreciated. We are zombies by this time. But we are well trained by now: Moses is waiting to deliver us through the desert. He is about 55 y/o I guess so it’s not easy for him either. We had breakfast in the hotel and at 8:15 am boarded the bus to Giza. By the way I don’t think I mentioned that our groups were never more than 22 people on a bus that will hold 50+ and so we were very comfortable in that respect. There was water and a restroom on board though it was down in the stairwell and a contortionist would be challenged to get into and out of it.
WELCOME BACK: Some sand storm had begun when we arrived but we could still see pretty good. We went first to a location between Cheops, the tallest of the pyramids, and another. Later we drove to an area near the last pyramid where the Bedoins had camels and you could have photos taken with the camels and a short camel ride. Despite the presence of the camel police, and Moses’ efforts to assure prices, they still game you. For example, you tell them you only want a photo, next thing you know, the camel is up and walking off. Before they’ll have the camel kneel so you can get off, the price has gone up remarkably, like $100. We saw the camel police chasing several camel boys away who weren’t following the rules.
Neither of us remembers the camel cops from last time. And one said Ok I could take a photo of him; later two others said no photos of them. Along the way, an armed police (but not in any kind of uniform) “befriended” Ed and I, suggesting he take photos of us, etc. etc. When he was done, he quietly rubs his fingers together asking for “backsheesh”. This happened a lot in several places where the very police who are supposed to be preventing this harassment, are the very ones asking for tips or bribes, take your choice of description. Still he give them something and go on our way.
SPHINX: He’s still here but there have been some upgrades both in the progress made on reconstruction, and on the guards and fences around it. There were lots of groups of school kids at all the sites we attended. At this one, I started blowing kisses to a group of young ones. All except one blew kisses back; this little boy stuck his tongue out at me. I pretended I was pinching his cheeks and giving him a big slobber kiss; he laughed and blew me a kiss.
SPEAKING OF WHICH: The vacation photo that got away: We were driving somewhere in the countryside on the bus and I was looking out the window at the folks on the side of the highway. There were two ladies dressed head to toe in black with only their faces and hands exposed; both were on the plump side but were probably in their 20s. I smiled and waved at one and she just beamed and started wildly waving at me with both hands. That memory will stick in my mind for a long time. It is the opposite of the way we see them otherwise.
LUNCH: this was on the same boat as in 2004. We boarded this lovely boat and it sailed down the Nile. By this time, the sand storm/hamseem was so bad you couldn’t see the tops of the buildings in Cairo from the river. Moses was smart to kick our butts out early because at least we were there early enough to see the pyramids and such even if it was hazy; the folks who came later saw nothing but a giant sand storm.
We had yet one more whirling dervish to entertain us, and the food was marvelous once again.
EGYPTIAN MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITIES: I especially enjoyed saying hi to King Tut’s artifacts once again. Moses made everything so interesting but the museum was packed and noisy. But I must tell you about one small statue of a scribe in Pharoanic times. This statue is not life size but it has life like eyes. Here’s how they did it: the eyes are made of quartz crystal. This is then painted with the sclera and iris. But here’s the fascinating part: they put copper on the back of this eye before it’s inserted into the statue. When you put a light into the pupil, you get a red flash just like a camera gets from the retina. Is that cool or what?
BACK TO SHIP: We had a drive of several hours back to the ship in Port Said. The route was different than 2004; probably a new road. Again lots of (now written as) “check point”, and lots of security again. The ride went fairly quickly and we got back to the ship about 30 min earlier than expected. Getting to the ship after you got off the bus was a different story however: there were vendors non-stop through the walk to the ship. Our luggage was delivered quickly enough; it was in our room when we returned from a quick snack in the Panorama Buffet. The young man who does this has many diverse jobs. When we first got on the ship, he brought out luggage. He always has a smiling face. I tracked him down and gave him a few dollars. He’s never forgotten that. I get big smiles everywhere I see him. He bought a remote control plane for one of his kids in Dubai and I met him in the terminal.
Our regular cabin steward, Rodolpho, is gone now for the marriage of his sister in Guadalajara. We heard that Princess paid for his air flights and is giving him paid leave to do this. He will rejoin us in Cork, Ireland and finish out his contract. We decided to give him his tip before he left for the wedding so he can enjoy it while away.
This evening we met Ray, our fill in. He’s rather shy but sweet and is still learning the ropes. I can identify with these kids and how they want to do a good job and they are still learning.
There’s so much more tidbits to share but we’ll regale you with them when we’re back. This overland in Egypt was outstanding. I’ve enjoyed all the overlands but This trip through Egypt is in a class by itself.

