The Great Pyramids

We'd had to convert our 3000+ euros into 22K+ Egyptian pounds, and that sure felt like alot of money to carry around. I told Marty it was probably the last time he'd be able to bench press 22 thousand pounds, so he should take advantage of it.


We visited the Egyptian Museum where we got to see the Tutankhamun "good stuff"... the stuff that doesn't tour the rest of the world. Stuff we couldn't even take pictures of, like the gold head covering made of 25 lbs. of pure gold, the multi-nested burial sarcophaguses made of gold, his throne, his golden beds. And to think, he was one of the minor pharoahs, dying at 19 years of age. Makes you wonder what all of those other tomb raiders got away with from the likes of Ramses III.


We learned about the plants representing Upper and Lower Egypt; the lotus flower and the papyrus... used to make perfumes and papers.


Next we headed to the Pyramids of Giza. Along the way, we saw donkeys. Lots and lots of donkeys, pulling carts of fruits and veggies and anything else that needed to be hauled around town.


Then we arrived at one of the wonders of the ancient world. Wow! The pyramids are so big!



And here is one of the best tour guides in the world: Hany. He says the ladies often mistakenly call him "Honey". This is one of his tour guide friends, and she was really nice too. We thought maybe they were a couple, but no... he's an eligible bachelor studying to become a doctor, and he said he's open to any single ladies from America who want to have a mail-order husband. He even wanted to marry Sharayah as soon as he saw a picture of her. He's a sweetheart, so if any of you gals out there are interested in meeting a hot Egyptian, just let me know and I'll get you the info.


Next we went for a camel ride. It was awesome!



This sweet camel even said "Cheese!" as I snapped this picture. Either that or he was just amused by our camel driver beating Marty repeatedly at arm wrestling.


And here's one of our favorite pictures... great background.


Now here's a pic you may have seen hundreds of times, but this one is special to me, because it's the evidence that "I was there!"


Next we visited a Papyrus Institute where we got to watch them make paper the old fashion way.


Then we went for a drive and stopped on the bridge over the River Nile. Last night when we'd crossed it, we'd been amazed by the hundreds of people out there sitting on lawn chairs and fishing off the bridge. There were even street vendors walking up and down selling drinks and snacks and such. What a community!


Our final stop for the first full day was at the train station. Some ladies there wanted me to take a picture with them. Their children were especially sweet.


Our day ended on a sleeper train from Cairo to Aswan. That was an adventure in itself. They called it a 5-star, but there must not be any other trains that even rank as 1, 2, 3, or 4, because it was anything but a star. We were in 2 small fold-down bunk beds and the train never slowed down slowly... it always braked multiple times and you fell out of bed. The bathroom was just a double sized airplane bathroom, and there were no showers or anything. If you ever go to Egypt, I'd recommend skipping the sleeper train experience, unless you're just up for an "experience". It was definitely a "once in a lifetime thing" because I'll never do it again. Hehe.

It did have one advantage, in that the scenes the next morning as we rolled alongside the River Nile were very nice. It's just you had to look out of a dirty window to see them. Nothing like identifying more closely with those who live in a third world country... sweaty, dirty, hungry, tired.

Adventure of a Lifetime Begins...

On the drive from Memmingen to Munich we came across a large group of bikers, wearing “Hell’s Angels” leather jackets, each including the name of their home country: Austria, Switzerland, France, etc. Marty said they weren’t so scary once he’d walked into the gas station to pay and one of them said in French, “Excusez moi”.

We flew from Munich to Cairo on a nice EgyptAir plane and arrived at 8:30pm local time. It was awesome. We turned to each other and said, “We’re in Cairo!”

Our Ramses Tour guide met us and took us to a car and then began an adventurous ride into the city. Lines don’t mean a thing on the highway as cars were all over the place and more often than not, not driving “between the lines”. There was a lot of honking and cutting off and slipping between cars. We just enjoyed the sights on both sides of the road. Haha.

Driving through the poor part of town, it was fascinating to see half-built buildings and partially destroyed buildings with no glass in the windows and people living in every square foot. Rooms were pretty bare and clothes were hanging over balconies. It’s intriguing to consider what it must be like to live this way.

We exited the well paved, well lite highway and turned immediately onto a rough dirt road. Now we were truly in the non-tourist part of the city where everything was in Arabic, people were walking all around, and we saw all these little shops and cafes. It was totally cool!

Finally back on a paved road and we saw the pyramids ahead. We pulled up to a hotel that at first couldn’t convince us it was a 5-star. We thought there might have been a mistake with our booking. But after we walked through a side courtyard, and through metal detectors, we entered a lobby that convinced us otherwise. Le Sphinx Hotel, across the boulevard from the pyramids, is great.


We dined at the outdoor restaurant on the roof and enjoyed the light of the full moon and the view of the pyramids.

Sweet stuff! Thanks God, for the experience. We’re looking forward to more of it…

Triberg Waterfall

On our Monday holiday, we took off on a road trip across southern Bavaria. Some of the cool things about Germany are the old gates to the cities.



