Luxor To Cairo: Final Day of Cruise Itinerary

 September 23

This morning we we woke up to a gorgeous sunrise and the balloons floating over the Valley of the Kings in Luxor as we prepared for our final breakfast.  Then said good-bye to the Osiris and boarded buses to the airport for our return flight to Cairo.  The transfer, check-in and the flight were all very smooth.  We got on buses and drove about 20 minutes to the Intercontinental which is a LUXURY resort hotel....too bad we can't stay here longer!

Those of you who know me know the story of how EVERY cruise line always reaches out to Kim through email or postal mail.  And if you've been reading the journals you know that at the first hotel I got her family name.  Well today, when we checked in at the airport I gave the guy my passport and he began the process; got our boarding passes and BOTH bags were checked under her name.  Then when we arrived here at the luxury hotel, you can see in the pic above, the welcome message on the TV was to Kim.  Sigh.......

As soon as we arrived at the resort we had a big lunch put on by the hotel and then we had about 45 minutes before our tour.  Kim opted to stay at the hotel and go to the gym so I partnered up with Valerie and John and the three of us hung out together (the other couple was on the alternate excursion).  We spent two hours at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.  Truly the highlight of the day and certainly one of the highlights of the trip was our adventure into the Royal Mummies room.  There were at least thirty if not more pharaohs and queens lying in state and you could come within inches of their face.  2000 to 5000 year old mummies and you could see the braids in their hair, the individual teeth, the smoothness (of most) of their skin and all their facial features.  Even their fingernails.  It was just stunning.  So much so that after the three of us finished this and then Hany gave us an amazing tour of the history of Egypt exhibits, we utilized our 45 minutes of free time to re-do the mummies.  Just simply remarkable.  Just a real W-O-W experience for sure.

This skeleton is from the pre-historic era and is 36,000 years old - yes, THIRTY-SIX THOUSAND

The ancient Egyptians were SO smart - so many devices and tools that I could write multiple journals on.  One of the most amazing was this "Water Clock."  See the holes on the inside on the right?  They'd fill this with water and as it drained through those holes the water level measured hours and minutes.....WOW

We arrived back at the hotel at 5:30 and had a little over an hour to get freshened up before the Farewell Dinner.  It was a real REAL treat that our amazing guide, Hany, chose our table to sit at and the six of us truly enjoyed spending the evening with him.  But, all good things come to an end and with John and Valerie not doing the Jordan extension we had to say good-bye to them.  But we've become so close that we promised one another that we would begin working on when we'd get together again.  Luckily Larry & Lisa will continue on with us to Jordan.  And now, I'll need to close for today as we are up at 3:45 am for a 4:30 departure for the airport as we begin our adventure in Jordan tomorrow morning!

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