APRIL 3, 2008 – SAFAGA

I think we are now very sensitive to the ship’s movements. I woke about 4:10 and the ship was not moving. About 4:40 am (Ed was awake too) I looked outside and you could see a line of lights along the shore on the starboard side. I believe this is the East Bank of the Red Sea; not surprisingly, Ed thinks it’s the harbor lights as we go into the harbor.
Ed had a chance to call Mike and share information that is difficult to convey in emails. We will not always have a phone signal on this trip but we have packed our charger for the Treos just in case. I think folks are used to not having us around by now. No emails, no messages. Boo Hoo.
I took my shower and did my hair; it’s hard to maintain my hair on tours so this will probably be the last time I try to make it look decent. If I’m lucky, the wind will be blowing every time a camera is around. Ha. Otherwise, it will risk mechanical malfunction.
It is so much nicer when we have enough time before our tour leaves to take our time and be at the meeting place on time. Usually you’re better off to get there a little early so you don’t wind up bringing up the rear.

APRIL 2, 2008 – SAFAGA TOMORROW AND OVERLAND

It was hard to get out of bed this morning; the book club meets today to discuss the book Into the Wild, which was made into a movie as well. So I stayed up til midnight finishing it. I don’t know if I’d want to see the movie. I guess I’d want to hear others talk about it before I could decide. This is a true story and so sad and unnecessary is that young man’s death.
So Ed went to breakfast and I finished my morning “getting ready” tasks. Then I went to see what was on sale in the atrium today and to the library to see if Amber was there so I could return the book; she is busy preparing for the exercise this morning. I walked outside on the running track and the ocean was so gorgeous, a deep blue, and the wind was so brisk. The sun is shining with clear skies. So I went to the Cabaret Lounge and hope Ed figures out that I’m already there for the
PASSENGER AND CREW EMERGENCY DRILLS: We were to assemble in our muster station with our life jackets for this drill. They have this well organized with various folks having their titles on their baseball caps of different colors, which themselves denote a job.
But they did something different today. 150 of us were to participate in a mock “abandon ship” exercise; Ed and I were among the last to be directed to join the “crockadile line” to the portside promenade deck for an abandon ship routine. We didn’t really step into the lifeboats because we are going too fast and the sea is higher than is safe. The astronaut Rusty Schweikert was right behind Ed and I. I had my camera with us and started taking some photos; the staff in front of us took the camera and snapped our photo. Then others asked me to take theirs, and eventually Chuck and Marianna asked to have their photo with Schweikert. So I downloaded those photos and put them on a flash drive to give to folks so they could have their own copies. I’ll try to upload the silly photo of Ed and I in our lifejackets.
TRIVIA: The group dynamics are getting better though there are kinks now and then. I came up with Kuwait as the answer to: what country has borders with Saudi Arabia and Iraq. I stuck to my guns on this one. Another one I should have hung in there for was the site of the first hominids astra something or other. It sounded like Australian and so some in our group hung in there for Australia. It was wrong of course; it’s Africa. Anyway, there were others like this; we all have those experiences now and then.
Well, you won’t believe it: we tied with 3 other groups. So their was a tie breaker: According to a survey, how many times a day does the average American open the refrigerator door? Several of us said 20; Ed had 21 and on the theory that perhaps the number closest to the correct one would win, we opted for 21. The guesses from all the groups were: 21, 22, 40, and 80. the staff member is from Argentina and she remarked that the 40 and 80 guesses reflected Americans eating habits. The correct answer was 22! So, can you believe it, again we’re # 2. It was Father’s group who won: officially called the “nice people”, but as he tells us, among themselves, they are the “geniuses.” The prizes were water bottles. Well you know we’ve all determined that they leak. Father offered me one and I tried to gracefully decline without discouraging future offers. This set off a funny discussion among us. I told the staff member that our group should at least get a consolation prize for coming so close. She said she’d give me a hug and I told her that was even better. These kids are so much fun.
LUNCH: I went to lunch with Ed. The waiter misunderstood him and put us at a table by ourselves. I don’t mind this but Ed definitely wants to be around other people. The food was good as usual; I had vegetable paella which was especially tasty.
Before the next event in the Lounge, I struck up a conversation with a lady while we were waiting for sodas at the bar. She asked about the dynamics in the groups. It seems her group has at least one “problem” member and at least one other whose sense of others is very lacking. Our group is getting better at least.
SEND IN THE ELEPHANTS: The opera impresario regaled us with stories about Verdi and Aida; we are after all, soon to be in the Suez Canal and Aida was composed for the opening of the Cairo Opera House which was built to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. He’s funny, irreverent, and yet sets up the clips so that you enjoy them no matter what you think of the opera.