And this one had nice artwork representing our favorite person.


Along the way we spotted this Biergarten where people were wearing historical German clothing, such as these men in lederhosen. We stopped for some traditional German cuisine from the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. Well, they called it "all you can eat", but we don't think they quite understood the American terminology, because you paid by the weight of your plate each time you went. We didn't eat much, but the putenschnitzel and mushrooms were yummy.


We traveled to St. Georgen in Schwarzwald (The Black Forrest) and took one of the most picturesque train rides through the mountains. The views were spectacular, though I couldn't get good shots through the train windows. The ride took us winding around mountains, through 36 tunnels, and put on display rolling hillsides and lush green valleys. We arrived in Hornberg, a quaint town nestled in a valley.


There was an interesting church building with the city's May Pole nearby, and in the background on the hill you can see the remains of a castle or fort.


There was also a grand bridge with many arches.


We caught the train back south and stopped off at Triberg, the halfway point. I'd read that it's home to one of the world's largest cuckoo clocks and Germany's tallest waterfall. Here's shots of the waterfall from the top to the bottom. It was a hike, but the air was so fresh and the day was so beautiful.





It was a great way to spend our daughter Sharayah's birthday... since we were so far away from her. We did call and wake her at 4:15pm (our time), 8:15am (hers). Haha. And we enjoyed the pics posted all over the web of Henderson, her Honda Element, all covered in post-its and other birthday decorations. Good job to Kendra & the gang!! In our own little celebration of her birthday, as we drove back home, we listened to "That Thing You Do" a couple times and one of my favorite "Sharayah" songs: Every Little Thing by Hawk Nelson.

Chiemsee

Found out Monday is a holiday in Germany. A 3-day weekend without time to plan something. We went to Munich to the English cinema to watch Robin Hood and Prince of Persia.

On the way, we went through one of my favorite tunnels. The one with the forrest on top of it.


After the movies we went to Chiemsee, the largest lake in Germany. With the alps as a backdrop and lots of sailboats dotting the waters, it was quiet, quaint, and poetic.



We took a little wooded trail to another of King Ludwig II's palaces: Herrenchiemsee


The trail opened up to a much smaller palace, but it still has beautiful gardens.


And fountains... the fountains are fabulous!




I couldn't take pictures inside, but it was yet another palace heavily influenced by Versailles. I got this picture of the bedroom from the net. It was done up in blue, Ludwig's favorite color and even had a large blue globe which had candles placed in it to bathe the room in a blue glow during the night.


Back down to the docks where we took the boat back to Prien. We walked along the seaside promenade, had a nice dinner, and then headed back home.

Schloss Schönbrunn

Day 2 in Vienna was centered around the expansive, impressive grounds of Schloss Schönbrunn. Note to future travelers: Go straight to the main palace building and buy your tickets early.

We entered through the far part of the grounds and just wandered around in the gardens. We visited the Palm House, where royalty that can't travel the world, has the plants and flowers of the world brought to them.



I always have pictures of trains for dad, so now time for some pictures for mom: beautiful flowers.





And a picture for all the nieces and nephews. These amazing snails were huge! As big as my fist with their shells. We thought they were totally cool.


We went to the Desert House next, where pretty birds of all colors were flitting around everywhere. Here's one of our favorites.


We continued our walk through the garden mazes...


We came upon this one wall that was impressively tall and made from trees that were pruned to only grow on one side. At first Marty didn't believe me when I said it was a wall made from trees.



As we approached the palace, the grand gardens unfolded before us, with their colorful flowers laid out in artistic patterns and their promenades lined with statues. It was awe-inspiring.



There was the amazing Neptune fountain with the Gloriette triumphal arches on the hilltop in the distance.


We walked around taking it all in, and then went in to get our tickets for the palace tour. There was a 2 hour wait, so we visited the Carriage Museum and more of the gardens as we waited. And the palace cafe had some of the best food we've ever had, especially for a cafe that was serving hundreds of people with a fast turnaround. We were impressed. Wienerschnitzel & Apfel Strudel!

After the palace tour, where we could not take pictures (you'll have to google it up to see how amazing it is), we went to the Tiergarten (the animal garden... aka Zoo)

Oh but before we went in the zoo, we saw this cool duck in one of the fountains. It almost didn't look real.


The Schloss Tiergarten claims to be the oldest zoo in the world, and they host a most interesting collection of animals in very nice settings. We saw rhinos, hippos, elephants, lions, bears, polar bears, penquins, flamingos, peacocks, sea lions, kangaroos, giraffes, and pandas that were cute & cuddly. I couldn't get very good pictures of them through the glass area where they were hanging out though.

So here are a couple pics of some of my favorites. The lemurs were very entertaining, and my first time to see a real koala bear just made me think about how much I look forward to moving to Australia.



Vienna is a fabulous city. If you ever have the opportunity, you should include it on a tour of Europe.