BOOK CLUB: I promised Amber I’d drop in for a few minutes at least; this club meets from 2-4 and we always have great speakers at this time. There were 20 or more folks in attendance; many had run up from the opera lecture and would be leaving early to get to the next lecture. The observations and remarks were all interesting except for one man who sees the world in black and whites. The filter he used for his analysis was the “rotten parents” prism; he has taken in foster children and obviously still nurses scars from his own childhood. No amount of very polite remarks could get through to him. He KNOWS he’s right. This was a great opportunity for many of us quietly leave and return for the next lecture.
The next book is The Grapes of Wrath. I think I’ve read it in years past, so I’ll finish Rashi’s daughters: Miriam and I think I’ll give it to a Jewish lady on board who would enjoy it. She had never heard of Maggie Anton and this series until we discussed it. She lives in Thousand Oaks coincidentally. This way I will have a slight bit less weight going back.
PORT TALK: SUEZ CANAL: This was again given by the young fellow I mentioned yesterday. He is a very talented presenter; again he used google earth and he must have found a way to store the files on his hard drive because the download time on this ship is too slow for him to do what he does in these lectures. He was very skilled in avoiding the land mines in the discussion of the politics around the building of the Canal and the subsequent politics of it. We left early to get to Trivia whose location was changed for this afternoon since there was a bridge building contest in the usual location.
TRIVIA: One of the men didn’t show up, so we were only 5. Still we came in…I know I don’t need to tell you again. Ed was the scribe this time. There was at least one question where we didn’t have a clue as to the correct answer but on some others the correct answer had been suggested and rejected. Oh well. But for that little hitch, we would have won the….can covers.
Sid was as good as his word (well, we did tease him into it): he brought a chilled bottle of champagne and had made arrangements with one of the wait staff to bring chilled champagne glasses so we could all enjoy a glass. Well it turned out to be at least one and a half to two glasses per person. It was fun just to visit and laugh about nonconsequential things. After Sid and Elizabeth left, we visited with Mary for a while. While discussing the drill this morning, we mentioned that we knew one couple who were plotting to avoid it; apparently this is their modus operandi. We had heard from someone earlier today that on one ship this happened, and there was a knock on their door and it was the Captain bringing them to the exercise. Today the Captain sent someone out to the pool area to round up the lounge lizards up there to show up for the drill. Right on I say. These folks would be the ones holding up the rest of us who know what we’re supposed to do.
By the way, I mentioned the crockadile walk but I didn’t tell you what it is. On the back of your life jacket is a loop; the person behind you is to hold onto this loop and follow you out. Likewise the person behind them. Every 13th person, a staff member is inserted into the line with a numbered paddle for you to follow. Pretty neat actually except when there’s a great disparity in height between two people.
ANOTHER HOUR! Hallelujah! And we’ll surely use it because our tour leaves at 6:40 am. Yeech. The buffet opens at 5 am we were told. 300 people are leaving the ship between 6 and 7 in the morning. 53 of that number are us folks on the overland trip.
DINNER: Dave and Twyla ate in the buffet this evening as they had an invitation to an event at 6:30 pm. So it was Ed, Lea, Bill and I. Most of the discussion was about the appalling conditions in India and plans for the overland. They are going privately but apparently their tour is exactly like ours. I don’t know if they will be joined by others but I do know their arrangements were made by another fellow.
PACKING: Yuk! To avoid unpleasant beginnings to journeys, I simply put out my clothing and let Ed pack however he wants. He suggested two check on bags in addition to our backpacks. I firmly but quietly said (Hell) no. It’s only 4 days and 3 nights for gods sake. You’d think we were provisioning for the outback of Australia…..alone.

APRIL 7, 2008 – TO PIREAS (ATHENS) GREECE

I will write about our marvelous overland experience as I have time. We are entering a period where we are off the ship for several days at a time so I may be tardy in finishing a day’s blog. I have several photos from our Egyptian overland which I hope I remember to post.
As soon as we left Port Said last night, the boatbegan rocking like we haven’t experienced since the Pacific. Lots of folks are looking a little peaked and it means you have to hang onto something when you’re in motion. The sea outside doesn’t look that menacing but I walked the open upper deck this morning, and the wind was so fierce I thought I might be blown down before I reached the sanctuary of the other side. Needless to say, none of the tanning lounge lizards were out. Oh and some folks are complaining that it’s too cold; it’s in the upper 60s and I’m delighted!
LAUNDRY: I knew I’d have to confront this when we returned from the overland but that doesn’t make it any more palatable. I set the alarm for 6:30 am and groaned when it rang. We will be sleep deprived for a long while now; you’ll see why when you get the blog from the overland. Finally, I got my act together and got to the laundry room about 7:30 am (thank goodness I had sorted out the laundry last evening!). I managed to get a washer after a little while; by then Ed had brought up the rest of the laundry and other washers were opening up. So I had l 3 washers going about 10-15 min. apart. And then managed to get two dryers. So I put the heavy clothes together in one, and two loads of permanent press heat in another. This latter one had to be separated later so that a 3rd dryer was called into action and Ed took out his almost dry shirts to iron.
So finally, it was all done. Ed and I had taken our showers last night so it didn’t take that long to get ready. Ed had breakfast while I monitored the laundry room progress. Later, he came down and we were both busy folding, ironing, or lugging the stuff back to our room. I had done some hand laundry last night from the overland: my compression sleeves and bras, cold wash black T-shirts; these are still hung all over the room to dry after a night in the shower in the room.
US DIPLOMACY: WHAT DO AMBASSADORS DO ANYWAY? I spoke with Fritts before his talk. While we were away, he did a talk on US immigration policy and I was very sorry I missed it. I have not seen it listed as being shown on the TV in our room. (And speaking of TV, we STILL cannot get the BBC News.) He listed many of the functions of the embassies and consulates and their personnel. There are actually very few people in our foreign service; I don’t recall the numbers but it’s shocking small and this is even after Colin Powell managed to get the force increased almost 2 fold. One bit of trivia: All of these places have caskets for those times when US citizen die abroad. And he discussed the ethical dilemmas they encounter which was fascinating.
TRIVIA: Elizabeth wasn’t here so Jason replaced her. I had to leave early (next entry) so I didn’t see the result though when I got back to the room and didn’t see any prizes I knew r wwe hadn’t won. The questions were fair but not easy. I don’t know our ranking among the groups.
FACIAL WORKSHOP: This was actually a good thing after all the dry air and sand we’ve been breathing and ingesting the past few days, coupled with our sleep deprivation. We all sat in chairs and the “teacher” gave us globs of creams and such and directed us in doing our own facials, all the while telling us of the “amazing” results we’d see with these products. Even with that, I didn’t consider it a hard sell. It was fun to do it with other women and we left with one of the products: a full sized container mind you. All of this for only $33. There’s one for men this evening too as I recall. And they will schedule another one before we end the cruise. Since I didn’t feel any pressure to purchase, I may do it again.
AN INTERVIEW WITH SCIENTIST/ASTRONAUT RUSTY SCHWEICKART: He was gracious and stayed for about 10 minutes, but he’s been suffering with sea sickness and had to leave as he wasn’t feeling well. JJ pulled a fellow passenger from the audience who had worked on the Hubble Telescope and other interesting projects and this old fellow was gracious and equally as interesting.
PORT TALK: PIREUS AND ATHENS: We apparently now have a permanent port speaker until the end of the cruise. He’s a young fellow from New Jersey but seems to be sufficiently informed to provide the information we want along with photos that illustrate what we’ll see and such. We had to leave a little early for
TRIVIA: We were in the same room but they made us move to another area in that room. It meant that our group got separated. Ed, Bill, Mary and I were working together; poor Sid was alone in our regular area (the same one we were shooed away from!) and I don’t know what happened to Elizabeth. We worked well togther though we didn’t win and I can’t tell you if we came in #2. This trivia was done by a fellow passenger whom I like very much. But you know how I feel about fellow passengers doing this: always a bad idea and today was no different. The staff person who was scheduled to do it was present; it’s the same one some of the groups complained about and sent a contingent to give their “rules”. I don’t blame that person for agreeing to have another passenger do it under the circumstances.
PHOTO CONTEST: Tonite is the deadline. It’s so hard to choose and so eventually, I just picked two from the overland and turned them in. We are # 46 and 47, so that’ll tell you how many entries there are. Since we on the overland had a chance to see the pyramids before the hamseem (that’ll be in the blog; in So. Cal. It’s known as the “Santa Ana” winds) obliterated everything, perhaps there’ll be some who are interested. And these are photos we will enjoy living with.
DINNER TONITE: We are both sleepy and tired but we agreed to have supper with the ship’s doctor and his wife. Mentally I’m looking forward to this experience. I’ll write about it in the next scheduled blog entry. In the meantime, I want to get this uploaded so you’ll know our ship escaped the pirates in the Red Sea. Ha.

APRIL 3, 2008 – SAFAGA

I think we are now very sensitive to the ship’s movements. I woke about 4:10 and the ship was not moving. About 4:40 am (Ed was awake too) I looked outside and you could see a line of lights along the shore on the starboard side. I believe this is the East Bank of the Red Sea; not surprisingly, Ed thinks it’s the harbor lights as we go into the harbor.
Ed had a chance to call Mike and share information that is difficult to convey in emails. We will not always have a phone signal on this trip but we have packed our charger for the Treos just in case. I think folks are used to not having us around by now. No emails, no messages. Boo Hoo.
I took my shower and did my hair; it’s hard to maintain my hair on tours so this will probably be the last time I try to make it look decent. If I’m lucky, the wind will be blowing every time a camera is around. Ha. Otherwise, it will risk mechanical malfunction.
It is so much nicer when we have enough time before our tour leaves to take our time and be at the meeting place on time. Usually you’re better off to get there a little early so you don’t wind up bringing up the rear.

APRIL 2, 2008 – SAFAGA TOMORROW AND OVERLAND

It was hard to get out of bed this morning; the book club meets today to discuss the book Into the Wild, which was made into a movie as well. So I stayed up til midnight finishing it. I don’t know if I’d want to see the movie. I guess I’d want to hear others talk about it before I could decide. This is a true story and so sad and unnecessary is that young man’s death.
So Ed went to breakfast and I finished my morning “getting ready” tasks. Then I went to see what was on sale in the atrium today and to the library to see if Amber was there so I could return the book; she is busy preparing for the exercise this morning. I walked outside on the running track and the ocean was so gorgeous, a deep blue, and the wind was so brisk. The sun is shining with clear skies. So I went to the Cabaret Lounge and hope Ed figures out that I’m already there for the
PASSENGER AND CREW EMERGENCY DRILLS: We were to assemble in our muster station with our life jackets for this drill. They have this well organized with various folks having their titles on their baseball caps of different colors, which themselves denote a job.
But they did something different today. 150 of us were to participate in a mock “abandon ship” exercise; Ed and I were among the last to be directed to join the “crockadile line” to the portside promenade deck for an abandon ship routine. We didn’t really step into the lifeboats because we are going too fast and the sea is higher than is safe. The astronaut Rusty Schweikert was right behind Ed and I. I had my camera with us and started taking some photos; the staff in front of us took the camera and snapped our photo. Then others asked me to take theirs, and eventually Chuck and Marianna asked to have their photo with Schweikert. So I downloaded those photos and put them on a flash drive to give to folks so they could have their own copies. I’ll try to upload the silly photo of Ed and I in our lifejackets.
TRIVIA: The group dynamics are getting better though there are kinks now and then. I came up with Kuwait as the answer to: what country has borders with Saudi Arabia and Iraq. I stuck to my guns on this one. Another one I should have hung in there for was the site of the first hominids astra something or other. It sounded like Australian and so some in our group hung in there for Australia. It was wrong of course; it’s Africa. Anyway, there were others like this; we all have those experiences now and then.
Well, you won’t believe it: we tied with 3 other groups. So their was a tie breaker: According to a survey, how many times a day does the average American open the refrigerator door? Several of us said 20; Ed had 21 and on the theory that perhaps the number closest to the correct one would win, we opted for 21. The guesses from all the groups were: 21, 22, 40, and 80. the staff member is from Argentina and she remarked that the 40 and 80 guesses reflected Americans eating habits. The correct answer was 22! So, can you believe it, again we’re # 2. It was Father’s group who won: officially called the “nice people”, but as he tells us, among themselves, they are the “geniuses.” The prizes were water bottles. Well you know we’ve all determined that they leak. Father offered me one and I tried to gracefully decline without discouraging future offers. This set off a funny discussion among us. I told the staff member that our group should at least get a consolation prize for coming so close. She said she’d give me a hug and I told her that was even better. These kids are so much fun.
LUNCH: I went to lunch with Ed. The waiter misunderstood him and put us at a table by ourselves. I don’t mind this but Ed definitely wants to be around other people. The food was good as usual; I had vegetable paella which was especially tasty.
Before the next event in the Lounge, I struck up a conversation with a lady while we were waiting for sodas at the bar. She asked about the dynamics in the groups. It seems her group has at least one “problem” member and at least one other whose sense of others is very lacking. Our group is getting better at least.
SEND IN THE ELEPHANTS: The opera impresario regaled us with stories about Verdi and Aida; we are after all, soon to be in the Suez Canal and Aida was composed for the opening of the Cairo Opera House which was built to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. He’s funny, irreverent, and yet sets up the clips so that you enjoy them no matter what you think of the opera.
BOOK CLUB: I promised Amber I’d drop in for a few minutes at least; this club meets from 2-4 and we always have great speakers at this time. There were 20 or more folks in attendance; many had run up from the opera lecture and would be leaving early to get to the next lecture. The observations and remarks were all interesting except for one man who sees the world in black and whites. The filter he used for his analysis was the “rotten parents” prism; he has taken in foster children and obviously still nurses scars from his own childhood. No amount of very polite remarks could get through to him. He KNOWS he’s right. This was a great opportunity for many of us quietly leave and return for the next lecture.
The next book is The Grapes of Wrath. I think I’ve read it in years past, so I’ll finish Rashi’s daughters: Miriam and I think I’ll give it to a Jewish lady on board who would enjoy it. She had never heard of Maggie Anton and this series until we discussed it. She lives in Thousand Oaks coincidentally. This way I will have a slight bit less weight going back.
PORT TALK: SUEZ CANAL: This was again given by the young fellow I mentioned yesterday. He is a very talented presenter; again he used google earth and he must have found a way to store the files on his hard drive because the download time on this ship is too slow for him to do what he does in these lectures. He was very skilled in avoiding the land mines in the discussion of the politics around the building of the Canal and the subsequent politics of it. We left early to get to Trivia whose location was changed for this afternoon since there was a bridge building contest in the usual location.
TRIVIA: One of the men didn’t show up, so we were only 5. Still we came in…I know I don’t need to tell you again. Ed was the scribe this time. There was at least one question where we didn’t have a clue as to the correct answer but on some others the correct answer had been suggested and rejected. Oh well. But for that little hitch, we would have won the….can covers.
Sid was as good as his word (well, we did tease him into it): he brought a chilled bottle of champagne and had made arrangements with one of the wait staff to bring chilled champagne glasses so we could all enjoy a glass. Well it turned out to be at least one and a half to two glasses per person. It was fun just to visit and laugh about nonconsequential things. After Sid and Elizabeth left, we visited with Mary for a while. While discussing the drill this morning, we mentioned that we knew one couple who were plotting to avoid it; apparently this is their modus operandi. We had heard from someone earlier today that on one ship this happened, and there was a knock on their door and it was the Captain bringing them to the exercise. Today the Captain sent someone out to the pool area to round up the lounge lizards up there to show up for the drill. Right on I say. These folks would be the ones holding up the rest of us who know what we’re supposed to do.
By the way, I mentioned the crockadile walk but I didn’t tell you what it is. On the back of your life jacket is a loop; the person behind you is to hold onto this loop and follow you out. Likewise the person behind them. Every 13th person, a staff member is inserted into the line with a numbered paddle for you to follow. Pretty neat actually except when there’s a great disparity in height between two people.
ANOTHER HOUR! Hallelujah! And we’ll surely use it because our tour leaves at 6:40 am. Yeech. The buffet opens at 5 am we were told. 300 people are leaving the ship between 6 and 7 in the morning. 53 of that number are us folks on the overland trip.
DINNER: Dave and Twyla ate in the buffet this evening as they had an invitation to an event at 6:30 pm. So it was Ed, Lea, Bill and I. Most of the discussion was about the appalling conditions in India and plans for the overland. They are going privately but apparently their tour is exactly like ours. I don’t know if they will be joined by others but I do know their arrangements were made by another fellow.
PACKING: Yuk! To avoid unpleasant beginnings to journeys, I simply put out my clothing and let Ed pack however he wants. He suggested two check on bags in addition to our backpacks. I firmly but quietly said (Hell) no. It’s only 4 days and 3 nights for gods sake. You’d think we were provisioning for the outback of Australia…..alone.

APRIL 1, 2008 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANIELLE! You’re growing up much too fast!

PASSPORTS: We had to pick up our passports for Egypt this morning. They start right on time and work quickly. I can’t imagine where any more stamps can be put in my passport but we’ll see how it goes.
PORT TALK: SAFAGA: This speaker Maged, is obviously Middle Eastern but it wouldn’t surpise me if I learned that he had studied in the US. This was probably the most professionally done port talk I’ve ever heard. He used Google Earth to zoom in on the various sites we would be visiting on the tours while giving all the pertinent information. Sprinkled here and there were old photos to give you background to better appreciate the history and where things are today.
TRIVIA: Would you believe it? #2 again. It’s really quite amazing and we pretty much laugh about it and now congratulate ourselves that we didn’t garner another can cover. And I didn’t know the Spanish word this time though I had been exposed to it at one time. The group dynamics are somewhat improved but some of the more powerful personalities are still a little disgruntled now and then.
One of the questions asked who the 3 Wise Men were. I immediately put down (don’t hold me to the spelling): Shadrach, Neeshack, and Abednigo so I could get them out of my mind; I knew they weren’t the right names. So I both Melchior right away, eventually someone came up with Baththasaur, but we could never dredge up Kaspar from our “little grey cells”. As a consequence, we got no credit for that answer. Father Austin told me a funny version of the 3 Wise Men but I couldn’t retain it long enough to get out the door. Our brains ache each time.b
LUNCH: Ed went to the dining room and I went to the Buffet and got rabbit food and fruits. I sat with Phyllis and Ralph again and we talked about dining table dynamics and other non-hurtful ship gossip.
PHOTO CONTEST: This time it’s architecture and we have until after we get back from the overland in Egypt. But there are already some fantastic photos. There’s one that I still can’t figure out how it represents the category; perhaps the person just thought it was a pretty photo.
While there, I ran into the Capt. and we talked about the blogs on the ship. One of them has a lot of photos and I discussed the difficulties of uploading photos with this slow baud rate. I’ll have to check out that sponsor when I get home to see what that site offers. On the other hand, one lady is interested in blogstream because folks can choose to be notified when there’s another entry on the blog.
There was another officer with the Captain; his mother plays trivia. He made a comment that he thought the trivia was easy. I shared this remark with his mother and she made an appropriate observation about the arrogance of youth (my phraseology, not hers: I’m paraphrasing.
COOKING AROUND THE WORLD: Commandatore was in good form today. He cooked a dish from a recipe submitted by a passenger. It looked very doable and she got a bottle of champagne in recognition and acknowledgement in his handout for today’s lesson. These demonstrations are very well attended.
TOUR OF THE GALLEY: It was offered again but we didn’t go as we had gone earlier in the cruise. When I get home, remind me and I’ll tell you a backstory to the first tour of the galley.
THE TERRORS OF SCURVY AND THE SPANISH TREASURE GALLEONS: This was a most interesting lecture about scurvy and other diseases common to sailors on long voyages in earlier times. Fresh water was also a problem and the Spanish hung clay pots from the sails and their path was between 30 degrees north latitude and about 35 degrees where they were sure to get lots of rain to replenish their supplies. The Captain who gives these lectures has done a fantastic job of pulling together data and writing it in an interesting manner, but it is so hard to keep awake. They turn down the house lights, there is one, usually rather dark, slide on the screen, and he reads in an almost quiet voice. He is a good reader and has a pleasant voice, but it is all very soporific.
TRIVIA: This was a tough one. We didn’t even come close to #2 never mind winning. Can covers again. We had to rush to dress for the penguin display (formal night).
CAPTAIN’S COCKTAIL PARTY: This was a way to recognition frequent sailors. Then they drew the names of 3 folks from a bucket to give them a bottle of champagne. One of the winners was Sid from our trivia group. So I told him he had to bring it to trivia tomorrow, we’d sip and if we won, he’d have to bring a bottle for each trivia episode. It turns out this was the 2nd bottle of champagne he’d won today. The other one was for golf. (don’t ask, I don’t know because there isn’t a patch of green anywhere here.
FORMAL NIGHT: DINNER: All of us were present. We had a lot of fun. We talked about how folks from other tables are bored to tears with the conversation at their tables and are approaching various ones of us to see if they can get to sit at our table. There has been a lot of shuffling of table companions on this cruise and as you know from these blogs, ours isn’t always free flying.
ENTERTAINMENT: RHYTHMS OF THE CITY: Fantastic, high energy show again. These kids have more energy than I can imagine. They must each 10 K Calories each day but none of them is skinny. Nice to see well rounded bodies.
HE’S AT IT AGAIN: Ed and I changed to “more comfortable” clothes before going to the show and he picked seats on the front row. You know he doesn’t do this often as he doesn’t want to be picked out of the audience to do something in the show. At least that’s what he says but just between you and me, it’s hard to miss his Tiger shirt! Lauren picked him out of the audience to dance and he did a very nice jitter bug with her.
OUR OVERLAND: We got the directions today. I won’t include details of where we’ll be staying as you can contact the ship if necessary and they will know. We have to meet in the Casino Bar at 6:40 AM to leave. Our first destination is Luxor and we stay overnight in this area. We will see the sound and light show at Karnak that evening. The next day, Friday, we have another early call, we have to leave for the airport at 6:15 am. We fly to Aswan and we stay overnight in that area. Saturday, we have to leave for the airport at 7:30 am to go to Abu Simbel. In the afternoon, we again fly, this time to Cairo; we have a lunch box on the plane. We stay overnight in Cairo, go to the pyramids and Sphinx on Sunday and wind up back at the ship in Port Said about 7 pm. I’m looking forward to this trip.
PIRATES AND SUCH: Someone asked the Captain about pirates and he reassured them that we were out of pirate territory. Knew you’d want to know. Clearly we are traveling at a good clip and the seas are a little higher than we’ve had in a god while.
I’ll try to post a blog tomorrow before we go to bed but I won’t post again until sometime next Monday. Our schedule will begin to get more hectic now bcause the number of sea days is very few in the next few weeks; we have several days in a row where we’re in a different port everyday with early tour calls. Good news, bad news situation.

MARCH 31, 2008—CONTINUED

They were having a 50% off sale and among the items were the world cruise ladies tops; the designs are embroidered onto the fabric and Ed has been after me to get some each time they were displayed. I told him I didn’t want to pay what they were asking ($26 USD), and that I was sure they’d be on sale before the end of the cruise since they are unique to a world cruise. So today I relented.
TRIVIA: We sat in a different place this morning because the Pacific Lounge is full of the art and paintings for the auction later today. It is a cooler spot and with a little more space between our group and the next closest group. I can’t even tell what our score was because one of the groups, as it turns out the one we graded, got a perfect score. They got luggage tags. Just for future reference: Kiki Dee is the singer who sang a song (whose name I’ve now lost) with Elton John years ago, and Clarence Birdseye was the first person to freeze things in plastic bags (I had written Birds Eye Green Giant since I knew that this company had done that with peas, but I never knew that Birdseye was the name of the owner/inventor).
The group dynamics were a little less intense this morning; we have one of the men who is doing the scribe task now and he “suggested” some procedures we should use to get our answers. Hallelujah! We are doing better and I’ve noticed we do much better if the women are at one end and the men at the other; might not mean anything, but you never know. We’ll check it out again this afternoon.
LUNCH: Mary was at Sabatino’s last night as well and like Ed, she said she ate too much, that there was too much food. I didn’t stuff myself but I think the panna cotta put me well over my calorie intake for a long while, so I decided to eat fruits until supper. Ed went down by himself. He feels he does better with his diet in the dining room; I do better with mine at the Panorama Buffet. And Mary has another commitment tonite that takes her back there. Her job will be to report the changes in the menu if any.
TERRORISM REVISITED – HAVE WE BEEN HERE BEFORE? Ambassador Fritts talked about the Barbary pirates and the history of the US’s capitulation to terrorists by paying ransoms etc. during history. He focused on how many years it took for these situations to resolve and how many presidential terms were involved before a resolution, often via military intervention. The pattern, assuming one believcs this is a pattern, is for the time lines to increase and the number of Presidents involved to increase. It does give you much to talk about but no real answers. I’ll be fascinated to see what others “heard” of this presentation.
CALLAS: LIFE AND LEGEND: I learned so much from this even though I had to leave before the finish to get to trivia. For example, she was Greek, she had lived in the US a good part of her life, she died at 53. I do recall when she died but not why she died, and of course her relationship with Aristotle Onassis made her front page news. She did have a wonderful voice but apparently even that fact is argued. Since I claim no real knowledge of opera, it’s Ok for me to simply enjoy listening to her artistry.
TRIVIA: Ok, again, we were #2! Our dynamics were slightly better this time but I had to stand my ground with someone near me that Costa Rica is not the southern most country in Central America. And the final question was a Spanish question (the staffer from Argentina always ends with a Spanish question): what is the Spanish word for Moustache? I didn’t have a clue and when she gave the answer, I had never heard it. But we have an agreement that we never leave an answer blank so I gave them carapelo. It didn’t have a chance but it was an interesting thinking process. Ed tells me that bags were the prizes today. Darn it: I still want one of their bags; they are reversible black to blue and while we have lots of tote bags, we don’t have this one.
And speaking of tote bag, water was spilled into the bag I carry all my stuff in so I had to take out the scrap paper, camera, crossword puzzle book, and more and they are now laying out to dry.
I saw Hank and Erna in the hallway and got them to promise to come for dessert at least this evening.
DINNER: Hank and Erna did come but only for dessert. The rest of us were there too. We talked about relatively innocuous topics: plants (Hank is a botanist), recipes for various things, Arkansas trivia (Dave and Twyla are from Ark. And Lea was born in Little Rock and she still has relatives there.
Other folks who are bored with their dinner conversation have commented that we look like we have fun at our table and they may simply move sometime when there are empty seats. Of course, Rod has to watch out for flying arms and hands when we’re all at the table because we all talk passionately and always with our arms and hands. Food would go flying all over if he didn’t take defensive action as he puts our plates before us.
MORE ON OPERA: I asked Phyllis today what her career was since we hadn’t really gotten into it last night. I turns out that she sang with the opera in New Orleans and she did a performance with Placido Domingo when he came there, his first performance in the US. He doesn’t list it on his resume however. Chemo for cancer and not using her voice for a long while, has resulted in the loss of her lovely singing voice, but she still gives private lessons to a few students.
TONITE’S ENTERTAINMENT: Annette Yeo: musical star, direct from London’s West End. She did a selection of classical and Broadway musical type pieces. I liked her classical voice better than the others as she was screaming the Broadway pieces.